Teams data under General or individual Channel folders...best practice?

[Pete Rullman]

I found similar posts about file/folder structure, use of metadata, etc...but looking to find what the typical consensus is when using teams around where to store files when looking to use multiple channels and possibly remove/update those as to not get too many...i.e. a channel today may not be needed 6 months from now so would like to 'hide' it but not remove the data. Just delete the channel and it leaves the folder and data alone...then Restore that deleted channel if I want it to appear again?

Should I just let the channel folder be the repository for that channel or create a structure under General and reference what I can into that structure from the Channel....therefore using the Channel as a simple presentation layer to the data contained under General. Probably overthinking this, but hate getting data in too many places as it confuses users.

Thanks,

Pete

[#2 · Accepted solution]

We try to educate users to use Teams as collaboration, and they either use General with sub folders as their "Check-in" or final document repository, or we create another library for those final resting place for documents with metadata. We'll also usually have a communication site with a document library open to the org for their "Public" documents and then just add cloud storage to these locations in the general channel, but it's really up to how the individual Teams work. I just give them those few options and let them decide what works best for them.

[#3]

So basically a process of using the Team's channel-created folders as the working location and then a move to the final folder once determined is complete and any old/un-needed files associated with the working channel removed (or theoretically kept somewhere if needed).

[#4]

I try engraining in people's head with Office 365 the whole "Single source of Truth" for documents. Always use Move, unless there is a specific reason to keep a separate copy.