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Change the privacy of a channel

There are three types of channels in Zulip:

  • Private channels (indicated by ), where joining and viewing messages requires being invited. You can choose whether new subscribers can see messages sent before they were subscribed.

  • Public channels (indicated by ), which are open to everyone in your organization other than guests.

  • Web-public channels (indicated by ), where anyone on the Internet can see messages without creating an account.

Organization administrators and channel administrators can always make a channel private. However, they can only make a private channel public or web-public if they have content access to it:

  • They are subscribed to the channel, or
  • They have the permission to add subscribers (themselves or others) to the channel.

Warning: Be careful making a private channel public. All past messages will become accessible, even if the channel previously had protected history.

  • Desktop/Web
  • Mobile

  1. Click on the gear () icon in the upper right corner of the web or desktop app.

  2. Select Channel settings.

  3. Click All channels in the upper left.

  4. Select a channel.

  5. Select the General tab on the right.

  6. Under Channel permissions, configure Who can access the channel.

  7. Click Save changes.

You can also hover over a channel in the left sidebar, click on the ellipsis (), and select Channel settings to access the General tab.

  1. Tap the Channels (hash) tab at the bottom of the app.

  2. Scroll down to the bottom, and tap ALL CHANNELS.

  3. Press and hold a channel name until the long-press menu appears.

  4. Tap Channel settings.

  5. Tap Edit channel.

  6. Tap Privacy, and configure Who can access the channel.

  7. Tap Save.

You can also press and hold the name of a channel in Inbox and channel views to access the long-press menu.

Note: This sends an automated notice from notification bot to the "channel events" topic in the modified channel.

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