MC1053645 - Microsoft Teams: Create new channels faster from the "New items" menu at top of the list of chats and channels

Service

Microsoft Teams

Last Updated

Apr 14, 2025

Published Apr 11, 2025

Tag

Feature update
User impact

Platforms

Desktop
Mac
Web

Summary

Microsoft Teams will soon allow users to create new channels directly from the "New items" menu at the top of their chat and channel list. This feature will be available on Windows, Mac, and web versions, rolling out in May 2025. No admin action is required, but user notification is recommended.

More information

Coming soon in Microsoft Teams: Users will be able to create new channels in a Team directly from the New items drop-down at top of their list of chats and channels, eliminating the need to scroll down to the specific team. Channel creators can choose the team in which to host the new channel.

This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop, Teams for Mac desktop, and Teams for the web.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 479744.

When this will happen:

Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early May 2025 and expect to complete by early May 2025.

General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-May 2025 and expect to complete by late May 2025.

How this will affect your organization:

The admin or user creating a channel from the New items drop-down will be able to select any team to host the channel (not just the user's visible teams in the teams and channels list), provided they have the necessary permissions to create channels in that team. During the channel creation process, all teams visible or not in the user's teams and channels list will appear alphabetically in the window called Pick a team to add the new channel to.

To create a new channel, the user selects the New items icon at the top of the list of chats and channels, and then selects New channel from the menu:

user controls

The user completes the new channel details:

user controls

When the user selects Select a team to host the channel in the previous screenshot, an alphabetical list of teams displays on the screen called Pick a team to add the new channel to (like this example):

user controls

This change will be available by default.

What you need to do to prepare:

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.

Learn more: Create a standard, private, or shared channel in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Support