Overview of Teams and Channels in Microsoft Teams

Teams and Channels in Microsoft Teams: Overview

This overview of teams and channels in Microsoft Teams explains the terms “teams” and “channels” within Microsoft Teams. A team in Microsoft Teams is a group of people connected by a common purpose, such as work or shared interests. Teams let users chat, meet, call, and share information to achieve goals.

Teams contain channels. Channels are the places where team conversations occur. Channels can be standard and visible to everyone on the team, or private and accessible only by specific team members. By default, every Team contains a “General” channel. You can create channels for different projects, departments, and topics for a team.

At the top of each channel is a series of tabs. These tabs let members access content and services in the channel. For example, to see the files shared in a channel, click the “Files” tab at the top of the channel. The “Posts” tab of a channel contains a history all the channel’s public conversations. You can customize the row of tabs by adding and removing tabs in a channel, which we’ll look at later in this course.

If managing a lot of channels, you can filter them. You can also pin frequently used or important channels to the top of the channels list to make finding them easier. When managing teams, channels, chats, and other items in Microsoft Teams, you often use the “More options” ellipsis that appear to the right of the item. You can click the “More options” ellipsis to view the menu choices from which to select.

Teams and Channels in Microsoft Teams: Instructions

1. A team in Microsoft Teams is a group of people connected by a common purpose.
2. Teams are comprised of channels, where conversations occur. Channels can be standard and visible to everyone on the team or private and accessible only by specific team members.
3. At the top of each channel is a series of tabs which provide members access to content and services within the dedicated environment of a channel or a chat.
4. To view the contents of a tab, click it.
5. When managing teams, channels, chats, and other items in Microsoft Teams, you often use the “More options” ellipsis that appear to the right of the item to view the menu choices from which to select.
6. To view the menu of options for an item, click the “More options” ellipsis to its right.

Teams and Channels in Microsoft Teams: Video Lesson

The following video lesson, titled “Overview of Teams and Channels,” provides an overview of teams and channels in Microsoft Teams. This video lesson is from our complete Teams tutorial, titled “Mastering Teams Made Easy.”