Support for Private Channels

Private channels enable focused private collaboration among a subset of your team. You can find detailed information on the capabilities and management of the private channels feature here - https://docs.microsoft.com/MicrosoftTeams/private-channels. Note: Work to release for the government clouds is in progress.

There are four other types of channel functionality on our backlog that we will continue to track – feel free to upvote and/or comment on the items listed next to each:
- Channel only members: to enable collaboration with people outside the team in a specific channel, without granting them access to the team itself. The channel member could be someone in your organization, or external to your organization (guest). https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/31374577
- Shared channels within an organization: allow people in different teams to collaborate on a shared project or v-team in the context of their own teams. A channel can be shared across teams in the same organization https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/18615565
- Shared channels across organizations: allow people in an organization other than yours to collaborate on a shared project or v-team. https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/32987917
- Public channels: to provide an outbound communication window for a team to engage with everyone in an organization. These channels are accessible to everyone in their tenant, without needing to join. https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/34154851

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Angela Sze shared this idea · Nov 1, 2016 · Flag idea as inappropriate… · Admin →

completed ·

AdminAlex (Teams Engineering, Microsoft Teams) responded · Nov 6, 2019

Private channels enable focused private collaboration among a subset of your team. We are super excited to share that this feature is fully rolled out to the public ring. You can find detailed information on the capabilities and management of the private channels feature here – https://docs.microsoft.com/MicrosoftTeams/private-channels.
There are four other types of channel functionality on our backlog – feel free to upvote and/or comment on the UV items listed next to each:
- Channel only members: to enable collaboration with people outside the team in a specific channel, without granting them access to the team itself. https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/31374577
- Shared channels within an organization: allow people in different teams to collaborate on a shared project or v-team in the context of their own teams. https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/18615565
- Shared channels across organizations: allow people in an organization other than yours to collaborate on a shared project or v-team. https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/32987917
- Public channels: to provide an outbound communication window for a team to engage with everyone in an organization. These channels are accessible to everyone in their tenant, without needing to join. https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/34154851

Thanks – and we hope you love your Private channels experience!

~ Alex & the Teams team

Show previous admin responses (19)

great news! ·

AdminAlex (Teams Engineering, Microsoft Teams) responded · Nov 4, 2019

As we announced today at Microsoft Ignite 2019, we are thrilled to announce that Private channels is coming to Microsoft Teams. Private channels enable focused private collaboration among a subset of your team.

Private channels will be rolling out over the coming week, so if you don’t see it yet, hang tight!

Thanks,
Alex & the Teams team

working on it ·

AdminAlex (Teams Engineering, Microsoft Teams) responded · Jul 3, 2019

We acknowledge the customer demand for Private Channels and have been hard at work on it. Private Channels is currently in preview with a select group of customers. We expect to release the feature to the public later this Fall, and will update here when we are starting to roll out to all customers. We appreciate all the feedback you have provided to us on this forum and thank you for your patience.

~Alex

working on it ·

AdminAlex (Teams Engineering, Microsoft Teams) responded · Feb 4, 2019

Hi Everyone – thank you for your patience. As was commented by someone below, Suphatra is no longer at Microsoft, but rest assured we are working on this feature.

~ Alex

needs your feedback ·

Suphatra responded · Oct 17, 2018

Hey Microsoft Teams users — I want you to weigh in on new features around channels and group chats. The engineering team and I have put together this survey to find out how you want to see channels improve. You can fill it out here: https://microsoft.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_esTxHdABLQxKLvn

And I’m still waiting on approval to get you a good update about Private Channels. I can say that we ARE working on it, fervently.

working on it ·

Suphatra responded · Sep 27, 2018

Hey guys, guess who’s back from maternity leave? Your favorite Teams PM, Suphatra! I’ve been back for a few weeks and catching up on where we’re at in Engineering.

Private channels is still actively in development, and I am hoping I’ll be given clearance to share with you some more details. What would be great is if you can post in this thread any specific questions you have about the feature, besides just an inquiry on the release date.

You can also email them to me at sparavi@microsoft.com, as well as any other concerns you might have.

It’s good to be back, and good to be posting on here again. I hope you are all doing well!

