Channels in Teams enable workgroups and teams of all sizes to come together in one dedicated space to exchange ideas, build collective knowledge, make decisions, and get work done. Last year, we announced a new channels experience, built with an intuitive design that allows teams to focus, stay on task, brings everyone up to speed, actively engages real-time. The new channels experience is now enabled in Public Preview!
The following features are unlocked for Public Preview to try out:
- The compose box and recent posts will appear at the top of the page. So now, it’s much easier to start a new post, keep up with the latest conversations and participate - giving you the confidence that they’ve not missed anything.
- Every post is now a true conversation you can focus on. You can navigate to a conversation view that makes the discussion more engaging and synchronous, just like a chat. You can also pop out the post, keep an eye on the discussion, while continuing to work on other topics.
- Hashtags referencing Viva Topics will provide context right in the channel on organizational topics without having to ask anyone else.
- A streamlined information pane will include all the important contextual information like a channel’s members and pinned posts so new team members can quickly on-board and for all members to find the information they need, right in the channel.
- Pin posts to make it easy for everyone to know what’s important in the channel and quickly reference it.
- Simplified badging makes it easier for users to understand when there are new unread activities in teams. In addition, the simplified design helps users focus on the specific channels which require the most attention, like channels in which the user was @mentioned.
Check out more details here:
Get to know the new channels experience in Teams!
Flighting status
Rolling out incrementally.
Note 1: If you need information about enabling the public preview itself, see “Enable the public preview for Teams” below.
Note 2: To be able to use this feature, users needs to be in Public Preview.
Supported clients and platforms
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Windows |
macOS |
iOS |
Android |
Linux |
Google Chrome |
Firefox |
Safari |
Microsoft Edge |
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
Yes |
Known issues
The attendance report for channel meetings is not currently available in chat and not downloadable.
Known limitations
- EDU users and VDI users in Teams classic will still utilize the classic channels experience.
- Channel conversation notifications have been removed.
- Announcement posts do not support uploading an image.
- Safari and Firefox will continue to utilize the classic channels experience.
Enable your Teams client for the public preview
- First, IT admins need to set an update policy that turns on Show preview features. Learn how at Public preview in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Docs.
- Users then choose to join the public preview individually. Learn how at Get early access to new Teams features - Office Support (microsoft.com)
Send us your feedback
Got feedback on features in the public preview or other areas of Teams? Let us know straight from Teams via Help > Give feedback. This is on the bottom left of your client.
Thank you,
Preview Team
Quality & Customer Obsession, Microsoft Teams
