Updated June 2023
Channel moderation is a relatively new feature that opens up some additional controls when using Microsoft Teams. The basic premise around channel moderation is the ability to set up a Channel within a Team and limit who can create and reply to conversations within that channel. This means that team conversations can be used for two-way discussions as well as one-way communication.
How to Configure Microsoft Teams Channel Moderation
Configuration of Microsoft Teams Channel Moderation is done on a per-channel basis and is quite easy to do. Team Owners simply choose the channel that they would like to configure.
This is where you configure the options to moderate Microsoft Teams Channels. Most of the options are self-explanatory, but there are a few things to note:
- Adding Moderators: Team owners will automatically become moderators for any channel and cannot be removed. You can add additional moderators on a channel-by-channel basis, but they have to be part of the MS Team first.
- Stop users from posting new messages: By simply enabling the Channel Moderation feature, only the moderators of the group will be able to post new messages. Other users, however, can still reply to existing messages.
- Stop users from posting and replying: By simply unselecting the Allow members to reply to channel messages option, you make your Channel a one-way announcement vehicle. By doing that, only moderators can create new messages and reply to them, while all other users will only have read-only abilities.
- Channel moderation options are different for the General Channel: For the General channel within each Team, the Channel Moderation options are a bit different; you cannot add additional moderators to the group nor can you disable bots or connectors from posting messages once they are configured.
Microsoft Teams Channels: Moderation Options
The Microsoft Teams Channels moderation feature opens up a number of possibilities. For organizations looking to use Microsoft Teams as a corporate communications tool, this feature will be very useful. Looking at the configuration options, there are two main scenarios:
Read-only communication channel: If you just want to have a list of announcements or messages with no responses from users, then you would enable Channel Moderation and disable the option to allow users to reply to channel messages. Any member of the team can still ‘react’ to the post.
Controlled communication channel that allows responses: If you want to have control over who can create a new conversation, but still allow members to reply to channel messages, then you would set up Channel Moderation but allow members to reply to messages.
Download Now: Microsoft Teams Governance Planning Guide
Microsoft Teams Channels: Moderation Scenarios
Here are some scenarios on how Channel Moderation can be applied in Microsoft Teams:
Announcements Channel for Projects, Initiatives or Teams
You might want to have an announcement Channel as part of a Team that is controlled by a smaller number of people.
Creating a Channel for something like Project Announcements, and enabling moderation as a way to publish authoritative information is a great way to allow for controlled content in one Channel and collaborative content in other Channels within a single Team. It also helps people know where to go for announcements instead of hunting around various channels.
Intranet Homepages ‘Thing of the Day’
On many Intranet homepages, there is a ‘something’ of the day. Common examples are ‘Tip of the Day’, ‘Thought of Day’, or Kudos for an employee. This type of content resonates with users and is typically controlled centrally by an Intranet team.
You can now do this in Microsoft Teams by creating a Channel for this purpose, enabling content moderation and posting content in this channel.
Knowledge Management Scenarios
A final scenario is using this feature in various ways to manage knowledge.
For example, let’s say there is a Project Learnings site on your SharePoint Intranet that consists of pages around best practices for managing projects in your organization. The creation and publishing of your content can be closely controlled as well as the communication of any changes or updates to this content via a dedicated Channel with content moderation enabled .
This means that users wouldn’t have to leave Microsoft Teams in order to be notified about new content.
Unleash the Full Power of Microsoft 365 with Orchestry
Most organizations are not using Microsoft 365 to its full potential.
Orchestry makes Microsoft 365 simple for all users.
Orchestry is an adoption and governance platform that allows End Users, Workspace Owners, IT admins and organizations to take full advantage of Microsoft 365.
To see Orchestry in action, request a demo!