Microsoft is unlocking the "Full Potential" of Private Channels in Microsoft Teams: What You Need to Know

It has been a while since I posted something just about a Microsoft Teams update, as a lot have been Copilot in Teams to be honest. But here is a real Microsoft Teams update I think is worth knowing about, and it involves Security and Compliance as well. Microsoft is rolling out a "major" update to private channels in Teams, starting in late September 2025 and continuing through mid-December. This biggest change in this update is a shift in how private channel data is stored from individual user mailboxes to a dedicated channel mailbox. Not only will this simplifie compliance management, it will also and align private channels with shared channels, making governance and experience more consistent across Teams. This update promises to increase the support up to 1000 channels per team and 5000 members per channel, removing previous limitations. Teams will also allow meetings to be scheduled directly within private channels, enhancing collaboration.  For organizations using Micr...

Breakout rooms coming to Teams soon

This is one of the features I have been looking forward to, and will be most useful in remote teaching and training. With breakout rooms coming to Teams, we get a great way to split classes into smaller groups for collaborative work. All of them supervised by a teacher/trainer who can monitor all rooms at the same time, or easily pop in/out of the sessions for support or questions.

The feature is associated with the roadmap item 65332, and according to a message in the admin center recently, it should be rolling out this month. The doesn't come with separate administrative controls, but the users need the right to start private meetings and channel meetings in order to control these features in the meeting.