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Types of Teams Channels
Channels are dedicated sections within a team to keep conversations and files organized by specific topics, projects, disciplines and more! Files that you share in a channel, or upload to your Team files area will be stored in SharePoint.
There are 3 types of channels that you can create based on your
- Private Channels limit the number of users who have access or see a channel within the team. So subsections of the Team members can collaborate on particular projects or responsibilities without the rest of the team getting notifications.
- Shared Channels can allow you to collaborate with other teams and share files, have conversations and more.
- Standard Channels allow any member of the team to collaborate, and update projects, or start and reply to conversations within the channel.
Channel Feature Comparison
| Features | Standard Channel | Private Channel | Shared Channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| People can be added to the channel without adding them to the team | No | No | Yes |
| Channel membership can be limited to a subset of the team | No | Yes | Yes |
| Channel can be shared directly with other teams | No | No | Yes |
| Channel can be shared directly with it’s parent team | N/A | NO | Yes |
| Guests can participate in the channel | Yes | Yes | No |
| External Participants (B2B Direct Connect) can participate in the channel | No | No | Yes |
| Moderation | Yes | No | No |
| Copy link to channel | Yes | No | No |
| Each channel has a dedicated SharePoint Site | No | Yes | Yes |
| Scheduled Meetings | Yes | No | Yes |
| Planner | Yes | No | No |
| Bots, connectors, and messaging extensions | Yes | No | No |
| Supported in Class Teams | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tags | Yes | No | No |
| Analytics | Yes | Yes | No |
Channel Policies
| Policy | Description |
|---|---|
| Create Private Channels | When On, team owners and members can create private channels. (Team owners can control if members can create private channels in each team.) |
| Create Shared Channels | When On, team owners can create shared channels. Teams apps that are available for your organization are also available in shared channels. |
| Invite external users to shared channels | When On, owners and members of shared channels can invite external participants from organizations where a cross-organization trust has been configured. Teams policies for your organization apply to these channels. |
| Join external shared channels | When On, users can participate in shared channels created by other organizations where a cross-organization trust has been configured. Teams policies for the other organization apply to these channels. |