Sincerely,
Suphatra

working on it ·

Warren responded · Aug 6, 2018

This feature is still actively being worked upon. I’ll let you know as we get closer to release.
-Warren

working on it ·

Warren responded · Jun 1, 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

working on it ·

Warren responded · Mar 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 ·

Warren responded · Feb 6, 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 ·

Warren responded · Feb 5, 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 ·

Warren responded · Jan 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 ·

Suphatra responded · Nov 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 ·

Suphatra responded · Oct 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 ·

Suphatra responded · Sep 7, 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 ·

Suphatra responded · Jun 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 ·

Suphatra responded · Apr 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 ·

Suphatra responded · Mar 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 ·

Suphatra responded · Feb 8, 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

planned ·

Angela Sze responded · Nov 1, 2016

2112 comments

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Spencey commented · October 4, 2019 7:12 AM · Flag as inappropriate

People. Those who haven't heard. Private channels is due to arrive late october / early november.

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Elin commented · October 4, 2019 4:48 AM · Flag as inappropriate

Any News?
REALLY NEEDED!

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Eric Redegeld commented · October 4, 2019 1:38 AM · Flag as inappropriate

any news on this? school is now going on and this is realy needed

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Nick Beard commented · October 3, 2019 5:11 PM · Flag as inappropriate

Any update on when this will be rolled out?

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Anonymous commented · October 2, 2019 11:56 PM · Flag as inappropriate

Maybe the Teams group works after a modified Gandalf quote: "A feature is never late, nor is it early; it arrives when it is supposed to." :)

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Janeann Perkins commented · October 2, 2019 12:11 PM · Flag as inappropriate

Thank you Alex! Looking forward to that release! :)

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Mattia Libera commented · October 2, 2019 1:04 AM · Flag as inappropriate

The private channel feature was planned to be released in September, but it has been delayed to October.
Please provide a certain release data!
It's too easy to change the release date on the roadmap!!!

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Charlotte commented · October 1, 2019 1:25 PM · Flag as inappropriate

Please provide a release date.We have been waiting months for channel permissions so Teams can be used org-wide.

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Michael Towner commented · October 1, 2019 11:57 AM · Flag as inappropriate

Microsoft Ignite is first week of November, I suspect they are holding all updates until the conference

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Edgar commented · October 1, 2019 7:24 AM · Flag as inappropriate

Are you planning to buy Slack, instead?

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John Heck commented · October 1, 2019 4:54 AM · Flag as inappropriate

How will we know when we have channel security in MS Team?

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Marcin commented · September 30, 2019 11:22 PM · Flag as inappropriate

We are still waiting !

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Loic Boyer commented · September 30, 2019 7:41 AM · Flag as inappropriate

God Darnit, the road map has been quietly updated to have it roll out in october 2018

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Laura Miller commented · September 30, 2019 7:41 AM · Flag as inappropriate

The roadmap now says October instead of September :(. How much longer? It's a game changer for us and will make management SO MUCH EASIER!!! Please give us an update on when we can begin using this feature!

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Pierre-Luc Marquis commented · September 30, 2019 7:22 AM · Flag as inappropriate

Hey Alex, we've received a roadmap that explain this feature will be worldwide by the end of september ... and it's today!
As the project manager for Teams, I need to advice my team when they will have to launch.
Do you have any update?

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Edgar commented · September 30, 2019 5:56 AM · Flag as inappropriate

so? we're still waiting....

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Markus commented · September 30, 2019 5:06 AM · Flag as inappropriate

We cant wait any longer. Will have to cancle our O365 Project and switch to something else.
Feature ist a must have and MS is promissing it for too long.

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박민규 commented · September 29, 2019 11:18 PM · Flag as inappropriate

Hi Alex, How is this private-channel working going on?
We're using MS Teams as working-channel as enterprise level.

I'm sure that many of customers like us need this feature asap.
Thank you.

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Curtis Hicks commented · September 27, 2019 7:50 AM · Flag as inappropriate

The O365 Roadmap up until last week had this projected for Sept but not shows Oct

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Amit commented · September 27, 2019 12:15 AM · Flag as inappropriate

Hi Alex. Can you advise what is the latest on this now? To make certain channels private?

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