Support for Private Channels

Looking for the ability to create a channel that only channel members can see. Private channels are available in slack. There is an admin for private channels who is the creator, and they are the ones who add/remove users.

Five types of public/privacy that is being asked for by users:

- Public-Open (visible anywhere including outside the org and anyone can join)
- Public-Invitation (visible anywhere including outside the org, must be invited)
- Company-Open (only visible inside the org and anyone in the org can join; outside the org must be invited)
- Company-Invitation (only visible inside the org, must be invited)
- Secret (invisible to everyone except existing members, must be invited)

9,446 votes

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We’ll send you updates on this idea

Angela Sze shared this idea · November 01, 2016 · Flag idea as inappropriate… · Admin →

working on it ·

AdminWarren (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · June 01, 2018

This feature request is still in the works. No additional details to share at this time.
But the team is hard at work to ensure it is implemented in a fashion that will meet your expectations.

-Warren

Show previous admin responses (11)

working on it ·

AdminWarren (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · March 20, 2018

This feature request is still in the works.

No big updates to share, but the feedback has been a huge help. So thank you all once again. As more details emerge from the feature team on the work being done, I will be sure to share it with you here.

We understand how important this ask is to you all and we are working to ensure it is implemented in a fashion that will meet your expectations.

-Warren

working on it ·

AdminWarren (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · February 06, 2018

The survey is now closed. We had an amazing response, so thank you all very much!

Please know our surveys are used to help gauge multiple things. Don’t read into it as a roadmap of what is to come.

We will review all the feedback and are reading the comments you post as well. All your feedback is appreciated and goes through consideration.

As we progress on the feature request I will provide more updates.

Thank you!
-Warren

needs your feedback ·

AdminWarren (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · February 05, 2018

We are still working on this item but would like some feedback from you!

This survey would provide us with valuable insight and help drive several requests. It should only take a couple minutes to quickly fill out.
https://microsoft.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cGv5UzDjoR5idfL

We’re still aiming for early this calendar year (2018) if development and testing go well.

Thank you!
-Warren

working on it ·

AdminWarren (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · January 23, 2018

This is still actively being worked upon. We’re still aiming for early this calendar year (2018) if development and testing go well.

I hope to have more details to share soon.

-Warren

working on it ·

AdminSuphatra (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · November 29, 2017

Its been a while since my last update, so wanted to check in and let you know that this is well under way. We’re aiming for early next calendar year (2018) if development and testing go well. I’ll ping you again with a more exact ETA after the new year.

Meanwhile, feel free to ping me on Twitter at @skprufo if you have any questions!

Sincerely,
Suphatra

working on it ·

AdminSuphatra (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · October 18, 2017

Hi everyone, quick update for you on this feature.

We’ve got lots of resources on this and we’re actively working on it. This is a top priority feature.

I haven’t gotten a firm ETA from the team but I can say this won’t hit in the next month or so. Its a complicated feature, so it will take longer than that. I’ll let you know once I get a general date from them.

Thanks for your feedback, patience, and as always, thank you for your support of Teams.

Sincerely,
Suphatra

Questions? Tweet me at @skprufo.

working on it ·

AdminSuphatra (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · September 07, 2017

Hi everyone! Hope you’re having a great September.

I’m really excited to share with you the progress on this feature. To recap, we originally tried to resolve for this request by giving you Private Teams, but your feedback showed us that this was not the right solution. So we’ve gone back to the drawing board and we are in active development of private channels.

This is how we view a private channel: it will be a new channel type that allows users to create a channel with a different user roster than the parent team, that is only visible to those members. As the name implies, it is meant for sensitive discussions or for working with sub-teams.

As it turns out, private channels is a very complicated feature to deploy, because there are several dependencies external to Teams. I will keep you updated as we progress, and if you have any questions, please always feel welcome to email me directly at sparavi @ Microsoft (dot) com.

Thanks for your support of teams, and this great idea!

Sincerely,
Suphatra

under review ·

AdminSuphatra (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · June 15, 2017

Hiya again folks.

I just wanted to write and let you know that I updated the idea to better reflect the vibrant discussion in the community about exactly what a private channel means. It looks like there are five definitions — shout out to user John Black who wrote it out so elegantly. I’ve included that description in the original idea.

We still have this item under review, and I’m personally interested in seeing if this request is further changed when we release guest access (coming super soon!) this summer. Stay tuned, stay cool, and as always, thanks for your support of Teams.

Sincerely,
Suphatra

under review ·

AdminSuphatra (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · April 25, 2017

Hi everyone,

So a little bit of context for everyone who newly voted for this feature.

When you first asked for “Private Channels” we believed this could be solved by the new feature that we recently rolled out — the ability to create either Public or Private teams. Hence, the status on this item was “Working on it!”

However, the strong feedback from the community has been that this does not solve your original problem. So, we’re pulling this into review and evaluating ways we can implement this. It’s not an easy fix, so we’ll need some time. I’ll make sure to update you along the way.

Thanks and please continue to give us your great feedback. Your voice helps guide this product in the right direction!

Sincerely,
Suphatra

try this instead ·

AdminSuphatra (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · March 23, 2017

We have enabled a new feature — Private and Public Teams. This allows you to make a team either public (anyone can join) or private (people can only be invited into the team).

