How can end-users use the Microsoft Teams Connect shared channels?

Are you tired of switching tenants? You are not alone. Luckily, the answer to that problem is coming - the shared channels.
Shared channels is a third channel type, in addition to the existing standard and private channels

With shared channels you can collaborate seamlessly with internal and external partners or educators beyond the boundaries of a team.
And yes, your own IT support has to enable this feature before you can use it. But let’s move on and pretend that they have already enabled it. ;)

You can invite individuals to your team or the entire team, the choice is yours. Teams or the individual can be from your organisation or from an external Azure AD organisation. Once you have added the person(s) you want, external users can access the channel right from their Teams without the tenant switch.

Of course, you have to activate this (update) from your own Azure site so someone can invite you.

When is this update coming? Roll out is starting in late March and is expected to be complete by early April.

Here is one simple picture on how it looks when you are creating a new team and you can choose the Shared channel.
How about sharing that team?

You can find the “Share channel” section in the 3 dot menu as shown in the picture. You can share the team with people, with a team or a team you own.
If you share with people or other team, the admin or the people you are sharing your own team with will have to allow it first. But when you share it with your own team, it looks like this.

You just select the proper team that you want to share it with.

And when you have selected the right team, it looks like this. You’ll see the Shared channel “icon” next to your shared channel so you can separate the channels.
After you have done that, you just start your normal procedures with your channel and start using it with your external friends or teams.

Here are some key callouts.

• Each shared channel is backed by a dedicated SharePoint site collection.

• Shared channels support meet now and scheduled meetings. Also tabs connectors, bots, and even message extensions.

• Graph APIs and PowerShell cmdlets also support shared channels.

External collaboration in shared channels is powered by Azure AD B2B direct connect. With B2B Direct connect, there's no need to add the external user as a guest in your organization.

Cross-tenant access policies let admins manage B2B direct connect for their organization. A shared channel can be shared with as many organizations as are specified in the Azure AD cross-tenant access policy. External collaboration is off by default.

You can manage shared channels and external collaboration for your organization via the policy managed through the Teams Admin Center or via PowerShell (New-CsTeamsChannelsPolicy). 

• Who can create shared channels (-AllowSharedChannelCreation)

• Who can invite external users to a shared channel (--AllowChannelSharingToExternalUser)

• Who can participate in an external shared channel (-AllowUserToParticipateInExternalSharedChannel)

I’m hoping that IT-departments are enabling this feature because it helps so much with your daily work. And don’t forget that it needs some Azure and, of course, Teams policy magic.

That’s it. I hope you liked this Blog post. Off to the next one. o/