Find All Shared Channels in Microsoft Teams

Native Solution

Microsoft 365 Permission Required

High

Global Admin or a Teams Admin.

Option 1 Using Microsoft Teams Admin Center

Login to the Teams admin center.
Navigate to Teams»Manage Teams. Select the desired team.
Under the Channels section, you can find all the channels in the team.

You can only view the shared channels using the above highlighted filter icon.

Option 2 Using Windows PowerShell

Connect to the Microsoft Teams PowerShell using the below cmdlet.
Windows PowerShell
```
 Connect-MicrosoftTeams
```
Run the below cmdlet get a list of Teams shared channels using PowerShell.

Windows PowerShell

 Get-TeamAllChannel -GroupId <TeamsGroupID> -MembershipType Shared

Here, you can view the details of shared channels in a particular team.

Option 3 Using PowerShell Script

However, the above-mentioned cmdlet cannot display the membership details in shared channels. To address this limitation, we've crafted a PowerShell script that displays shared channels and their membership details in Microsoft Teams.
Download and run the following script in the Administrator PowerShell.

GetSharedChannelMembersReport.ps1

AdminDroid Solution

More than 150 reports are under free edition.

AdminDroid Permission Required

Delegated

Any user with report access delegated by the Super Admin.

StepsUsing AdminDroid

Login to the AdminDroid Office 365 reporter.
Navigate to the Shared Channels report under Reports»Teams»Shared Channels.

Here, you can view the shared channel name, channel's type, total participants, owner count, member count, and external member count.

Utilize the built-in graphical representation to visually differentiate between your organization's hosted channels and incoming channels from external organization.

Explore a full range of reporting options

Manage shared channels in Microsoft Teams!

Safeguard your shared channels by securely connecting with trusted external partners! Closely watch guests collaboration by efficiently managing your Microsoft Teams with AdminDroid.

Witness the report in action using the

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Important Tips

Create a DLP policy to prevent the loss of sensitive information from Microsoft Teams shared channels.

Customize the default settings for B2B direct connect, ensuring that invitations to shared channels are limited to users from specific organizations.

Implement information barriers in Microsoft Teams to prevent users from communicating with unnecessary external users, thereby avoiding potential data leakages.

Microsoft TeamsCreate Shared Channels for External Collaboration in Microsoft 365

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How to create a shared channel in Microsoft Teams? How to collaborate with external participants in a shared channel? How to find shared channels in Microsoft Teams? What are the limitations of shared channels in Microsoft Teams? How to manage shared channels in Microsoft Teams?

How to create a shared channel in Microsoft Teams?

A shared channel acts as a collaborative environment, enabling users from both inside and outside your organization to work together on shared projects. It can be created only by a team owner.

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

Login to Microsoft Teams as an admin. Click on More options near the desired team for which you want to create a shared channel
Select Add channel and give your channel a name and description. Under Privacy, choose Shared.
If you want all the team members to access the channel, keep the "Share this channel with everyone on the team" checkbox on. If you don’t wish all the team members to access the channel, you can uncheck it.
Click on Create. You can then add members to the channel using the "Share channel" option from More options. It can be shared with people, a team, or a team you own.

Run the below cmdlet to create shared channels in a team using PowerShell.

New-TeamChannel -GroupId <TeamsGroupID> -DisplayName "<NewSharedChannelName>" -MembershipType Shared

Note: When a shared channel is created, a separate SharePoint Online site is also created which inherits the privacy and guest access settings as the 'parent team'.

How to collaborate with external participants in a shared channel?

You can share a team channel with external users either by directly adding them through their email addresses or by sending an invitation to a team owner of the external organization. Once the team owner accepts the invitation, users can access your channel directly without switching tenants.
Before adding external users to shared channels, it is mandatory to configure all the settings below so that they can access the content shared via these channels.

Enable Microsoft 365 groups guest settings

Login to the Microsoft 365 admin center. Navigate to Settings»Org settings.
Under the Services section, select Microsoft 365 Groups and verify if both options allowing group owners to add external users and permitting guests to access your group's content are enabled.

