What is a channel?

In Slack, teamwork and communication happen in channels. A channel is a single place for a team to share messages, tools, and files. Read on to learn all about how to create, join, and use channels to collaborate with your teammates.

All about channels

• They can be organized by team, project, or whatever else is relevant to you.
• Team members can join and leave channels as needed.
• Threads allow for focused and organized side conversations within channels.

Create channels

Channels can be organized around anything, and a workspace can have as many as needed — there’s no limit! They're available for all plans: Free, Standard, Plus, and Enterprise Grid.

Public channels (signified with a #)

• They're open for all members to join, and anything posted is searchable by others.
• By default, all members of a workspace (but not guests) can create public channels. Workspace Owners can change this permission and limit channel creation to certain roles.

Private channels (signified by a lock icon)

• They're for discussions that shouldn’t be open to all members, so you must be invited to join one to view it in Slack.
• By default, all members of a workspace (including some guests) can create private channels. Workspace Owners can change this permission and limit channel creation to certain roles.

Shared channels (signified by overlapping diamond icon)

• Shared channels let two separate organizations work together in a single channel, each from their own Slack workspace. They can be public or private, but they're only available for paid plans.
• On the Standard, Plus, and Enterprise Grid plans, use them to collaborate with external companies and partners. Only Workspace Owners and Admins can create shared channels on these plans.

 Multi-workspace channels (signified by overlapping circle icon)

• Multi-workspace channels connect separate workspaces within an Enterprise Grid organization — they can be public or private, but they're only available for the Enterprise Grid plan.
• Org Owners and Admins can create multi-workspace channels within their org, and allow members to do so too.

Join channels

How members join a channel depends on the type of channel it is.

Public channels

• Members can browse and join any public channel in their workspace(s).

Private channels

• Members must be invited to join a private channel.

Shared channels

• Whether the channel is public or private determines how members can join.

 Multi-workspace channels

• Whether the channel is public or private determines how members can join.

Use channels

While a workspace can have as many channels as needed, Slack works best when channel guidelines are in place, and certain best practices are followed.

Guidelines

• Every channel should have a clear topic and purpose.
• All channels in a workspace should follow established naming guidelines.
• Use message threads to keep in-channel conversations organized.

Best practices

• Transparency matters, so most conversations should happen in public channels so that they’re searchable by all members. Don’t worry — members can set channel-specific notifications and choose when to get notified or mute activity altogether.
• Maintenance is important: archive unused channels when they’re no longer needed, or delete them entirely if you don’t want to preserve channel history.
• Take control over who can post with spaces dedicated to announcements, reviewing support tickets, or showcasing your team's work. 
• If the nature of a channel changes, it can be converted from public to private, but not vice versa. For privacy reasons, private channels cannot be made public.