This new feature should help many of you requesting private channels.

To make an existing team private or public, just click on the ellipses next to the team name and choose “Edit team”.

Thanks,
Suphatra

working on it ·

AdminSuphatra (Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams) responded · February 08, 2017

This is on its way.
Stay tuned for more updates as this moves along!
And if you need anything else, just ping me on Twitter or email.

Suphatra
Microsoft Teams

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Dave Z commented · June 21, 2018 08:09 · Flag as inappropriate

this is a must. right now i have to create a separate "marketing recruiting" team and a "operations recruiting team" etc. etc. instead of just one recruiting team with multiple channels.

There are members of a recruiting team that would need access to all of these teams, but the marketing head doesn't need to see the operations recruiting info and vice versa.

Collaboration is great, but you still need the principal of least authority in these collaboration tools.
Anonymous commented · June 21, 2018 02:41 · Flag as inappropriate

this could be a game changer - being able to invite students or staff to channels depending upon their needs is vital. This would stop us having to have separate teams to have private sections...
James commented · June 20, 2018 12:41 · Flag as inappropriate

Is anyone doing the following as an interim step?

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/bobgerman/2018/04/12/using-sharepoint-permissions-in-microsoft-teams-channels/

My only concern is that MS reset something at some point and all the restrictions are removed.
Anonymous commented · June 20, 2018 12:09 · Flag as inappropriate

isn't this just the same functionality as a sub site in SharePoint? it seems as though you can leverage the code from that to speed this improvement to Teams along. it makes me wonder if anything at all is [really] being done. does the different applications teams talk to each other to SHARE and COLLABORATE within Microsoft?! #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmm
Álvaro Reverte commented · June 20, 2018 03:09 · Flag as inappropriate

I think it would be a very good idea to make the channels visible or not visible, at the owners' option. I especially see it for groups of the class type. It would allow to have each channel as a theme, which becomes visible as it is prepared, keeping hidden those that have not yet been seen in the course. It would be a space of "visible" "not visible" as in Moodle.
Thank you.
Craig commented · June 19, 2018 21:58 · Flag as inappropriate

this would be very helpful to have, we are deploying teams to our staff and this is the first thing they ask for!! SUPER SUPER IMPORTANT!!!
Blah commented · June 19, 2018 11:25 · Flag as inappropriate

We're still using Slack until Teams private channels are available...
Fabián Pertúz commented · June 19, 2018 09:25 · Flag as inappropriate

Why Microsoft takes so long to implement this, DiscordApp was the first thing he did.

This function is becoming a headache, all the information of the company is waiting for much to come out. The entire organization will be structured based on this.
Mike Gendreau commented · June 19, 2018 08:27 · Flag as inappropriate

We get asked about permissions in Teams all the time! Private channels are a must! Please get this done. People hate having to create multiple teams when a simple private channel would get the job done.
Anonymous commented · June 18, 2018 14:09 · Flag as inappropriate

"We’re aiming for early next calendar year (2018) if development and testing go well."

Microsoft, November 2017.

_________________________

?
Steve Plemmons commented · June 18, 2018 10:46 · Flag as inappropriate

We are finding example after example where this would make Teams much more usable for us. It just doesn't makes sense most of the time to create another team to control permissions.
Mike commented · June 15, 2018 13:08 · Flag as inappropriate

Had to create multiple teams again today just to split out the managers of a certain team from the actual team. wouldn't have to have so many teams if we had private channels... :(
Anonymous commented · June 14, 2018 12:38 · Flag as inappropriate

"We’re aiming for early next calendar year (2018) if development and testing go well."

Microsoft, November 2017.

___________________

Did development and testing not go well?
Anonymous commented · June 14, 2018 10:37 · Flag as inappropriate

Thanks for the vague response Warren. Zero help or insight.
Anonymous commented · June 14, 2018 07:59 · Flag as inappropriate

Teams work toward a common goal...that much we all agree. But teams also produce outputs, and potentially iterate those outputs. Those outputs need to be shared with select colleagues in other teams so they can provide value. MSTeams currently has no way (that I can find) to reasonably setup the selective sharing or shared access to such outputs.
Maybe private channels is the answer, or many just publishing folders to other teams for r/o access?
Jorge commented · June 13, 2018 18:56 · Flag as inappropriate

I vote for this
Josh King commented · June 13, 2018 16:30 · Flag as inappropriate

This is such a common question there is a "Create a private channel" item on the Microsoft Teams help center with the answer: "We don't currently have private channels, but we're working on it. To keep things private in the meantime, you can create a new team and invite a more select audience."

Microsoft Teams / Teams and channels / Work in channels / Create a private channel

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/create-a-private-channel-in-teams-60ef929a-4d68-418b-bf4f-5784db184ec9?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US
Jason commented · June 13, 2018 14:57 · Flag as inappropriate

Just started our migration to Microsoft 365 and bashed right into this issue... our compliance person was NOT amused.

Everything on hold until this is done.
Allen Price commented · June 13, 2018 14:29 · Flag as inappropriate

Seems to me that the significant difference in votes between this and the 2nd most vote topic should tell Microsoft to hurry up on this.
Mark Knipp commented · June 13, 2018 12:32 · Flag as inappropriate

Seriously, It has been 2 years. Lets make it happen already.