Managing access in Teams

Microsoft Teams

How to manage membership and ownership of a team or channel you own or request to add someone to a team you're a member of.

Add members to a team

If you're a team owner, you can add someone to a team. If you're not a team owner, you can submit a request and a team owner can then accept or deny it.

All members have access to the General channel and any other public channels within the teams they are a member of.

1. Find the team in your list of teams and channels and select the More options ellipsis (…) (next to the team) > Add member.

2. Start typing a name, distribution list, security group, or a Microsoft 365 group and select the person you would like to add.

Each search result includes the name of the organisation managing the account and a line corresponding to the email address (excluding @nhs.net) that can help you determine the correct member to add.

Sometimes a person's position is also displayed.

You can search for and select multiple colleagues before continuing to the next step.

If you search for and select a distribution list or group, each member of it is added individually and the Teams membership will not be kept synchronised when the distribution list or group membership is changed.

Decide whether to add the new member as an owner

3. When you've finished selecting members, select Add next to the search field.

You can make someone a team owner by selecting the down arrow next to Member. A team can have multiple owners.

4. Select Close.

People that you add to a team will receive an email letting them know they are now a member and the team will appear in their teams list.

Add members to a private channel

Only an owner of a private channel can add members to it.

To add someone to a private channel, they first need to be added to the team the channel is within.

1. Find the channel in your list of teams and channels and select the More options ellipsis (…) (next to the channel) > Add member.

2. Start typing a name, distribution list, security group, or a Microsoft 365 group and select the person you would like to add.

Each search result includes the name of the organisation managing the account and a line corresponding to the email address (excluding @nhs.net) that can help you determine the correct member to add.

Sometimes a person's position is also displayed.

You can search for and select multiple colleagues before continuing to the next step.

If you search for and select a distribution list or group, each member of it is added individually and the channel membership will not be kept synchronised when the distribution list or group membership is changed.

3. When you've finished selecting members, select Add next to the search field.

You can make someone a channel owner by selecting the down arrow next to Member. A channel can have multiple owners.

4. Select Close.

Leave a team or private channel

When leaving a private team, you will lose access to all public and private channels within it unless an owner of it adds you back in.

Ensure you select leave because if you delete a team or channel that you own, it will be deleted for all members.

1. Next to the team or private channel name, select the More options ellipsis (…) > Leave the team/channel.

2. Select Leave the team/channel to confirm you want to leave the team or channel.

Remove someone from a team or private channel

Removing a member from a private channel

Only an owner of a team or a private channel can remove members from it.

Members can't be removed from public channels like General unless they are removed from the entire team.

If a member is removed from a team, they are automatically removed from any private channels within it.

1. Next to the team or private channel name, select the More options ellipsis (…) > Manage team/channel.

2. From the team member list, select the X to the far right of the name of the person you'd like to remove.

To remove another owner, first change their role to member, then remove them.

After you remove someone from a team, you can always add them back to the team later on by selecting Add member.