A shared channel allows you to collaborate with people inside and outside your team or organization. People outside your organization can participate in a shared channel without switching organizations. You should use a shared channel if you want to collaborate with a group of people who are all members of different teams. For example, people from different departments who work on different aspects of the same project or product could use a shared channel to collaborate. Only the users who are owners or members of the shared channel can access the channel. As well, only members of shared channels can see and participate in shared channels that they're added to. Other team members to which the shared channel is connected won't see the channel. When a shared channel is created, it's linked to the parent team and can't be moved to a different team. Additionally, shared channels can't be converted to standard channels and vice versa.

Who can create a channel?

• Only team owners can create a shared channel; team members cannot create them. 
• The person who creates a shared channel becomes the shared channel owner; only the shared channel owner can directly add or remove people from it. However, you can add more than one owner. A shared channel owner can add anyone from the organization to a shared channel they create. Members of a shared channel have a secure conversation space and when new members are added, they can see all conversations — even old conversations — in that shared channel.
• Team owners can see the names of all shared channels in their team and can also delete any shared channel in the team. Team owners cannot see the files in a shared channel or the conversations and member lists of a shared channel unless they're members of that shared channel.
• Team members can only see shared channels that they've been added to.

Channel owner settings

Each shared channel has its own settings that the channel owner can manage, including the ability to add and remove members, add tabs, and @mentioning for the entire channel. 

The shared channel owner can click Manage channel, and then use the Members and Settings tabs to add or remove members and edit settings.

Shared channel SharePoint sites

• Each shared channel has its own SharePoint site. The separate site is to ensure access to shared channel files is restricted to only members of the shared channel.
• A shared channel site inherits the sensitivity label of the parent team. This remains true even if the channel is shared directly with another team.
• Membership to the site owner and member groups are kept in sync with the membership of the shared channel. Site permissions for a shared channel site can't be managed independently through SharePoint.

Considerations around file access in shared channels

• Files and folders in a shared channel can be shared with people outside the channel (but not outside the organization) by using standard SharePoint file sharing. 
• If a user is granted access to a file, folder, or notebook in a shared channel through SharePoint, removing the user from the team or shared channel won't remove the user's access to the file, folder, or notebook.
• If an existing notebook is added as a tab to a shared channel, access to the shared channel isn't changed and the notebook retains its existing permissions.

How to Get Help

Technical assistance is available through the Illinois State University Technology Support Center at:

• Phone: (309) 438-4357
• Email: SupportCenter@IllinoisState.edu
• Submit a Request via Web Form: Help.IllinoisState.edu/get-it-help
• Live Chat: Help.IllinoisState.edu/get-it-help