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In general, channel owners are able to share their channels with others in and outside their organization if they wish to.
Note: There will be some changes to the shared channels during the public preview phase and these changes might need to be made before they are released to the general public. It is important that you switch to the public preview version of Teams to be able to access this feature and others upcoming.
How to share a channel with people
- To share a channel with other people, go to the page of the channel and click the More options button.
- If you want to share the channel with certain people within your organization, choose who they are, and then type their names into the text area where their names can be found. Alternatively, you can select a list of people from your organization that you would like to share with and enter their email addresses. Click on the Share button when you are done.
- Select the little down arrow next to the Membership field, and then choose the Owner option if you wish to change that membership status from Member to Owner. Click on the Close button to close the window.
Note: Users outside of your organization cannot join a group that is shared with others outside of your organization.
When you share a channel with people, they get a notification and can access the channel right away.
Note: A shared channel can only be created by the admin of the channel if the B2B direct connect feature has been enabled before anyone outside the company can be added to the channel. In addition, you can find more information on how to work with external participants in a channel in the section Collaboration with external participants.
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Channel owners have the option of sharing their channels with other people both inside and outside of their organization.
Note: The shared channels will undergo some changes during the public preview phase and there might be some changes that need to be made before the shared channels are released to the general public after the public preview phase has ended. This feature and other upcoming features will only be available to you if you switch to Teams public preview in order to take advantage of it.
How to share a channel with people
- Click on the channel name at the top of your screen when you are on the channel you want to share, and then tap it.
- Select the Manage members option from the menu.
- Add members to your group by tapping the Add members button.
- The recipients of the channel you wish to share with in your organization, should be typed into the box, followed by their names. Please type their email addresses into the email box and choose the person you want to share with from the list if you would like to share with someone outside of your organization.
- Don’t forget to tap Done when you are done.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you share channels between Teams?
It is a default setting in Teams that shared channels are enabled. Channel policies can be set up so people are able to decide whether or not channels will be shared internally, whether they can share them outside the organization, and whether or not they will be able to participate in channels that have been shared externally as well.
How do you mention an entire channel in a team?
In order to send a message to all members of the general channel, you need to type @general. Using @team, you can notify every member of that team. To send a message to everyone in a particular channel, use the @channel command.
Can you add people to a channel that aren’t in the team?
In Microsoft Teams, it is not possible to invite people to private channels if they are not members of the main team, and the main team does not allow you to invite them. This is because people that are not on the main team are not allowed to join a private channel. A private channel cannot be added directly to a private channel without one of the persons involved in the private channel also being a member of the general channel.
What is a team vs a channel in Microsoft Teams?
There is nothing more important to an organization than teamwork and getting something done as a group. In some cases, it could be the entire organization that is affected. A team is composed of channels in which a conversation takes place between teammates, which is what makes up a team conversation. Typically, a channel is dedicated to one or more specific topics, departments, or projects within the company.