Forum Discussion
Team disappears from the side rail if a channel is in the section
This started around the time Communities have been added to the side rail (the one that shows recent chats, all your teams, etc.). I have a setup where i add channels that i need to a section called Favorites and in that section i enable to show only unread. I put this section above chats in Combined view. This way i see channels with unread messages on top and new chats also appear at the top of the Chats section. This way it is easy to notice unread messages without pesky notifications. Because there is no option to limit the size of Chats section (i would prefer it to show only last 10 chats or less). So, my Teams list is usually too far below to see channels with new messages. I had this setup since Combined view was introduced.
But a few weeks ago behavior changed. Now, if a channel is in a section, the whole team is hidden from the side rail and under the Teams section it only shows a link "View all your teams". Which you need to click and it loads list of teams in the main window, then you click on a team and it loads a list of channels and so on. Very slow.
It doesn't make sense to hide entire team if you add one of the channels to some section. I still might need to access other channels and i want it to be at my fingertips, not behind 3 clicks and UI loading time. It even looks more like a bug, but probably not many users run into it as i think sections are not as popular as Microsoft have hoped.
2 Replies
That behavior doesn’t match Microsoft’s documented custom-section model: moving one channel should organize that conversation, while other shown channels remain under Teams and channels. The documented case that hides a team is when all of its channels are hidden.
I’d first clear Unread and any Channels filters. Then select See all your teams, open the affected team, choose See all channels, and select Show for at least one channel other than the one in Favorites. Also check Teams and channels > More options > List options and try a different sort order.
If the team still disappears, switch Customize view from Combined to Separate and back, update Teams, and compare the desktop client with Teams on the web. If web works, this is likely a desktop client-state issue; if both behave the same way, capture the Teams version and screenshots and have your Microsoft 365 admin open a support case. I wouldn’t treat the three-click route as intended without confirmation from Microsoft. Does showing a second channel restore the team?
It behaves the same in the web version. Teams is up to date. I don't use any filters at the top. It is the same with Combined and Separate mode.
I just tested this again in the web version. After this issue started i have decided to get rid of my setup with sections (thanks Microsoft, now even less people use them). So i have removed all channels from my Favorites section and deleted it. Then all my teams started to show again in the side rail. A minute ago i have added one channel to a new section called Test. This team and all channels were still showing. Just when i selected Unread in the section settings, immediately whole team disappeared from the side rail.
So, if you decide that section should only show unread things. And even if you add only one channel out of many from the team into such section, then Teams thinks it should hide the whole team from the UI. It feels like a bug, although i will not be surprised this is by design somehow. As it aligned with Communities being added to the side rail, i am guessing they behave differently and it somehow affected old behavior with channels and sections.
