Teams Channels & Files

What's Changing

Google Spaces (the group collaboration feature in Google Chat) becomes Teams Channels in Microsoft Teams. Channels are dedicated spaces for ongoing team conversations organized by topic, project, or department.

What Stays the Same

• Group conversations - talk with multiple people about shared topics
• File sharing - share and collaborate on files within the group
• Persistent history - all messages and files are saved and searchable
• @mentions - tag people to get their attention

Your Team Is Already Set Up For You

You do not need to create a Team. Blue Ant Media IT has already built a skeleton Team specifically for your department. When you sign into Teams after migration, you will already be a member of your department's Team - it will appear in your Teams list on the left sidebar.

Your Team is set up with the following default channels:

• General - team-wide announcements and conversations
• Production - production team discussions and updates
• Content - content department coordination
• Accounting/Finance - financial discussions (private channel)
• Announcements - important notices

Your IT team may add or adjust channels specific to your department's structure. The important thing: you do not start conversations from scratch. Go to the channel that matches the topic, and post there. This keeps everything organized and searchable for the whole team.

Standard Channels vs. Private Channels

Standard Channels are visible to every member of your Team. Use these for work discussions the whole department should see - scheduling, announcements, general updates.

Private Channels are visible only to the members specifically added to them. Your department's Accounting or Finance channel is an example - only those staff members can see what's posted or shared there.

You will see a small lock icon next to private channels in your sidebar.

Files in channels are stored in SharePoint. This means they stay in one place, everyone with access can find them, and nothing gets lost if someone leaves. Think of it as a shared hard drive that's always organized by channel.

Your Team as a One-Stop Shop

Your Team is a one-stop shop for everything. The only thing you can't do in Teams is compose and read your email - everything else is there. You can get your files, you can chat with a colleague, you can message someone in Production, you can create a meeting, all from one place.

Your department's shared Google Sheets, spreadsheets, and team files can all be moved into the appropriate Teams channel. From there, your whole team can open, edit, and collaborate on them in real time - the same way you used Google Sheets, but with the added benefit that everything lives in one organized place.

Working in Channels

Posting a Message

1. Click on the channel name to open it
2. Click Start a post (or click in the message box)
3. Type your message and press Enter or click Send

Starting a Threaded Conversation

1. Click Reply under an existing message
2. Your reply stays connected to the original message (like email threads)
3. This keeps conversations organized - much better than one giant chat

Sharing Files in a Channel

1. Click the Files tab at the top of the channel
2. Click Upload or drag and drop files
3. Files shared here are stored in SharePoint and everyone in the channel can access them

Here's what the Files tab looks like in a channel — notice the organized folder structure:

Creating New Files in a Channel

Click the + New button in the Files tab to see your options — you can create new files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), new folders, OneNote sections, and more — all directly within the channel.

Changing Your View

The Files tab offers different ways to view your files. Click All Documents to switch between views:

• List — detailed view with file names, dates, and modified by
• Compact list — more files visible at once
• Tiles — visual preview thumbnails

File Properties and Details

Right-click any file or click the … menu to see file properties — you'll see access info, the modified date, and sharing details.

Exporting and Opening in SharePoint

Need more control? The Files tab toolbar includes options to:

• Export to Excel — useful for tracking documents in a spreadsheet
• Open in SharePoint — opens the full SharePoint document library for advanced features like creating views, setting alerts, and managing permissions

@Mentioning Someone

• Type @ followed by the person's name to notify them specifically
• Type @channel to notify everyone in the channel
• Type @team to notify the entire team

Google Spaces to Teams Channels - Quick Comparison

When to Use Chat vs. Channels

Requesting a New Channel

If your team needs a new channel (e.g., a "Show Logistics" channel for the production department):

1. Ask your manager or IT - they can create channels within your Team
2. Keep channel names short and descriptive - "Show-Logistics" not "Production Department Show Logistics Tracking and Status Updates"
3. Don't create a channel for every topic - start simple and add more only when there's a clear need

Finding Old Files and Messages

Everything posted in a channel is searchable forever:

1. Use the search bar at the top of Teams
2. Type a keyword, then filter by Channel, Person, or Date
3. Channel messages and files are indexed - you can find a file shared 6 months ago just by searching its name
4. Check the Files tab in any channel to see all files shared there, organized by date

Pinning Important Messages

Keep critical information visible for the whole team:

1. Right-click any message in a channel
2. Select Pin
3. The message appears at the top of the channel for everyone
4. Great for: SOPs, weekly schedules, important links, policy reminders

Only channel owners can unpin messages, so pinned content stays put.

Channel Notification Settings

If a channel generates too many notifications:

1. Click the … next to the channel name
2. Select Channel notifications
3. Choose "Only show in activity feed when @mentioned"
4. You'll still see posts when you visit the channel, but you won't be interrupted by every message

You can set different notification levels for different channels - full alerts for Production, mentions-only for General.

Private Channel Considerations

• Files in private channels are stored in a separate SharePoint site - only private channel members can see them
• Good for: HR documents, financial data, management discussions
• If a member is removed from a private channel, they lose access to all files and messages in it
• You can tell a channel is private by the lock icon next to its name

Channel Files Are SharePoint

Here's something important to understand: the Files tab in any Teams channel IS SharePoint. When you upload a file to a channel, it's stored in a SharePoint document library behind the scenes.

This means:

• Files survive even if someone leaves the team
• You can open the full SharePoint experience by clicking Open in SharePoint in the Files tab toolbar
• SharePoint features like version history, check-out, and detailed permissions all apply to channel files
• Files in standard channels are in the team's main SharePoint site
• Files in private channels are in a separate SharePoint site (only private channel members can access them)

If you work a lot with channel files, visit the SharePoint module to learn about the advanced features available to you.

Tips for Staff

• Use channels for visibility - if the whole production team needs to know about a schedule change, post it in the Production channel, not a private chat
• Pin important messages - right-click a message and select "Pin" so your team can find critical info easily
• The Files tab is powerful - every channel has one, and it's backed by SharePoint. Great for shared templates, forms, and documents your team uses regularly
• Reply in threads to keep conversations organized - don't start a new post to respond to an existing discussion
• @mention wisely - @channel notifies everyone, @person notifies one person. Use @channel sparingly

Need Help?

1. Ask your manager which Teams and channels you should be in
2. Contact IT Support
3. Email the Blue Ant Media IT team at it@blueantmedia.com