Microsoft Teams – Channels vs Chats
Created On: April 30, 2021
by: Christopher Angell
When should I use a chat (or group chat) and when should I use a channel? This is probably one of the most common questions we get from businesses just starting to deploy Microsoft Teams; and arguably one of the most common reasons we are asked to come in and evaluate an existing Microsoft Teams install that “isn’t working right.”
If you are using Microsoft Teams, you have probably noticed that the messaging experience is different depending on how you started the message. This can be confusing at first, but with a little background information these differences will not only make sense, but you will probably find yourself changing how you communicate in Teams going forward.
Intro
There are actually two totally different messaging environments in Microsoft Teams: Direct chats and Channel posts. Direct chats can be found under the “chat” icon in the left navigation pane. Direct chats allow you to message anyone (1 to 1 chat) or a group of people (group chat). Channel posts are found in the “Teams” icon in the left navigation pane and allow you to message the users who are a member of a Microsoft Team or channel within a team.
On the surface, the general functionality is similar between these two messaging types; however, there are some very important distinctions that need to be taken into consideration for the LONG TERM successful deployment of Microsoft Teams.
Chats
Direct chats and channel posts may look and even feel similar when you are first testing teams, however, the underlying approach for how they work is completely different.
You should view direct chats very much like text messages on your phone. When you send a message, you decide who you are sending it to before you send the message, whether it is one person or a group of people (group texting). Direct chats are stored in your personal mailbox within Microsoft Exchange. Additionally, any files you share with the chat (regardless if it is a 1 on 1 chat or a chat with 250 people) are uploaded to your personal OneDrive and shared with the users who are currently in your direct chat.
Even though you are interacting within the Teams app, the data created is stored in the personal repositories for the users who are in the direct chat. So, let’s say you have a team of people, like a project group or support team, that starts a group chat for the daily collaboration of the group. Now, fast forward 5 years and the person who created the group chat that this team has been working out of leaves the company. The “owner” of a group is the person who created it, and only the owner can perform some of the admin functions of the chat group.
The data created is stored in the personal repositories for the users in the direct chat. Documents uploaded to the chat are uploaded to the OneDrive of the person adding the document to the chat and are shared from that individual’s OneDrive to the rest of the group. If that user leaves the company, any documents uploaded by them will be deleted when their license is removed, leading to a loss of admin functionality for the group.
Channels
A team is a group of people working to get something done in your organization. Sometimes it’s your whole organization, other times it is only two people. A team in Microsoft Teams has its own dedicated storage in Microsoft SharePoint where all the resources for that team are located (files, apps, wikis, etc…). The teams themselves are made up of channels; these are the team-based collaboration areas that contain chats, files, apps, wikis, and other items pertaining to specific topics related to that team.
Channels help users understand the type of messages and content they should expect to find within that channel. For example, a marketing team may have several channels like: General, Blogs, Website, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Sales & Promotions, Analytics, etc. Discussions in the blogs channel should be related to blogs being worked on by the marketing team.
This fundamental difference is the main reason these two features work differently, and why they should be used correctly to ensure a successful Microsoft Teams rollout.
Now that we have a foundational understanding of the two different messaging areas, we can go through some specific feature differences.
Feature Differences
Message Threads
One of the biggest differences between a direct chat and a channel message is that in a Teams channel, you get additional context via the use of message threads. Using threads allows you to group messages per topic, organizing all conversation within a channel. This prevents mass conversations that become hard to follow and difficult to refer back to when a new team member is trying to understand previous discussions.
By reading the opening message of the thread, you can quickly see if the thread is relevant to you. If someone needs input from a specific member, they can simply @ mention that person in the threaded reply.
While there is a “Reply” feature in a direct chat, it does not function like message threading. Instead, it makes a copy of the text you want to reply to and includes that in your new message, which is similar to quoting someone.
Files
Another major difference is the files tab. Unlike group chats, which are purely for chatting, a Teams channel allows document collaboration. Every time you create a new team (and corresponding channel), a SharePoint site is created on the back end. This means every document you create or upload in Teams gets synced with SharePoint.
Meetings
You can start audio or video meetings in both group chats and channels. When you start a meeting within a channel, other members of the channel can access message history and any uploaded files, and they can also view the meeting recording once saved to the channel.
Notifications
Notifications settings differ for direct chats and channel posts. Chat messages notify all users in the chat by default. Users can mute or remove themselves from group chats to stop notifications. Channel posts being threaded allow users to mute specific threads, meaning they will still receive notifications for other threads.
Features Unique to Channel Posts
Organizing
Channels are managed centrally within the Team and can have specific permissions, allowing for tighter management of communication and collaboration.
Email a Channel
You can create an email address for a channel, allowing content from emails to be included as channel posts. This feature is useful for receiving alerts or contact requests.
Analytics
Channels provide analytics to view activity over time.
Advanced Messaging
Channel messages can include advanced features such as:
- Lockdown on who can reply
- Making it an announcement instead of a conversation
- Posting the same message to multiple channels
- Having a subject header along with content
Final Thoughts
When to use Microsoft Teams group chats versus channels depends on your business and intended usage. For new users of Microsoft Teams, it’s crucial to start with a solid foundation to drive appropriate communication behaviors to suit business needs. Experienced users may need persuading to change their habits, especially if they previously used Microsoft Teams incorrectly. The success of the Microsoft Teams deployment relies on using proper communication mechanisms.