Enable external sharing in SharePoint Online

Login to the SharePoint Online admin center . Under Policies, select Sharing. Set the external sharing level to "New and existing guests".

Configure B2B direct connect

Login to the Microsoft Entra admin center. Navigate to Identity»External Identities»Cross-tenant access settings.
Under the Organizational settings section, click on +Add organization. Enter the domain name of the desired organization and hit Add.
Configure inbound access settings by selecting the "Inherited from default" link. Under the B2B direct connect tab, choose Customize settings. Then, tap "Allow access" and "All external users and groups" options.
Under the Applications section, choose "Allow access" and "All applications". Click Save.

Note: Your partner organization must configure outbound access settings so their users can access your shared channels.

After configuring all the above settings, you can share Teams channels with external users or send an invite to their team owners.

Using AdminDroid, you can easily find the Teams shared channel guests and remove unnecessary users.

Here, you can find all the external users in shared channels along with the team's name, channel name, and their domain.
Pro Tip: Apply the "Channel Name" easy filter to identify external users within specific shared channels designed for collaborative work on a crucial project.

How to find shared channels in Microsoft Teams?

Regularly monitor Teams shared channels to ensure that data shared within these channels complies with your organizational policies. After reviewing them, you can decide to enforce additional policies related to guest access, external sharing, and B2B direct connect.
You can get a list of Teams shared channels in your organization by the following ways.

Teams Admin Center Navigate to Teams»Manage Teams and select the desired team. Under the Channels section, you can find all the shared channels denoted as the type "Shared".
Microsoft PowerShell Run the PowerShell script provided to get the shared channels and their membership details in Microsoft Teams.

Finding shared channels from the Teams admin center is a time-consuming process as it requires navigating to each team individually. Additionally, if your organization has numerous shared channels, retrieving their details through PowerShell cmdlets can be challenging.

With AdminDroid, you can effortlessly obtain comprehensive details on shared channels through a single report, eliminating the need to run PowerShell cmdlets for each detail.

Here, you can get entire details on channel name, owner count, member count, external member count, channel site URL, etc.
Pro Tip: Click on the specified interlinks within the report to promptly find members, owners, and external users in a shared channel.

What are the limitations of shared channels in Microsoft Teams?

Take note of the following Teams shared channel limitations to use them appropriately according to your organization’s needs.

Each shared channel is limited to 1000 direct members.
Shared channels cannot be shared with org-wide teams.
Some Microsoft 365 services, including Stream, Planner, and Forms, do not support tabs within shared channels.
Notifications from shared channels are not included in missed activity emails.
Collaboration with external participants in a shared channel is limited to Microsoft 365 work or school accounts.
Each team’s shared channel count is restricted to 50, and a shared channel is eligible to connect with a maximum of 50 teams.

Microsoft Teams shared channels consume the following storage spaces for its resources.

Chat messages : You can find chat messages in the respective team’s Exchange Online mailbox.
Files and documents : Shared documents are stored in the SharePoint Online site of the respective shared channel.
Meeting records : Meeting records are found in the document libraries of the respective shared channel’s SharePoint Online site.

Using AdminDroid, you can find the shared channels' SharePoint Online site information. This will allow you to efficiently manage the storage consumed by documents within these channels.

Leverage the Advanced Customization feature to identify shared channels that have occupied more storage than the specified limit.
Pro Tip: Refer to the "Inactive Days" column to identify shared channels with a higher number of inactive days. This will help you pinpoint and delete less actively collaborated channels.

How to manage shared channels in Microsoft Teams?

Effectively managing shared channels is crucial for securing your Microsoft 365 organization against potential data breaches. Once you've decided to create shared channels, take note of the configurations below to prevent security issues.

Manage channel policies in Microsoft Teams

You can create a custom teams’ policy to allow only specific users to create shared channels.

Login to the Teams admin center. Navigate to Teams»Teams policies.
Under Manage policies, click on +Add. Give your policy a name and a description. Turn on or turn off the settings that you want and click on Apply.
Once created, navigate to Users»Manage users and select the desired user.
Under the Policies tab, click on Edit. Select the policy you’ve created from the "Select Teams policy" drop-down box and click on Apply.

