Private Channels in Microsoft Teams: Governance That Scales (2025 Update)

Why do private channels need governance?

Private channels let a subset of team members collaborate in isolation: they get their own SharePoint site with separate permissions. That isolation is useful for topics like HR, finance, or client-specific work. But it also creates blind spots if you don’t control who can create private channels, when to use them, and how to review them over time.

In order to help you keep control of your data, we provide you with a short guide to the proper management of private channels.

How to keep control over private channels?

In any case, the use of private channels is recommended, as they can solve common communication problems within larger teams. But to ensure that private channels do not become blind spots in the company, it is recommended to control them with the following three settings:

• Control on user basis

The right to create private channels can be assigned to individual users. It is recommended that these users first receive training on the functions, possibilities and the corporate responsibility of the creator and owner of private channels. After completing the training, possibly by passing a small Microsoft Forms quiz, the permission can be assigned to the user.

A quick note for administrators: Use Teams channel policies to allow or block private-channel creation per user/profile; combine with owner training and an approval path in your Microsoft Teams governance tool.

• Control per team

Because the private channels function can be activated and deactivated by team owners per team, it should be decided per team whether private channels are really necessary or not. Sometimes a quick group chat or even a completely new team is the better choice. Also, only in those teams where private channels generate a reasonable added value and therefore the team owners actively decide to use them, the function should be activated. Private channels should be the exception, not the rule. For more information, check out our first blog post on private channels in Microsoft Teams.

Admin note: Document when to use private channels vs. a new team vs. a shared channel to avoid silos and duplication.

• Team owner must be a member of the private channel

A team owner is responsible for his team and must therefore know what is going on in it. Is stored information correct and up to date? Team owners cannot fulfil this responsibility if they are excluded from private channels. It is recommended that team owners also have at least the member role in the team’s private channels.

Admin note: Enforce this via policy and periodic checks. If necessary, document an exception path for sensitive HR/legal channels.

What has changed in SharePoint administration?

Private-channel sites do appear in the SharePoint admin center (Active sites) and can be managed by SharePoint admins like other sites, while still keeping separate permissions from the parent team site. They use specific templates and maintain isolation by design.

What this means for admins

• You can audit private-channel sites centrally (storage, sharing, labels).
• You still need governance automation to track owners, members, and lifecycle across many sites.

Governance

To find out whether a private channel is still actively used, it helps to ask yourself several questions:

1. Do channels have only one member, the creator?
2. Are there no files on the private channel site collection?
3. Is there no activity on a private channel?
4. Are owners, members and permissions of the private channel correct?
5. Is the description of the private channel correct?

Depending on the answer, it may be that other scenarios, e.g. a group chat, are more suitable, but private channels may also need to be updated or even archived/deleted. This also makes it clear why Microsoft has ensured that there must always be at least one owner of the channel and why it is recommended to make the team owner a member of the private channel as well.

In order to manage private channels, it must be ensured that a responsible person can answer the above questions and that the company retains control over its data.

We recommend to introduce a periodical review process. For example, every six months, the above scenarios should be reviewed, and private channel owners should be required to confirm the accuracy of the data. If there is no more activity, the owners should archive their Teams channels.

Besides a regular review, guidelines should also be defined when a private channel is no longer needed. On the one hand, this can be done together, e.g. after the end of a project with the corresponding team. If a private channel has been used e.g. for a subproject, it is also possible that the corresponding information is no longer required before the end of the entire team. Such a deletion must currently still be done manually and therefore requires a person responsible for the private channel again.

Note for administrators: As environments scale (up to 1,000 private channels per team), a manual process does not. Before you get overwhelmed, implement an automated Teams governance tool for discovery, owner attestations, and lifecycle actions.

With strategic governance, MS Teams becomes a safer and more structured environment.

Admin checklist for private channels (quick wins)

• Define who may create private channels (policy + training).
• Decide when to use private vs. shared channels vs. a new team.
• Review Active sites in SharePoint admin center; label sensitive sites.
• Schedule owner attestations and lifecycle rules (archive/delete).
• Monitor scale limits and growth (now up to 1,000 private channels per team).

Where a governance tool helps

For admins who need to manage thousands of channels and sites across tenants, a Microsoft Teams governance tool helps to:

• Discover all private channels and their SharePoint sites (including owners/members).
• Enforce policy-based creation (who can create private channels).
• Run periodic access reviews and owner attestations.
• Automate lifecycle actions (archive/delete) based on inactivity rules.
• Provide auditable reports for security and compliance teams.

This replaces ad-hoc spreadsheets and manual checks with Teams governance automation and private channel lifecycle management.

FAQ on private channels governance

Further reading on private channels in Microsoft Teams

There are several helpful articles on Microsoft Learn:

• Private channels in Microsoft Teams (architecture, limits, membership)
• SharePoint integration: Teams-connected sites and private-channel sites
• Planning governance: Microsoft Teams governance planning guide

Private channels need governance, not just configuration

Private channels are helpful, but without clear policies and automation they quickly turn into invisible data silos, unmanaged SharePoint sites, and compliance risks.
The key is not to disable private channels completely, but to use them in a controlled way: with ownership rules, lifecycle checks, and automated reviews instead of manual audits.

If your Teams environment is growing fast, governance at scale is no longer optional. It becomes a security requirement.

How Teams Manager helps you govern private channels automatically

With Teams Manager, IT admins and IT decision-makers gain full governance control across Microsoft Teams, including private channels, templates, metadata, lifecycle policies, and approval workflows.

• Policy-based creation rules (who may create private channels)
• Automated lifecycle management (archive, delete, review)
• Full visibility over all channels, private channel sites & ownership
• Auditable logs for security and compliance
• No more manual cleanup or spreadsheets
• Fully integrated in Microsoft Teams, fast rollout, no PowerShell needed

See how Teams Manager gives you full governance control over private channels without extra admin workload.

Book your live demo here!