How the Channel Sidebar is Organized

The channel sidebar, which appears in the left panel of open channels, displays a navigable list of your channels and allows you to sort and group them to make them easy for you to locate. 

Creating groups

Groups are categories created by you for storing multiple channels together to make them easier for you to find. For example, you could create a group for all channels associated with a certain department or project. 

To create a group:

1. Open any channel.
2. In the channel sidebar on the left, click the Create Group button.
   
   
   A Create Group dialog box opens.
   
   
   
3. Enter a name for the group and click Create.
   The new group appears at the top of the sidebar.
   
   
   
4. Add channels to the group in one of the following ways:
   • Drag and drop channels into the group. See Making Your Experience Easier for a video.
   • Click the message below the group name to open a selection box, then drag and drop channels to add them to the group, and click Add Channels.
     
   • Right-click the channel in the channel sidebar, and choose Move to group.
     
     A box listing the groups in your account opens. Click a group to move the channel into it,
     

Moving groups and categories up and down in the sidebar

By default, the sidebar displays your groups and categories in this order:

Groups you have created

Favorites

All Groups

Direct Messages

But you can change the order to what is most convenient for you.

To move a group or category up or down:

1. Click the group or category's More options button (three dots) in the sidebar.
2. Choose Move Group up to move it before the previous category; choose Move Group down to move it after the next category.
   

Adding channels to an existing group

After you have added created a group and added channels to it, you can go back and add additional channels.

Either:

• Drag and drop channels into the group. See Making Your Experience Easier for a video.

Or:

• Click the channel's More options button (three dots) in the sidebar, and choose Move to group.
  
  A box listing the groups in your account opens. Click a group to move the channel into it,

Removing channels from a group

To remove a channel from a group:

• Click the channel's More options button (three dots) in the sidebar, and choose Remove from group.
  

Adding/removing channels from Favorites

To add a channel to Favorites:

Either:

• Drag and drop channels into Favorites. See Making Your Experience Easier for a video.

Or:

• Click the channel's More options button (three dots) in the sidebar, and choose Add to favorites.
  
  
  

Channels in Favorites display a flag icon wherever they appear in the sidebar.

To remove a channel from Favorites:

• Click the channel's More options button (three dots) in the sidebar, and choose Remove from favorites.

Muting/unmuting channels from the sidebar

To stop receiving audio alerts when an action occurs in a channel, you can mute it. If you want to receive audio alerts about the channel again, you can unmute it. 

To mute a channel from the sidebar:

• Click the channel's More options button (three dots) in the sidebar, and choose Mute channel.
  

To unmute a channel from the sidebar:

• Click the channel's More options button (three dots) in the sidebar, and choose Unmute channel.

Marking all notifications as read from the sidebar

Just as in the dashboard, channels in the sidebar display the number of unread messages in them on an overlay icon.

To mark all the unread messages as read to remove the icon:

• Click the channel's More options button (three dots) in the sidebar, and choose Mark all as read.
  

Closing channels from the sidebar

Closed channels do not appear in the sidebar; therefore, you can close a channel from the sidebar, but to reopen it, you must go to the dashboard, view closed channels, and reopen it there. See Closing, deleting, or archiving a channel.

If you are not the owner of a channel, the Close channel option does not appear.

To close a channel from the sidebar:

• Click the channel's More options button (three dots) in the sidebar, and choose Close channel.
  
  The channel disappears from the sidebar.

Leaving channels from the sidebar

Members of a channel who are not owners may leave a channel. 

If you are the owner of a channel, the Leave channel option does not appear.

To leave a channel from the sidebar:

• Click the channel's More options button (three dots) in the sidebar, and choose Leave channel.
  
  The channel disappears form the sidebar.

Deleting channels from the sidebar

After you delete a channel, the channel and its contents are gone and you cannot recover them. It is a good idea to archive a channel before deleting it. See Closing, deleting, or archiving a channel for help.

If you are not the owner of a channel, the Delete channel option does not appear.

To delete a channel from the sidebar:

• Click the channel's More options button (three dots) in the sidebar, and choose Delete channel.
  
  When you are prompted to confirm deletion, click Delete now.
  The channel disappears from the sidebar.