How to add channel tabs and apps in Microsoft Teams (Video)

Adding tabs to your Microsoft Teams channels allows you to embed other apps, sites, documents, etc. for convenient, one-click access to important resources you and your colleagues use frequently. Learn how to create additional channel tabs in this lesson.

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Notes

Tabs allow you to extend the capabilities of your chats and channels. You can add a tab to a chat to embed a document you and your co-chatter use often together, such as an HR portal or a state financial resource. You could add a tab to a channel to give yourself and your teammates one-click access to a frequently used website, Power BI report, Power App, etc. No matter what specific app you’re adding in the tab, the idea is simplifying your work days by bringing as many tools, apps, processes, etc. into a single starting place – Teams becomes a single place from where you and your colleagues can access and work with most of what you need each day.

Additional resources

February 13, 2022March 5, 2022

What are channel conversations in Microsoft Teams? (Video)

Learn the ins and outs of team channel conversations in Microsoft Teams. Channel conversations are more formal than chats, and offer slightly different features and behavior.

Notes

Channel conversations allow you and your teammates to talk about that specific channel’s subject. For example, in a channel named Project Zebra, you’ll post conversations and replies regarding Project Zebra and use its Files tab for files about Project Zebra. Remember that files attached to conversation posts and replies are stored in a folder sharing the channel’s name in the team’s supporting SharePoint site.

Channel conversations and replies work in much the same way as chat in Teams. The primary difference is chat is typically ad hoc and less formal whereas your channel conversations are part of an official team (aka Microsoft 365 group) that tends to last longer and have regular membership changes as staff rotate in and out.

Additional resources

February 12, 2022March 5, 2022

How to create teams and channels in Microsoft Teams (Video)

Learn how to create a new team and channels for that team in this lesson.

Notes

Create a team whenever you have a reason to bring a new or existing group of people together to communicate and/or collaborate. You can create private or public teams (aka private or public Microsoft 365 groups). Private groups require membership management and requests (when applicable) whereas public groups can be discovered by anyone in your organization.

Create a channel whenever you need to separate a specific topic, client, subject, discipline, etc. from the main conversation and contents (General channel) to its own channel. This helps keep the General channel clear for small talk, truly general conversations and contents, etc. while your more focused subject-specific conversations, files, meetings, apps, and more are in the channel you’ve created.

Your channels can be standard (same permissions as team) or private (unique permissions from team). If you choose private channels, they’ll each have their own entire SharePoint site as opposed to sharing one like all of your standard channels will. Private channels are also owned by the channel creator (not necessarily the parent team’s owner).

Additional resources

February 11, 2022March 5, 2022

Teams vs channels in Microsoft Teams (Video)

Learn the differences between a team and a channel when collaborating in Microsoft Teams. This video shows that teams are groups of people who need shared access and space to collaborate and communicate on a shared initiative. Channels are how that group organizes their content and work.

Notes

Teams are a group of a people along with all of the resources, apps, conversations, meetings, and more they share. Channels are how team members keep their content organized by particular topics, subjects, projects, etc. Channels can be thought of as a way to “folderize” your team’s content.

Teams have team settings, and each channel has it own settings as well. Each member of your team has equal access to the team’s standard channels – this only differs if you utilize private channels (which have separate membership management).

Additional resources

Overview of teams and channels in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Docs

July 2, 2021July 2, 2021

How to restore a file deleted from a Microsoft Teams channel

Microsoft Teams is the place where groups of people come together to communicate and collaborate. A large part of that collaboration is document storage, sharing, and co-authoring. In Teams, files can be found on the Files tab of each channel within a team.

Did you know the Files tab is actually showing you the contents of a SharePoint folder associated with that channel?

Because Teams files are stored in SharePoint, any file deleted from a Teams channel goes to the associated SharePoint site’s Recycle Bin. We need to go to that Recycle Bin to restore the deleted file from there.

Click to enlarge | The dialog that appears when deleting a Teams file shows us it’ll go to the (SharePoint) site Recycle Bin.

How to restore a deleted Teams file

To find the correct SharePoint site for the team in question, we first open the Files tab for the channel from which you originally deleted the file. Then choose Open in SharePoint. If you don’t see it, you may need to use the ellipsis (…) then select it as seen in the following screenshot.

Next choose Recycle Bin from the left-hand navigation menu.

Finally, select the file you deleted then choose Restore from the ribbon menu.

Idea: Add the Recycle Bin as a channel tab

If you’re part of a team that is frequently accessing the Recycle Bin, you can pin it as a tab in your channel(s). Start this by clicking the plus sign (+) to the right of your existing tabs.