MS Teams - Change Private Channel to Public or Public to Private

Issue/Question

  • How do I change a private Teams channel to public?
  • How do I change a public Teams channel to private?

Environment

  • Oregon State University
  • Microsoft Teams

Explanation

Microsoft does not allow changing a team channel type in either direction. You cannot change a private channel to public, and you cannot change a public channel to private.

Work-around

We are investigating work-arounds to this issue.

For now, the best options are as follows:

  • Private channel to Public:
    • Add everyone in the team to the private channel so everyone can see it
      - OR -
    • Rename the private channel to something like "Name - old" and hide it from the list. Create a new public channel with the same name.
  • Public channel to Private:
    • Rename the public channel to something like "Name - old" and hide it from the list. Create a new private channel with the same name.
    • If you need the contents of the channel to no longer be visible, it will need to be deleted from Teams. We do not currently have a method to export the channel chat.

Assistance

For assistance, contact the Service Desk.