Second Generation of Private Channels Scales Up to New Heights
Boasting a 20-fold increase in scalability and a cloud mailbox to hold a channel calendar, Microsoft is giving Teams private channels a significant revamp in an update that will roll out in late September 2025. The new mailbox is the new home for compliance records for private channels, which means that Microsoft 365 retention policies need a review to make sure that conversations are retained as desired. https://practical365.com/teams-private-channels-2025/Private Channels Just Don’t Get Any Respect
Microsoft launched private channels in November 2019. A lot has happened since and private channels don’t really get much attention these days. That’s a pity because private channels can be very useful in the right situation. I rediscovered this fact recently when working through an issue with a university where private channels were the right answer. Like all technologies, happiness comes from choosing the right tool. https://office365itpros.com/2024/11/08/private-channels-no-respect/
Message regarding Teams private channel being out of space
We have a Team site that is set up with the default 1 TB of storage. This site has at least one private channel. Today, the owners of that private channel received notification that their Team site was out of space. From the Admin console, I could see that it was only using 5% of the storage capacity, but when we look at the user's computer, we see a banner that notifies us that we need to free up space. We emptied the recycle bin (there were a few files in it, but no more than 15). Additionally, from the Teams client, the user (who again, is the owner of the private channel) saw a prompt to add space to the SharePoint site. After walking through both of those steps (emptying recycle bin and adding space to the site) the users were able to once again start modifying and saving the files in that channel. I know the private channels run under their own SharePoint sites. As an Admin, do we have a way to look at the storage for these channels? Is there any documentation on what this size quota is set to when a new private channel is created? I assume that your general channels will pull from the main Team site quota since the content all resides in the same SharePoint site. I was just surprised by this behavior and haven't been able to find documentation specifically on the private channel SharePoint site.
Possible bug with wikis in private channels
When adding a wiki to a private channel members of the channel can't see the wiki. Instead they get the following error message: "It looks like your sharepoint doesn't allow adding Wiki tabs. ...." If the link is opened in share point by the creator and shared then when other members go to that link they are told they don't have permission and can request it. Once requested and granted the wiki is viewable in teams. Anyone else had this?
Private Channels set at 30, need more please.
Now that we are all online, I would like to create a private channel for each school in our district for School Advisory Council (SAC), but we have 45 schools at the moment and 2 new schools under construction and Teams will only allow 30. Would it be possible to expand the number of private channels in Teams. It is an awesome tool, Love working with Teams, but I cannot use it the way I need to. Please advise.
