Channels Overview – Help Center

In today's fast-paced work environments, fostering effective communication and collaboration among team members is crucial for success. An Otter Channel can achieve this by establishing a central location for shared conversations. From streamlining communication to promoting collaboration, a dedicated private or public Channel for discussions can significantly enhance productivity. Converse, collaborate and use Otter Chat to pull valuable information from the shared meetings.

Tip: You can automatically share a conversation with a Channel using OtterPilot.

Channel overview

Creating a Channel provides many benefits for you and your team:

Utilize Otter Chat to ask questions across all of the conversations in the Channel
Converse and chat with your team members
Centralized location of shared recordings
Organize your projects, teams, and ideas
View live transcripts in real-time

Channel permissions

There are two types of Channels you can create:

Public - All members in the Workspace can access and join
Private - Only members invited can join the Channel

During the creation of a Channel, you can set the permissions. You can update the permission anytime after creating a Channel.

In the Channel, click the Channel settings in the upper right corner.
Click the 3 dots and select the new permission.

When sharing a conversation with the Channel, all sharing permission levels will apply to all members of the Channel.

Creating a Channel

Create a Channel to share conversations with your team members.

Click on CHANNELS on the right navigation menu to overview all of your Channels.
You can click the plus + icon next to CHANNELS or click + New channel in the upper right corner to start creating your Channel.
You can customize the following:
- Name the Channel.
- Invite members now or later. To invite, type the name or email, and click Enter/Return on your keyboard to confirm.
- You can set the visibility to be Public or Private.
  Note: The settings above can be changed anytime.
Once you have finished setting up, click Create channel to confirm.
Your Channel is created. You can begin sharing conversations and adding more members to your Channel. Learn more about sharing conversations with your Channel.

Suggested Channels

All public Channels can be viewable by members of the Workspace. Under the SUGGESTED CHANNELS section on the left navigation menu, click through the suggested Channels to overview. To join a Channel, click Join Channel.

Managing your Channel

Favorite a Channel

You can favorite any Channel for easy access.

Click into the Channel you want to favorite.
In the upper right corner, click the star icon to favorite the Channel.
The Channel will show under Favorites now for easy access.

Rename a Channel

Note: Only the owner of the Channel can rename the Channel.

In the Channel, click the Channel settings in the upper right corner.
Click on the 3 dots and select Rename Channel.
Type the new Channel name and click Save Changes to confirm.

Invite more users to join

Note: Any member of a Channel can invite other members to join.

Click on Invite in the upper right corner of the Channel. Type the name or email, and click Enter/Return on your keyboard to confirm.
After adding the emails, click Invite to confirm.

Note: When you invite members to a Channel, they will gain access to all conversations within the Channel and inherit the permissions granted to the Channel for each conversation.
They will be immediately added to your Channel. If one of the users does not have an Otter account, they will be sent an email to join.

Leave a Channel

Note: The owner of the Channel cannot leave a Channel. Only the members added to a Channel can leave.

In the Channel, click the Channel settings in the upper right corner.
Click the 3 dots and select Leave Channel.
Click Leave to confirm.

To rejoin the Channel, have a member of the Channel invite you. If it’s a public Channel, you can rejoin anytime.

Remove someone from a Channel

Note: Only the owner of the Channel can remove members, regardless of who originally invited that member to the Channel.

In the Channel, click the Channel settings in the upper right corner.
Click the 3 dots next to the member you want to remove. Select Remove member.
The member will be immediately removed.

Note: The Channel and any conversations shared with the Channel will no longer be visible or accessible to removed members unless it’s a public Channel.

Delete a Channel

Note: Only the owner of the Channel can delete the Channel.

Conversations are not deleted when a Channel is deleted. The conversations in that Channel will still be available in the user’s account, and they will need to reshare with members if any member needs access.

In the Channel, click the Channel settings in the upper right corner.
Click the 3 dots and select Delete Channel.
Click Delete to confirm.

Warning: Deleting a Channel is permanent and irreversible. No Conversations will be deleted though when deleting a Channel.
The Channel has been deleted and any conversations shared with the Channel will no longer be visible or accessible to members.

Using Otter Chat in Channels

You can use Otter Chat to ask questions, and prompts, or generate content across all the conversations in the Channel. Learn more about using Otter Otter AI Chat Overview.

FAQs

Can there be more than one owner of a Channel?

No.
At this time, there can only be one owner of a Channel.

I am the Admin of my Workspace. Can I manage and delete members of Channels in my Workspace?

You can add members to any public Channel or Channels that you are a member of.

I am the Admin of my Workspace. What if I deactivate a user who is the owner or member of a Channel? What happens to the Channel?

Any conversations previously shared to the Channel will still be accessible even after the user has been deactivated.
Archiving of conversations still applies. If there are conversations past the most recent 25 that are shared, the conversation will still show in the Channel, but not be viewable or accessible.

I am the Admin of my Workspace. What if I remove a user who is the owner or member of a Channel? What happens to the Channel?

The owner or member will still be part of the Channel, just not the Workspace. They will be removed from the # General Channel.
Any conversations previously shared to the Channel will still be accessible even after the user has been deactivated.
Archiving of conversations still applies. If the user is on the free plan and there are conversations past the most recent 25 that are shared, the conversation will still show in the Channel, but not be viewable or accessible.

What happens if the Channel owner deletes their account or has their account deleted by an Admin of the Workspace?

The Channel will still exist.
The user’s conversations will be deleted and removed from the Channel.
All other existing conversations will continue to exist.

If I delete a Channel, does it delete the conversations as well?

No.
Deleting a Channel will not delete the conversations.
The conversations will continue to be in the user’s account.
Deleting a Channel will only remove the Channel and access to conversations in that Channel.

Can I delete the # General Channel?

No.
You cannot delete the # General Channel.
This Channel is automatically generated by Otter.

general channel settings.png

Can I change the # General Channel to private?

No.
The # General Channel cannot be set to private.
All members joining the Workspace are automatically added to the # General Channel.
You can remove members from the Channel if needed.