Remove or hide the general channel

[Megan Pritchard]

I came into Teams to set up a space for our team (obviously :)) after having a play around, I realized the general conversation was full of crap. I couldn't remove these comments which looked very messy and maybe confusing for some of our staff. So instead, I removed all of my tabs I had set up and started a new channel called "Team". But now general is still sitting there with an ugly conversation string!

How can I hide or remove this channel completely? Or even just clean out the conversation tab? If a new channel has been created, I don't see why this default one should continue to sit there.

I have resisted rolling this out to my wider team until this has been fixed.

[#2]

This isn't going to happen for a long time if ever cause it's not technically broken. They have recently made changes to the options so that only owners can post in a general channel, you should look into setting this option when creating Teams, but currently there isn't a way to default them off. If your an owner you can go and delete all messages if the setting is on, but you have to manually clean up all the conversations that have happened.

Also you say a new channel should remove the default one that doesn't make sense since more than one channel should exist usually in Teams. there isn't just a single chat channel that is used, there is multiple channels for multiple subject/projects etc. that can be used with their own tabs / connections / bots etc.

[#3]

Hi @Deleted 

I"m really struggling with the General tab myself. It has no meaning. What's general? What does it mean to each team member? I want to rename it to Do Not Use. For me it would be better if a newly created team came wtih a renamable default channel. I also want to hold off rolling out teams or demonstrating them to my workplace because each person i show Teams to says "oh what's all that?" Its offputting seeing that mess of chat. I quickly click away from it as i'm trying to win them over not scare them away. 

[#4]

@Deleted I agree with these posts the Conversations area is what I am the most concerned about as we roll out Teams. Why isn't Chat a separate panel that I can close? I don't want it in my navigation. I want it to be discreet, like it is when I am shopping the web. I choose to chat then I put it away. I don't want to see it every time I enter my Teams area. 

[#5]

@Megan PritchardThis problem does need to be fixed. Simply adding the option to hide the general folder should be an easy task.

[#6]

@mandynoar I would like to know how, if you ever, resolved it. This is bugging me and making me change my mind. The guests I have added into private channels are able to see all my actions in that team because of this channel. They can even see the contact details of all my members and other guests in there. It's just unspeakable. Why would you do such a thing? What is the purpose of letting us add guests, but not being able to hide stuff from them?

[#7]

I completely agree with this post. My "general" page looks horrible. I have no way to get rid of a massive list of "who I've added" and whatnot. I can't even pin a nice looking announcement to the top of the page.

My organisation is confused when looking the General Page.

If I could delete it I would, but I can't even move a different channel to take the "landing page" position. I feel like there MUST be some solution to this that I just haven't heard about.

Sorry for the rant, but I do find this irritating.

[#8]

Completely my point. I want it to work like a mini Intranet not a tracking of my posts and our conversations. I would love the chat feature to be a pop out as well.

[#9]

Agree with @Megan Pritchard  and everyone else here.

Completely useless channel, no one uses it, in any of the teams I'm in. Let us hide it.

[#10]

Agree 100% @Clounie 

Teams has lots of potential but still has a long way to go before it matches some of the other cloud based collaborative services on offer. 

[#11]

@Glen Schaefer  I agree with this situation. There should be ability for the Team site owner to archive or purge posts of General channel or Rename General channel thats more meaningful for the team structure. Any workaround will be greatly appreciated. 

[#12]

Dear @Megan Pritchard 

Make Headings

1. Remember - the bottom of the General page is what everyone sees.

2. Pick a "conversation" (comment) that you like - and reply to it. This will automatically bring something that you want to the bottom (most visible part) of the general page.

3. I am a teacher - so I want the students to take note when I speak. So start a new conversation and click on the A for text editing underneath the conversation box.  This opens up the conversation box - so you can write in paragraphs and you/it automatically gives it a heading.

4. If you really want your information to stand out - go further and make an "announcement". (Open conversation as in 3. In the top left hand corner under "new conversation" there is an arrow to open up "announcement"). This will give a huge banner headline with very large text to grab their attention.

5. Insert some pictures/text/links that you think are appropriate

6. You could, if needs be declare "The rules of the forum" and explicitly say what you want/expect and you should find the novelty of silly posting wears off.

[#13]

I also would love to see a fix for this. It's the system notifications in particular that are so messy - they create a lot of noise and cannot be removed so are visible to all. It would also be useful to have a 'pinned post' functionality or a meaningful home page area.

[#14]

@Megan Pritchard 

I agree the General is just a mess. I want this to act more like a website and file repostory for my teams to get files from sharepoint and chat within each desired section. 

IE 

1. Vendor-Support

• 0001_Leica-Geosystems_Software
• 0002_Leica-Geosystems_Firmware
• 0003_Leica-Geosystems_Updates

each area could leave remarks or be directed for teams. Also when syncing down to the computers are sharepoint I want it to be clean. 

I DO NOT WANT -

• 1.Vendor-Support_0001_Leica-Geosystems_Software

I want -

• 0001_Leica-Geosystems_Software

[#15]

Hello all - if you scroll down to the 6-08-2020 response of this post, you'll see that there's finally progress in this area:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams/how-can-we-hide-the-user-has-joined-left-the-...

There was also a recent tweet from Laurie Pottmeyer:  https://twitter.com/lauriepottmeyer/status/1270133153080897537?s=19

[#16]

@Megan Pritchard 

The original request asking for users to have the control to remove / delete / hide the "General" channel in Teams in now several years old. And nothing has happened. Is this discussion group actually monitored by Microsoft? I would also like to have the option to delete or remove the General channel. Is there somewhere where we can ask Microsoft Directly?

[#17]

@GoceR I was never able to warm staff to Teams. Having a meaningless General Channel and the Chat in General that is full of confusing and ridiculously unimportant stuff like you added an app you thought looked good, but really wasn't made it look like a whole lot of white noise. The first thing I had to say when presenting was "oh, just ignore this channel, its not about us, its a default I can't get rid of". 

During Covid we did use Teams to communicate with each other. We used an All Staff team where we got updates from our CEO. We set up a few teams for WHS and CQI but they never stuck. So, we use Chat and Calls but not really the Teams module of Teams. We use SharePoint for all else. 

[#18]

@Megan Pritchard 

I have the same issue I would like to get rid of the channel name General or at least be able to rename it.