Collaborate in teams and channels

Table of Contents

Overview of teams and channels

In Microsoft Teams app, the teams represents a groups of people, which can be brought together for work related discussions, projects mapping and deliverables discussions, or any other common interests.

One can create their Teams on two types of channels. First is the standard channel (available and visible to public/everyone) and the second is private (dedicated to for private conversations with some selected or specific audience/Users). Each channel can be built around the topic like “Team Discussions,” a department or project name, or others. Channels are the centralized places on Teams where you can hold meetings, have chat, and share work on files together.

You can link to your favorite files in the tabs at the top of each channel, apps, and services.

Add a tab

First, select the plus sign which is available next to the tabs.
For example, you can add Planner to create a project board to track your teams’ tasks.

Pin and unpin a channel

If you have multiple channels, you can pin the most important or the ones, which you use frequently. In this way, you can make them easy to find.

To pin a channel, select one to pin then select More channels>Pin.
To unpin any channel, select one to unpin then select More channels>Unpin. Here you can look for more potions what else you can do.

Creating a channel

Follow the below-mentioned steps:

You can create a channel in Microsoft Teams application to focus your conversations on a specific subject, project, or other departments.

You can use a General channel if you want to share news and announcements that everyone needs. In MS Teams, each team has a General channel as a default option.
If you want to create a new channel, choose More options(…)>Add channel.
Now, add the desired name and description if you want.
Now, select the privacy level: i.e. Standard or Private.
Select automatically show the channel in every user’s channel list.
When you are ready, choose Add and the channel will start appearing in the channel list of your teams.

Create and use private channels

If you want to have a focused or private conversations with users on your team, you can create a private channel as well.

In Teams, you will find that most of the channels are standard ones. Everyone of your team can see them. In addition, they can view and participate in the conversations, share documents, and more.

Therefore, with a private channel, the members of a team can be specifically added to participate, view the content, and see the specific channel appear in their channels list.

Create a private channel

First, go to a team you prefer to create a channel for, then select More options>Add channel.
Now, type a name and description for the channel.
Under the Privacy, choose the down arrow and select “Private – Accessible only to a specific group of people within the team.”
Select Next.
Type in the names of whom you would like to invite including the guests.
Select Add and finish.

People you have added will see it started appear in their list of channels with a lock next to their name. In addition, to see everyone that has been added to a private channel, you can select the Open people pane.

Share a file and Meet Now

When you share a file in a private channel, only people with access to the channel can it is view and access it. These shared documents appear in a separate SharePoint site away from other standard channels. This thing ensures access only to users of your private channel.
To meet with just the people in your private channel, choose Meet now.

Show and hide channels

You can select whether you want to show and hide the channels in Microsoft Teams app. It will decide you want to keep up with the important channels only and hide the ones you do not use or need.

Hide or show a channel

From within the channels, choose More options>Hide.
If you want to unhide any channel, select hidden channels>Show.

Customize channel notifications

Select More options>Channel notifications.
Select the settings if want such new channel mentions or post notifications.
No select Save and finish.

Notifications will appear based on the preferred settings, you have done.

Work in channels

The channels are where the team conversations happen, see the below points:

The Standard channels are the ones, which are available to all team users/members.
The Private channels are built for some specific people who have been invited to the channel in Teams.

Hold a meeting in a channel

Choose Calendar New meeting>Add channel>select a channel from the displayed list.
Add the details.
Now, select Send.
If you want to join an ongoing channel meeting, you can select Join on the meeting.

Work with messages in a channel

Team members can post messages and replies, the feature is available under the Posts tab in the channel. You can do the following:

Select (Thumbs Up)next to a message to show you liked it.
Select More options(…) > Edit if you want to edit any message.
Select More options(…) > Delete to delete the message.

Start a new conversation and get someone’s attention in a channel

To create a new post in the channel, select New conversation. When you are working on your post, you can do the followings:

Type @in front of a team member’s name to include the specific person in your conversation.
Type @in front of a team or name of the channel to include the entire team or channel into the conversation.

See where you have been mentioned

You can look for the red circle appears on the left side next to different channel names if you want to see the number of times you have been mentioned in a conversation.

Co-edit a file and view channel info

Collaborate with your teammates in the channel with the following steps

You can attach document/files to your message.
Comment and edit the file.
Open the right-hand pane to:
- Add new team members.
- See the existing members.
- View applications.

Pin and unpin the channel

You can pin a channel to your teams list for a quick access.

On the channel which you prefer, select More options(…)>Pin.
To unpin the channel, select More options(…)>Unpin.

Tip: Send email to a channel

If you need to communicate by email, send it to everyone in Teams channel.

Get and copy a channel’s email

Select More options Get email address.
Now, select Copy.
Paste the copied email address into your new email.
Select Send, and finish

Forward an email to a channel

Open the email, which you would like to forward.
Paste the copied email address into the To line of the email.
Now, select Send.

Create a plan with Planner

Create a board with Planner to keep you and your team organized in Microsoft Teams.

In a channel, select Add a tab.
Select Planner.
Select Create a new plan or Use an existing one, and then select Save.
With a Planner board, you can:

- Create buckets
- Add and assign the tasks
- Update your tasks
- View chart progress