Slack has emerged as one of the go-to platforms when it comes to team collaboration, file sharing, and project management. But did you decide to keep your channel private while creating it but now you want to turn it into an open forum for all to see? If so, in this blog, we will explain to you how to convert your private Slack channel into a public one. Let’s get straight into it.
Can You Convert Your Private Slack Channel into Public and How?
Unlike private channels, which are restricted to invited members, a public channel is open and accessible to all members within a Slack workspace to join and view. Such channels are easy to discover and you can identify them by a hashtag (#) in front of the name.
Even if you created a private channel, you can convert it into a public one if you are the admin of the channel or the admin has allowed you the Change to a public channel permission. By default, this permission is granted to the owners and admins only.
Follow the steps below:
1. On Slack, navigate to the channel that you want to convert into public.
2. Click on the channel name on the conversation header at the top.
3. Go to the Settings tab and click on Change to a public channel.
4. Click on Change to Public to confirm.
Also Read: What is Slack Channel Analytics?
What Will Change When You Switch Private Channel to Public on Slack?
Here are a few things that you should know before you convert your private channel on Slack to a public one:
- The channel will become visible to all members of the workspace, and anyone will be able to join it without an invitation.
- All the messages or files that you shared when the channel was private will be visible and accessible to all the members.
Can I Control Who Can Convert Public Channel to Private in Slack?
Slack gives a lot of flexibility while managing channels. By default, only owners and admins can convert channels to private. However, owners can also restrict the same. It lets them select who has the authority to create Slack channels, convert or archive them, or remove members from a channel. For Business + and Enterprise Grdi plans, owners and admins can convert channels to private with channel management tools.
If you are an admin or the owner of a public channel, here’s how you can allow necessary permissions to other members:
1. Click on the workspace name at the top left corner of the screen.
2. Select Settings and administration from the context menu, followed by Workspace settings.
3. In the Permissions tab, click on Expand next to Channel Management.
4. From the menus, you can choose who can create, archive, and remove members from the channels.
5. Once done, click on the Save button to change the settings.
Also Read: 23 Best Slack Community for Developers
Can You Switch Back to Private Channel?
Yes, You can switch your public channel to private at any time. Initially, Slack didn’t allow this, but with their recent platform upgrade, everyone can now easily convert public channels to private or vice versa. Follow the steps below:
Note: The #general channel is by default public and cannot be converted to private.
1. In the conversation header, click on the channel name at the top which you want to make private.
2. Move to the Settings tab and click on Change to a private channel.
3. Click on Change to Private to confirm it.
That is it! We hope our guide helped you convert your private channel on Slack to public. If you have any queries or suggestions for us, do let us know in the comments section below. Make sure to consider the needs of your team and organization before making any changes. It’s a good practice to keep a channel private when sharing sensitive or important files.