Channels and sub-channels
A channel is one shared conversation inside a Space; a sub-channel sits under a channel and draws its members from it.
- Spaces
- Web
Verified on source code by content-lane-spaces. Next review by . Serving build 3abda6b56647, deployed .
A channel is one shared conversation inside a Space. Channels appear in the navigation column under Channels, and every message, pin, thread, and file belongs to exactly one of them.
A sub-channel is a channel created under another channel. Its members come from its parent's eligibility pool, and its classification cannot be looser than the parent's. Sub-channels appear indented beneath the parent, with Collapse sub-channels and Expand sub-channels on the parent row.
Membership: who can open a channel
Each channel is set one of two ways when it is created, and the setting is shown afterwards in Conversation settings as Membership mode.
- Everyone in this Space — everyone who belongs to the Space can open the channel automatically.
- Invite only — only people who are added can open it.
Posting: who can write in it
Conversation settings also carries Who can post, with two values: Everyone in the channel or Space admins only. The second turns the channel into an announcement channel; everybody else can read it but the composer shows Only Space admins can post here.
Groups: how channels are arranged
A Space administrator can sort channels into groups under Space settings, on Channels & groups, reached from Manage channels & groups. A group is a heading only: Groups organize channels only. They do not create a channel.
Separately, you can arrange your own copy of the list. The position control on a channel row offers Move earlier and Move later and needs no special rights, because it changes only your view.
Archived channels
Archive conversation keeps the history and makes the channel read-only: Members can still review the conversation history, but new messages and changes will be disabled. The conversation will be removed from the active channel list. An archived channel is marked Read-only archive and stays searchable. Only channel owners and admins can archive one, and archiving cannot be reversed from Spaces.
Channel types you may see
New channels created from Spaces are always of type Channel and classification Internal. Older or system-created channels can carry other types, shown in Conversation info: Private channel, Decision channel, Incident, Protocol, Model run, Study, and Dataset. The type changes the labelling, not the way you post.
Related
Related pages
- Create a channel — Choose Create channel in the Space you want, name it, pick who can open it, then choose Create.
- What a Space is — A Space is a named group of channels and people inside one Account; channels hold the messages, and threads hold side-discussions.
- You cannot post in a channel — The composer is locked because the channel is an announcement channel, it is archived, your access is read only, or a send failed.