How to Let Specific Users Create Private Channels in Microsoft Teams
You’ve got a Microsoft Teams environment where you want only certain users—like members of Group1—to be able to create private channels. How do you do this without opening up permissions to everyone? Here’s a simple walkthrough.
The Principle of Least Privilege
Instead of changing settings for the whole organization, it’s best to give permissions only to those who truly need them. This keeps your Teams environment secure and easy to manage.
The Wrong Ways
- Don’t modify the global (Org-wide default) policy. Turning private channel creation on for everyone could lead to unnecessary complexity and risks.
- Don’t use templates or change subscription-wide settings. These approaches can be too broad or may not solve the actual problem.
The Right Way
The smart move is to create a custom Teams policy with Create private channels set to On, then apply it only to the users in Group1.
Steps:
- In the Teams admin center, go to Teams policies.
- Click Add to create a new policy.
- Name your policy and set Create private channels to On.
- Assign this new policy to the exact users or groups that need the permission—here, that’s Group1.
Now, only Group1 gets the permission to create private channels. Everyone else follows the default organization-wide policy, which keeps things tidy and secure.
Conclusion
By making a custom policy and targeting it to the right users, you’re giving access only where needed. This is what “least privilege” looks like in real life—a simple way to keep Teams flexible but safe.
