Sub Channels

[Nesreen]

I would like to ask about the possibility for creating subchannels:

Like the below structure:

- Channel 

     Sub-Channel 1

                    Sub channel 

                    Sub channel  

     Sub-Channel 2

Thanks so much!

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Creating sub channels is not possible and also declined on uservoice:

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/16954120-nested-teams-and-subc...

You can still vote for it and hope for the best :)

When it comes to files only:

From a Sharepoint point of view a channel is just a folder. You can create folders in teams in a channels files tab, organizing files this way. 

[#3]

As Adam pointed out they declined Sub channels. However, in the future, we are getting the ability to move channels to other Teams. Once this happens, when a Team is big enough to where you need channel groupings, it'll make more sense to have a Team for that group / Parent channel that needed sub folders created, and then you can move the channels into that Team and add new ones to get your hierarchy that way.

[#4]

Hi @Nesreen ,

I was just curious how you went with it as I am facing a silimar dillema. I am working on a project-based group which makes the whole thing difficult.

-If I create different teams per department working on the project (i.e. Payroll, HR, etc); they can't share posts or documents with the other teams.

-If I create one big team and create a Channel per department, I can't create a group of people assigned to their respective department "channel". I don't want to @refer to a specific person but to a department so they can all be involved in the conversation

I was hoping that every department could have access to the project main page, files and notify the other departments when a file gets updates for instance; share information or even ask questions to a department i.e."Can @payroll sumitt document X",  so that the people concerned (the whole Payroll department) can be notified when there is an uptade on the post.

Anything you found out that could be helpful?

Thanks!

S

[#5]

If you make sure all users in each departments favorite and follow their respective channel! Then @mention the channel for updates
You can @mention users , channels and the whole team

[#6]

Yeah, Adam is right here. The best thing is to Create a channel, and @mention each user you want to favorite the channel and tell them to do so. Then you can make use of @channel mentions for each group anywhere inside the Team. That is the best you can get currently out of Teams when it comes to cross Team communications.

Hopefully at some point we have some form of "Shared" channels or some kind of other cross Team boundary communication that we can each have in our respective departmental teams etc. but not holding my breath until we see Private channels released first.

[#7]

@adam deltinger that's true but you don't get the wiki and conversations page that you would get with a separate channel.

[#8]

@adam deltinger I respectfully disagree.  That voice question confounded 2 completely different issues "nested teams" and "subchannels".   They are different.  We need the ability to subchannel a channel for the same team just as you would create and track issues in a project.

Thanks.

[#9]

@Nesreen   Yes!!  Microsoft, please create sub channels.  As we move more and more of our work and content into Teams, I find that the limits on Channels is too much.

[#10]

Yes please do
It is one of these decision from Microsoft that makes me think goring with other solutions
Obviously, MS dont use their own product as the would have rapidly discovered that no sub-channel is not usable in real life. I realized sub-channel were a must after a month of utilisation

[#11]

Desperately need subchannels! When a Team needs more thorough organization I now have to create an entirely new Team in order to not have everything crammed into one topic. Subchannels seem like a total no-brainer.

[#12]

@WBrandonRyan 

As we are moving more of our complex day to day work over to Teams, we need Teams to continue to grow-up to keep-up. Sub Channels is a necessary part of this

[#13]

@Jon_Anderson_Sr @Nesreen @WBrandonRyan @MSJ_DSS @mtrudel   The idea for subchannels was proposed in Uservoice two years ago and declined.  However, Microsoft welcomes continued discussion and voting so I suggest you try voting on these items and leaving comments: https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com

There are still many open requests under "subchannels."

[#14]

@ThereseSolimeno 

The link says comments closed and it will not allow me to upvote.

I understand that two years ago this may not have been as big a deal, but in 2020 we are trying to leverage Teams into our enterprises and workflows in ways we never imagined. 

This type of functionality is core to keeping organized and coordinated.

[#15]

Hi @Jon_Anderson_Sr  I edited my previous reply to remove that specific UV item but there are several other items for subchannels in the site so you might find one of those to vote on and comment.  Thank you.

[#16]

This is just soooo irritating that they have just declined it on uservoice. Yes, you can have a voice. Do they care? Not at all. Would it be hard to accomplish the request? I don't think so. Why? Why? We are a company of nearly only 160 people and we need that feature, and I think there are maaany of "little" companies like ours also recon this as a neccesity.

[#17]

That's a needed feature in schools.

We need structure like:
School name --- Group--- classs.

Example:
Saint Gregory School--- 7-1 --- Science.

                                       7-1 --- Math
                                       7-1 --- Languaje.

                                       7-2 --- Science
                                        7-2 --- Math
                                       7-2 --- Languaje.
 Etc..

[#18]

@Chris Webb 

Our Company has over 3500 users... are you suggesting I @ mention each?

Sorry if this comes over as a 'whinge' but is is basically frustration at being unable to do something that most of my audience think should be simple... 'it is Microsoft after all Julie'... 'surely you can change the sequence/sort/create a folder?'

We have 5 Divisions and are happy for everyone to see ALL videos, but need to Divide and Sub Divide so that people can quickly get to the videos which interest them.  So far we have about 50 Channels... within which I can then sequence by Name by Prefixing the Video name, for example:

Group Communications:

• Academy - Video name
• Academy - Video name
• Academy - Video name
• Environment - Video name
• Environment - Video name
• Foundation - Video name
• etc

However, that then means I have 100's of videos per Channel, that people don't want to scroll through to find what they want.

And of course our Group Communication Manager wants them presented by publication date.

AND... no way to sequence the Channels

I found suggestions Online to create a Group... and then within that Channels... which could work... but I don't have access to creating Groups which impact TEAMS, which is very carefully controlled by our System Architect.  Perhaps a workaround could be the ability to create a group for Stream only?  which has NO impact on Teams?

The ability to create Sub divisions within fewer Channels would alleviate the issues for some many of your Customers. 

I decided that a workaround could be in the use of a Prefix on each Channel:

• Archive - Div 1
• Archive - Div 2
• Archive - Div 3
• Archive - Div 4
• Archive - Div 5
• Comms - Div 1
• Comms - Div 2
• etc

However, you can't sequence by anything other that Number of Videos or Trending :(  So to sequence by name, to at least Group all the 'Archives' together would help temporarily.

People won't use the search, because they don't know what to search by, and there doesn't seem to be a way to add a personalised banner or Message telling them something Company specific.

Again, sorry if my tone is poor... you can so easily make me and lots of other Streams Users Admin people happy.  I am an IT Trainer by trade, hence the extensive explanation of what is required :)

Thank you for reading.

Please Up Vote to get this resolved asap

[#19]

@Chris Webb Is this in the roadmap?

[#20]

@Nesreen 

I might be late to the party here but what is the best practice for an agency structure like 

- Client

    --Project

        --- Creative

        --- Developemt

        --- Finance

        --- Etc

We currently use 

- BT Careers Website (team)

        --- Creative (channel)

        --- Developemt (channel)

        --- Finance (channel)

        --- Etc (channel)

- BT Employer Brand (team)

        --- Creative (channel)

        --- Developemt (channel)

        --- Finance (channel)

        --- Etc (channel)

But would like to do this ... 

- BT (Team)

  --Careers Website (Sub Team)

        --- Creative (channel)

        --- Developemt (channel)

        --- Finance (channel)

        --- Etc (channel)

  -- Employer Brand (Sub Team)

        --- Creative (channel)

        --- Developemt (channel)

        --- Finance (channel)

        --- Etc (channel)