SOLVED

Delete Posts from General Channel

Copper Contributor

Hi All,

I know that I can not delete a general channel but I would like to delete posts to clean it up.  Currently, when I click the "..." on a post the delete option is not available.  I have read in other threads that this option needs to be turned on but I can not find instructions for doing so. I contacted my IT department and they can't seem to find this option either.  Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

30 Replies
There is an option in messsging policies In the Teams admin center that allow owners to delete messages in a Team. That needs enabled and slot need to make sure it’s enabled on the specific teams settings tab. Once both of these are on you should be able to delete all messages on that team assuming you are an owner.

Hi Chris,

 

Could you be more specific as to where the settings are to enable an Owner to delete threads in Posts tabs?  I have gone through all settings in both 365 Admin for Teams and the specific Team itself, and I still do not have the ability to clear the conversations.

 

For some context, a small group of three of us are familiarizing ourselves with Teams before we roll it out to our company.  We set up a Team site that we intend to use for a set of projects.  On the General tab, there has become a very lengthy string of actions we've made and test meetings and conversations, all in our process of checking out Teams and getting the site set the way we want it for the project group.  I'd rather not have the Posts tabs cluttered with our changing this, renamed that, created this, made that person an owner, test, replying to test, etc.  Further, how do I disable all the action notifications (changes, etc)?

 

As an owner in Teams, and the owner of our company, I am baffled by the difficulty in cleaning up all this clutter.  It's overwhelming and is not a good look for our professional presentation of Teams to our people.

 

Please help!

 

Thank you,

 

Bill

 

@Chris Webb 

Messaging policy first need to be enabled: https://admin.teams.microsoft.com/policies/messaging/
'Owners can delete sent messages' is one that enables the ability to set at the Team level that owners can delete messages per Team setting.

It takes time for this to apply, but without it, the options in the Manage Team > Settings Tab will not appear.

AHA!

 

I didn't know the change took time to go into effect.  Now, the "Owners can delete all messages" checkbox is visible and checked.  "Delete" now shows up in the "..." for the messages.  At some point, does the "This message has been deleted" bit go away?  I'm looking to produce a clean slate.

 

So also for the clean slate, how does one get rid - and stay rid - of all the action updates (things changed, things created, etc.)?

 

Thank you,

 

Bill

 

@Chris Webb 

Yes, the message will go away, it only shows for you as well. As for system messages, can't do anything about them unfortunately. It's a long standing pain for many admin's.

@Chris Webb It's on its way Chris! ;) https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/35515990-users-added-to-team-l...

 

@Bill_Hall several similar are merged into the above UserVoice.

Thanks, Chris.

 

I wonder why the developers haven't made it a priority to fix what seems like a pretty simple disable feature to add.  I've read all the ranting.  It surely can't be complicated to do.

 

Best,

 

Bill

 

@Chris Webb 

That's great news.  I and apparently many others will appreciate the attention to the issue.

 

Thank you.

 

@ChristianBergstrom 

@Chris Webb


@Chris Webb wrote:
Messaging policy first need to be enabled: https://admin.teams.microsoft.com/policies/messaging/

@Chris Webb The link takes me to something that doesn't exist... Am I doing something wrong or do I need different privileges? 

Hello @Chris Webb 

 

I manage an organization's Microsoft Teams platforms. And was trying to updated my settings to enable and disable few settings. As I was trying to update those organization wide settings, by default Microsoft Link - takes me to the Teams account which I am not using. But has the same email address. You shared updating and moderating policies for members using this link - https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams/delete-posts-from-general-channel/td-p/125025...

 

On other platforms like Azure, I can switch between directories and I am trying to access my current Teams account, so I can update the settings. Let me know if you or someone can guide me as we noticed some Spam messages and old messages of folks who currently aren't associated with the organization anymore. And also trying to understand how to add and remove users from the organization as they seem to appear on the organization chat locations or general groups. 

 

Thank you for your help!

@Chris Webb I can't get into that page. Is that available in free version of Microsoft Teams?

@Chris Webb the link takes me to 

"The page you are looking for doesn't exist.

Please check the URL to make sure it's correct. Try refreshing the page or return back to the Teams admin center dashboard."

Any tip?

best response confirmed by ThereseSolimeno (Microsoft)
Solution
Still works for me, use an in-private browser window, if not then go to your Office 365 admin portal, and click Teams admin, and messaging policies. If it still doens't show anything, something is up with your DNS / network for your ISP / Region

@Chris Webb Can you help at all please.

 

I am trying to tidy up our teams 'posts' in the General channel, to put it into context, we have 20 people posting throughout the day and i have been tasked with deleting everything outside of the previous week.

 

I am the owner so able to delete other colleagues posts, however, at the moment i am having to delete each posts and then the replies which is laborious and very time consuming.  Is there anyway that i can delete multiple posts at the same time?  Or clear the history totally?

 

Many thanks in advance  

@Chris Webb I have enabled my messaging policy to allow owner deletes.  I have also enabled owner deletes on the site.  I was able to delete several messages in the General channel except for the last two.

 

On those when I click the ellipses the delete option is there but greyed out.  I added a test message afterwards and it too has the word delete greyed out.

 

Any ideas what I need to do to delete these messages?

 

Thanks.

@LozzaD @ChrisWebb 

 

I have the same question trying to delete old posts and replies takes along time. Any update on how this can be accomplished in bulk?

 

@Chris Webb I am new to the support of Teams. This problem has not been resolved. I have people tell me various options and they were either not applicable to me or what I have already tried.

If this has stumped the community is there a way to get to those in the know?

Please let me know.

Thanks.

@RickB710 

I think you can delete now that STream is no longer used....

Select the video in the Posts chat, Open in One Drive, then delete from there.

 

How about how to delete posts from bots, e.g. SharePoint News Connector and others? How can these posts be deleted please?
1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by ThereseSolimeno (Microsoft)
Solution
Still works for me, use an in-private browser window, if not then go to your Office 365 admin portal, and click Teams admin, and messaging policies. If it still doens't show anything, something is up with your DNS / network for your ISP / Region

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