Channels visibility
See all channels inside a teams in the left panel under the Team's Name

Currently we have Teams defaulted to show you the first (up to five) channels ever created. If you want to add more channels to your left rail view, just click the ellipses next to the channel name and select “Favorite”. When you favorite the channel, it will then be “pinned” to your left rail under that team name.
Try that and let me know if that meets your needs!
Suphatra
80 comments
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RJ commented
Why is there a limit to the number of channels that can be shown? Surely this should be up to the team to manage themselves.
Trying to locate hidden channels is exhausting and inefficient.
Users should be able to pin favourites to the top of their channel list, but the owners should be able to decide whether to automatically show them or not. -
Anonymous commented
Hi, I am trying to create a new channel in teams called XYZ, however I keel getting an error saying this name already exists. There are no hidden chanells by the name in this specific MS Teams group. Can someone help please?
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Tammi commented
I went to the SharePoint backend site and for the channel I want to keep private I chose to "Manage Permissions" then removed read and edit permissions for the group team members, only allowing group owners to have access to the channel.
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Bill Price commented
When I go to the Team dashboard and select "channel," I can check/uncheck the show/hide box for team members but not for myself! and I created the team? Is there a fix?
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Becky commented
I have a similar question to Belinda's below (I didn't see a response...). I would like to be able to plan content in different channels ahead of time but not show the channel to the class right away. Is there a way to hide channels from students in your class (not just label them as "hidden")?
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Anonymous commented
Jessica and Heather: You can't favorite a channel if the channel, or the team it belongs to, is hidden. Maybe that's the problem?
Simon: if you want to unhide a channel, you shouldn't click on the channel name, but on 'show' behind the name. That way the channel will become and stay visible again. -
Jessica commented
I'm having the exact same problem as Heather Herttna, comment from Heather copied below:
"I am unable to favorite a channel I just created (there is no option in the more options to do so) and I also cannot get the channel to 'show'. When I click on the more options, and then click on 'show' I just get an error message saying 'Couldn't show [channel name]. Try again.' (Trying again does nothing). I also created the channel to be always shown, but that obviously didn't work either. Something needs to be fixed here."
I've also attached a screenshot of the errors. I can "show for members" but it won't let me click the "show for me" without an error.
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Heather Herttna commented
I am unable to favorite a channel I just created (there is no option in the more options to do so) and I also cannot get the channel to 'show'. When I click on the more options, and then click on 'show' I just get an error message saying 'Couldn't show [channel name]. Try again.' (Trying again does nothing). I also created the channel to be always shown, but that obviously didn't work either. Something needs to be fixed here.
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Belinda commented
I wonder - can I create a channel and hide it, until I want the members to see it? Or is it just hidden in my list? Because they seem to be able to write comments below a hidden channel - and I don't want that. I want to be able to prepare a class, and post it when I'm done.
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Heidi commented
I teach grade 3. Hiding channels is a problem. I need all channels shown or else kids can't find them.
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Simon W commented
We are experiencing an issue where channels don't stay shown despite how many times the user tries to do this. When the user clicks on the channels they disappear again.
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Darren Murdoch commented
I agree, would like to have to option to limit the visible channels for each Team. Especially in an education environment.
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Anonymous commented
Any work arounds for this?
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Arba commented
This needs get fixed sooner than asap.
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Anonymous commented
This is a change that needs to be made ASAP. There is really no reason to limit it. Let those creating the teams decide how many should be seen. This should be a quick fix. Please address.
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Anonymous commented
We also had a problem with this today. CEO of company has created various channels to get input on...no one responded so he was getting irritated. Can we please get some admin control over this!?!?!
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Anonymous commented
I have many users who are confused that channels are "hidden" at all. They have no idea what is being posted under those channels and are missing important notifications. I agree with everyone else that all channels should be displayed automatically and let the user decide which ones to "hide" for themselves. Otherwise, you have nothing but confusion for the users that are new to Teams.
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slpner commented
Did the option to show all channels disappear? It seems Teams is not automatically hiding channels it thinks aren't being used, which is a complete disaster. Can anybody help with this - how do you force Teams to show all channels by default and not try to "tidy up" by auto-hiding channels.
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rob geach commented
since the official response is woefully outdated and irrelevant, try this instead:
-Highlight the "Team" you want to change channel visibility for your team members.
-Click the "...", then "Manage team", then the "Channels" heading.
-Under "Show for members" toggle a checkmark in every channel you want to be visible by defaultThis requires ownership of the Team. If you are only a member of the Team you will only see checkmark options for "Show for me" and can use the location to show/hide all the channels in that team in a pseudo-batching method where at least you don't have to click the "..." for each individual channel.
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Anonymous commented
Hiding things adds a layer of obfuscation and will discourage our new users from using teams, they need simplicity and clarity.