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.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

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

• Work in channels (microsoft.com)
• 4 ways to @mention in Microsoft Teams to get attention on your posts and replies | NateChamberlain.com

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

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

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

• Overview of teams and channels in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Docs
• First things to know about teams and channels (microsoft.com)
• Create a team from scratch (microsoft.com)
• First things to know about channels in Teams (microsoft.com)
• Private channels in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Docs

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.

This video is part of my FREE 30+ lesson self-paced online training course called Collaboration in Microsoft 365 (OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams). Enroll today at https://www.NateTheTrainer.com for the full learning experience including lesson discussions, quizzes, exams, and a completion certificate.

You can also watch the entire course as a YouTube playlist as well (just without the course discussions, quizzes, exam, and certificate). Be sure to subscribe to support my channel and for easy access to future content.

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