Channels and group conversations
Open topic channels inside a team, or start a group conversation with a few colleagues.
Applies to Web · Mac · iPhone app · team channels are for team members only
Messenger covers one-on-one and whole-team conversations; channels are rooms split by topic, like “Experiment A” or “Equipment booking”. There are two kinds: Team channels, which belong to a team, and Group conversations, which bring together colleagues you pick regardless of team.
Open channels
Click the # button (Channels) in the top bar, or Channels in the sidebar. On a phone, use the Channels tab at the bottom. The list shows channels you’ve Joined; use the search field (Find channels by name) to find one.
Create a channel or group conversation
- Click New conversation.
- Under Conversation type, choose Team channel or Group conversation. If you’re not on any team, you can’t choose a team channel.
- Enter a Name (up to 80 characters) and, optionally, a Description (up to 1,000 characters).
- For a team channel, choose the Team and the Visibility. For a group conversation, pick at least one person under Find colleagues to invite.
- Click Create.
| Type | Who can see it |
|---|---|
| Team channel · Team public | Members of that team can find and join it. It isn’t published on the internet. |
| Team channel · Private | Invited members only. Invite teammates from the channel settings after creating it. |
| Group conversation | Only the people chosen (always private). You can choose from people you work with. |
Join a team public channel
Use Discover team channels in the channel list to see your teams’ public channels, and click Join channel. Once you join, you can read the earlier conversation too.
Talk in a channel
Type in the message field and press Enter to send (Shift+Enter for a new line). Messages can be up to 10,000 characters, and up to 4,000 when you edit one. Editing, deleting, reporting and blocking use the same ⋯ menu as Messenger (Chat in Messenger). In a channel, the channel owner and the team’s owners and admins can delete other people’s messages. Channels and group conversations don’t support sending files.
Members and settings
Click Members & settings in the channel header to open Channel settings. Only the channel owner can rename it, edit the description, Invite a member, remove members, Transfer ownership or archive it.
- Invite a member: for a team channel, choose from that team’s members; for a group conversation, choose from people you work with. A conversation can have up to 100 people.
- Archive channel: stops new messages and keeps the history. Reopen channel undoes it. Find archived channels with Show archived channels in the list.
- Leave conversation: the owner must Transfer ownership to another member before leaving.
- Delete channel / Delete group conversation: only the channel owner — and, for a team channel, that team’s owners and admins — can do this. Type the name exactly and click Delete forever.