This article provides an overview of teams and channels in Microsoft Teams.
What is a team?
A team is a collection of people, content, and tools surrounding different projects and outcomes within an organization. A team is designed to bring together a group of people who work closely to get things done. It can be dynamic for project-based work, as well as ongoing, to reflect the internal structure of the organization (e.g. departments and units). Conversations, files, and notes across team channels are only visible to team members.
There are two types of teams that are typically created:
- A general team is ideal for departments, units, organizations, clubs, and interest groups to enhance communication and collaboration with team members, share content, and organize virtual or face-to-face meetings. The team, by default, is private and open only to invited users. A public team option is available so that anyone within the organization can join.
- A classroom team is ideal for faculty-led classes to collaborate and communicate between faculty and students, assigning, tracking, reviewing student work, and administrating quizzes and polls. The team, by default, is private and open only to invited students.
What is a channel?
A team is made up of channels that are comprised of separate conversations and files. Each channel can be dedicated to a specific topic, idea, or project and is where the work actually gets accomplished. There are three types of channels:
- A standard channel is open to all team members. Anything posted is searchable by others on the team.
- A private channel is for discussions that shouldn't be open to all team members, so you must be invited to join one to view it within a team. Files shared in a private channel are only viewable by the members of that private channel and are stored in a separate SharePoint from the rest of the team's files.
- A shared channel is for collaborating with people inside and outside your team or organization. Only people who are owners or members of a shared channel can access it, so you must be invited to join one. Owners of the shared channel can invite or add other teams and members to the shared channel. When a team owner creates a shared channel, that team becomes the host team. A shared channel sits inside a host team.
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