How to Export Microsoft Teams Private Channels Report

Private channels offer a dedicated space for sensitive conversations that are not intended for all team members. It allows you to add only specific team members to ensure a more focused and secure collaborative environment.

Follow the steps below to create a private channel in Microsoft Teams.

Run the below cmdlet to create a private channel in Teams using PowerShell.

New-TeamChannel -GroupId <Team'sGroupID> -DisplayName "<PrivateChannelName>" -MembershipType Private

Note: When a private channel is created, a separate SharePoint Online site is also created which inherits its settings from the parent team site.

• View the storage details of Teams private channel sites, including the storage used, warning level, and maximum storage level.
• Pro Tip: If you come across any private channel exceeding the warning quota, utilize the "Storage Maximum Level" parameter to adjust the overall limit. This is particularly beneficial as deleting files in these channels may impact productivity.

As a Teams admin, understanding the private channels within your Microsoft 365 organization is crucial for safeguarding sensitive data. This ensures that only legitimate users have access to the information shared via private channels, contributing to a focused working environment.

You can list all private channels in Microsoft Teams in the following ways.

Using Microsoft Teams

Using Windows PowerShell

Run the below cmdlet to get a list of all teams’ private channels using PowerShell.

Get-TeamChannel -GroupId <TeamsGroupID> -MembershipType Private

You can run the below cmdlet to get a team’s group ID in Exchange Online PowerShell.

Get-UnifiedGroup -Identity "<TeamName>"| Select ExternalDirectoryObjectId

Finding private channels from the Teams admin center is a time-consuming process as it requires navigating to each team individually. Furthermore, you must execute different PowerShell cmdlets to acquire detailed information about private channels.

• This report gives a complete overview of private channel memberships covering information such as the added time, channel name, added members, and the user who added them.
• Pro Tip: Click on the "Create alert for this report now" icon to create an alert policy whenever a member is added to a private channel.

You must be aware of the following Teams private channel limitations to avoid confusion when trying to use certain features or perform specific actions.

If every user in your organization is allowed to create private channels, managing them might be a difficult task for team owners. Additionally, the creation of private channel sites may lead to an increase in the organization's storage requirements. To overcome this, you need to prevent specific users from creating private channels in Microsoft Teams.

Follow the ways below to restrict private channel creation in Microsoft Teams:

Organization-wide:

You can create a custom Teams policy to prevent specific users from creating private channels.

Team Level:

This will restrict all the members from creating private channels at the team level.

Additionally, you can use the below cmdlet to delete any unwanted channel created in a team.

Remove-TeamChannel -GroupId <TeamsGroupID> -DisplayName "<PrivateChannelName>"

• You can also utilize the default alert template to notify when a private channel is created in your Microsoft 365 organization.
• Pro Tip: Utilize the graphical representation feature to visually depict users who are creating private channels. This ensures that only legitimate users have permission to create private channels.

Currently, it is not possible to make a Teams channel private after creation. However, you can control access to the files shared in channels by managing permissions for the respective team site.

Follow the steps below to limit file access in a private channel site:

Now, members in a group cannot access the files directly from the channel in Microsoft Teams.