You can manage shared channels by clicking on More options near the desired channel.

Change channel owners and members : Select the Manage channel option. Here, you will see the current owners and members in the shared channel. You can change their roles using the drop-down box under the Role section.

Run the below cmdlet to remove a user from a shared channel using PowerShell.
```
Remove-TeamChannelUser -GroupId <TeamsGroupID> -DisplayName <SharedChannelName> -User <UPN>
```
Delete a shared channel in Microsoft Teams : Select the Delete channel option. It will ask for confirmation. Click on Delete.

Run the below cmdlet to delete a team’s shared channel using PowerShell.
```
Remove-TeamChannel –GroupId <TeamsGroupID> -DisplayName <SharedChannelName>
```
Restore a deleted shared channel in Microsoft Teams : Select the Manage team option. Under the Channels section, click on the Restore option near the desired deleted channel

AdminDroid Microsoft Teams ReportingOptimize teamwork and efficiency with shared channels reporting!

The AdminDroid Microsoft Teams analytics and reporting tool encompasses a wide range of reports that allow you to identify shared channels in your organization. Moreover, it enables you to audit user activities in Microsoft Teams, helping you prevent potential data breaches.

Utilize AdminDroid's standout features to uncover shared channels in Microsoft Teams

By keeping an eye on the Shared Channels report, you can stay informed about shared channels along with their membership details in your Microsoft 365 environment. You can schedule this report to be received in your mailbox at specified intervals.

An Overview

Visualize Teams Analytics Reporting

Access the Microsoft Teams dashboard for detailed insights into teams and channels across your organization.

Audit User Activities in Microsoft Teams

Refer to Teams usage reports to gain insights into a detailed summary of users' activities and to detect inactive users.

Microsoft 365 ISO Compliance Management

AdminDroid ensures ISO compliance management by providing reports related to the sharing of sensitive information in Microsoft Teams.

Efficient Microsoft Teams Management

AdminDroid's Microsoft Teams reporting and auditing tool provides dedicated reports for a comprehensive view of teams, channels, and changes in configuration and membership details.

Track External User Activities

Leverage external user reports to stay informed about the activities of external users in Microsoft Teams.

Audit SharePoint Online Activities

Monitor SharePoint file access activities to prevent sensitive data leakages from Teams channel sites.

In summary, AdminDroid simplifies the complex task of managing shared channels, offering Microsoft Teams’ admins a streamlined approach. With its advanced reporting features, administrators can proactively address issues such as data leakages, the addition of unwanted external users, and more.

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Common Errors and Resolution Steps in getting shared channels in Microsoft Teams

The following are the possible errors and troubleshooting hints while dealing with Microsoft Teams shared channels.

Error: The channel can’t be shared with this team. Pick another team or contact your admin for more info.

This happens when you try to share a shared channel with an organization-wide team.

Troubleshooting hint :Share it with another team as shared channels cannot be shared with an organization-wide team.

Error: You can't share this channel with people from this org.

This error occurs when either your organization prohibits sharing with the other organization, or their organization restricts users from accessing your shared channels.

Troubleshooting hint :Configure B2B direct connect inbound access settings to grant access to your shared channels for users from other organizations or request them to configure outbound access settings.

Error: Shared channel not showing in Teams.

This error occurs when your organization does not allow you to create shared channels.

Troubleshooting hint :Ask your global admin or teams admin to configure the Teams policy that allows you to create shared channels.

Error: The term 'Connect-MicrosoftTeams' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.

This error occurs when the Microsoft Teams module is not installed properly.

Troubleshooting hint :Run the below PowerShell cmdlet to install the Microsoft Teams module.

Install-Module –Name MicrosoftTeams

Error: Add-TeamChannelUser : Failed to find the user: on the roster of channel: <ChannelName>.

This error occurs when you try to add a new user as an owner to the shared channel.

Troubleshooting hint :Run the following cmdlet to first add a new user as a member before granting them owner permission.

Add-TeamChannelUser –GroupId <TeamsGroupID> -DisplayName "<ChannelName>" -User <UserPrincipalName>

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How to Export Microsoft Teams Shared Channels Report