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7 reasons to use Micorosft Teams Channels

Microsoft Team Channels

We’ve be using teams since 2019 and still believe it is one of the best productivity tools Microsoft have to offer. More importantly we’ve been using Team Channels from the beginning and continue to do so daily.

We speak to many people about Teams and more often than not we hear:

“Yes, we’re using Teams all the time, for meetings and conversations and sharing the odd file.”

When asked how much time they spend working in Team Channels things go a little quieter. “once a week”, “hardly ever”, “what are Channels?”

And that’s when we realise a huge trick has been missed.

Channels are the heartbeat of Microsoft Teams

You can have channels based on different aspects of the business for example projects, departments, processes, customers, suplpiers etc

Contact us about Microsoft Team Channels

It’s always easier to contact us via email rather than phone. We’re out training most days of the week

How can Microsoft Team Channels benefit you, your team and your organisation?

  • Channels foster teamwork, transparency and openness throughout teams and organisations.
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  • They allow quick and easy conversations amongst team members all grouped by topic and instantly retrievable.
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  • You can collaborate seamlessly on Excel, PowerPoint and Word and in Loop with editable and portable content.
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  • You can chat and collaborate with suppliers and customers in real time.
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  • You can access Microsoft 365 applications including Planner, Power BI, One Note, Excel, To Do, Approvals and hundreds of third-party applications including Salesforce, Sage, Asana and Kanban
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  • All past information instantly available to new team members
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  • Many organisations use Channels to reduce or eliminate internal email. 

It’s not just somewhere to go to join a meeting and then close it when the meeting is over; you could work in Teams all day.  It’s a place to exchange ideas, share information, and create human connections. It’s where people work before, during, and after a meeting, and it supports all the different ways people engage and collaborate together.

Let’s go in to Teams Channels in a lot more detail now.

Produced by Microsoft CoPilot

Microsoft Teams is a communication and collaboration platform that allows you to chat, call, share files, and work with other apps in one place. Teams is organized into teams and channels, which are the main ways to group your conversations and files.

What are teams and channels?

A team is a collection of people, conversations, files, and tools that are related to a specific topic or project. For example, you can create a team for your department, project, or class. Within a team, you can create channels to organise your communication and collaboration by subtopics or tasks. For example, you can create a channel for announcements, a channel for brainstorming, or a channel for feedback.

How to create a team and a channel?

To create a team, you need to have the permission to do so from your organization. If you have the permission, you can follow these steps:

  • On the left side of the Teams app, click on Teams.
  • At the top of the Teams list, click on + Create and join teams or channels
  • Click on Create a team.
  • Choose a team type 
  • Give your team a name and a description.
  • Add members and owners to your team.
  • Click on Create.

To create a channel, you need to be a member or an owner of a team. If you are, you can follow these steps:

  • On the left side of the Teams app, click on Teams.
  • Select the team where you want to create a channel.
  • At the top of the team page, click on More options (the three dots).
  • Click on Add channel.
  • Give your channel a name and a description.
  • Choose the privacy settings for your channel. You can make it standard, which means anyone in the team can see and join it, or private, which means only invited members can see and join it.
  • Click on Add.

How to use channels?

Channels are where you can chat, call, share files, and work with other apps in Teams. You can use channels to:

  • Start or join a conversation with your team members. You can use the Posts tab to send messages, reply to messages, mention people, use emojis, stickers, and GIFs, and more.
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  • Start or join a meeting with your team members. You can use the Meet button at the top right of the channel to schedule a meeting, start an instant meeting, or join a meeting. You can also use the Calendar tab to see your upcoming meetings and join them from there.
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  • Share and access files with your team members. You can use the Files tab to upload, download, edit, and delete files. You can also create and open files from other apps, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
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  • Use and add other apps to your channel. You can use the Apps tab to see and open the apps that are already added to your channel, such as Planner, Forms, or Stream. You can also 
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  • use the More options (the three dots) button at the top right of the channel to add more apps, such as YouTube, Wikipedia, or Polly.

Conclusion

Microsoft Teams channels are a great way to organise your communication and collaboration with your team members. You can create and join channels, chat, call, share files, and work with other apps in one place. To learn more about Teams and channels get in touch