Technology

Create a Shared Channel in Microsoft Teams

Last modified 5/28/2024

Create a shared channel if you want to work with people inside and outside your team or organization. People from outside of Illinois State University can only be members of a shared channel.

Shared Channels with External Organizations

Inviting external users to shared channels and joining external shared channels is currently not available at ISU. Once this option is available, this warning will be removed.

Additionally, shared channel creation is not available for Students, Guests, Annuitants, and Grace status users.

Note

Adding users from other organizations will require admin work to set up a connection between the two organizations. A ticket is required to be submitted to the Unified Communications Team to begin the setup process.

Only team owners can create shared channels. The team owner who creates the shared channel becomes the channel owner and the channel inherits labels from the host team. 

Create a shared channel

Note

 You cannot change a shared channel into a standard or private channel and vice versa. Once you create a shared channel, you cannot change the host team.


  1.  Go to the team for which you want to create the shared channel and select More options ... > Add channel.

    Teams - add a new shared channel
  2. Enter a name and description for your channel.

  3. Under Privacy, select the down arrow on the right, then choose Shared - People you choose from your org or other orgs have access. Then, select the Create button.

    Teams - create a new shared channel

  4. Type the names of the people in your org you want to add to the channel and select from the list. To add people outside of Illinois State University, type their email addresses and select from the list. Then, select the Share button.

    Teams - share a channel with specific people

  5. To change a Member to an Owner, select the down arrow to the right of Member and choose Owner. Then, select the Done button.

    Teams - make someone a shared channel owner

Getting Help


Technical assistance is available through the Technology Support Center by phone at (309) 438-4357; by email at SupportCenter@IllinoisState.edu; or by using the website Help.IllinoisState.edu to either submit a ticket or use the Live Chat feature.  

See Also: