Can't add members to private channels

ChrisHoardMVP The mobile app is extremely well done and easy to use for this!

KristapsEM I have the exact same issue in the mobile app.  The option to add members isn't available.

RuthEClarkJust open Channel in mobile app and add Guest user there. At least it worked for me.

ChrisHoardMVP what is the mobile workaround?  I've created a private channel and can't add the members to it.

CathyOwens - Did you add that guest to the team before adding to the channel ? 

Gerry_Morley Yes, I believe anyone part of the Team can see all Channels within by name. Private channels though are inaccessible if you're not a Member, so the content at least is protected. If I have Private channels in a Team, then all channels within that Team are setup as Private, which was good enough for me. 

Now our approach to the General channel was similar in that I again took an organizational approach and simply do not use it. I set each Team's General channel to "only Owners can post messages", and just left it there. We decided to enforce this across all new Teams, regardless of whether they're open or private. I think the only Team we left open was the main Company Team, which we only have one channel, General. (all employees, anyone can join, anyone can post messages)

In the case of a Private Chanel, anyone added to the Channel can see all the Members and Owners when they click the "i" icon, so make sure you're ok with that. I also believe that anyone who's part of the Team can see the larger collection of Members that may exist across multiple Channels. I haven't found a way to restrict that, and assumed it's simply not possible. Again, just make sure you're ok with Members having the ability to lookup other attendees or just create a separate Team for each group of external Members until Microsoft solves this pretty obvious privacy issue.

ChrisCangero Thanks for that. Does this still give the same issue though where the external users of the private channel will also be able to see the general channel and will also be able to via the "i" icon - see the other guest users added to the Team?

Gerry_Morley I've figured out a direct solution to the issue, facing the same problem myself when we wanted to invite guest BETA testers to interact with and get feedback directly. The idea of deleting and re-adding the Team sounded ludicrous to me, so I kept trying to figure it out.

I was able to find a sequence that works consistently and is a direct solution to the problem you're all facing. I perform some of my steps in the Teams Desktop App and some in the Teams Admin Center. You'll need appropriate permissions, I'm a Global Admin for the domain. I'll post my steps in order:

1. Create a new Team in the Teams App. I created a Microsoft 365 Group for group email distribution, but I believe it will also work setup as a regular blank Team.
2. Once the Team appears in the App, create your custom "Private" Channel. 
3. Click on Manage Team and add a new Member. Enter the Guest's email address, and edit their display name prior to finalizing. Do this for all Guests. Remember, you're adding to the TEAM ONLY.
4. This is usually where adding the newly created user to the Channel fails.  Do not waste your time here any longer. Open the Teams Admin Center and navigate to the Channel itself. 
   1. Teams Admin Center.
   2. Teams.
   3. Manage Team.
   4. Click the Team name itself.
   5. Click the Channels Tab.
   6. Click the Channel Name.
   7. Click the Add button.
   8. Type in the guest user's Display Name.
   9. Select and Apply.
5. Return back to the Teams App, within a few seconds you should be able to verify that the Guest is a Member of both the Team and the Private Channel.
6. You're done.

This should work consistently; I've used this method on three Teams and across 6 Private Channels now. Good luck everyone!

Tried the work around (of setting up a new team with private only channels) and had a lot of trouble trying to add a guest with access to the private channel. You first need to add them as a member to the Team (they will appear as a guest). Then you have to sign out of Teams on the desktop and back in and then you can add them. On occasion this doesn't work and you have to remove the Guest from the Team - add them back and then you can add them as a member to a private channel. The sign out back in trick seems to load a new cache and the new guest is detected when you want to add them.

Also we planned on setting this up for multiple organisations but the downside is in the general tab - there is an "i" information icon and everyone can see all other people with access. So just be very careful and maybe avoid this route if you would rather your external users seeing the names and email address of other external users in the same team (even if this is not the intention and even if you only have provided access to their relevant private channel - everyone will still get access to the "general" channel and team member list). Looks like sharing via a specific SharePoint site might be the best route here.

Hi congnguyengizde I raised this issue again with Microsoft support, but still only work arounds, no timeline on a fix!  The main advice seems to be:

• Add the guest user to Teams via Mobile app
• Remove the guest user from Teams and re-add back the guest user.
• Use the Azure Portal to initially create the Guest users.

We're going to try the last option and see if that works better.

Polson_DeMott ChrisHoardMVP :  I've asked the engineering lead for an update on this bug fix.  It's a holiday week so we might not hear until next week but I'll see what I can find out.

ChrisHoardMVP I am having the same issue nearing the end of 2020. Hopefully, they are able to fix this soon.

ChrisHoardMVP 

The mobile workaround seems to have one major disadvantage. Although I could manage to add TEAM members to a private channel with it these members did not show up for OTHER users in the same channel when they checked the members of the team. Consequently these other users could not TAG the new team members in the chat - which makes the channel highly inefficient.

ChrisHoardMVP  A user within my environment just had this issue crop up. I will have her use your mobile workaround from now on. Thank you.

ChrisHoardMVP 

In My environment we have Guest access enabled, but My CEO can not add even internal members to the channel,the add button is missing,