Last month, Microsoft announced that it would launch Shared Channels in Teams sometime this summer. However, it seems like the company has decided to postpone the release date of this feature to November 2021, as spotted by Microsoft MVP Vesa Nopanen.
Indeed, the software giant has quietly updated the Microsoft 365 roadmap listing last week to reflect the delay, and it now suggests that the Shared Channels (Microsoft Teams Connect) feature will be available sometime in November this year. Rish Tandon, CVP of Microsoft Teams Engineering, has confirmed this change in a tweet and said that the team is currently working to incorporate user feedback before making this feature available to everyone.
“Teams connect is the brand. Shared channels is the concept. We got some valuable feedback from folks that have used shared channels in early alpha release and we are addressing it. Hence the delay. Team is on it and working through the feedback,” Tandon wrote on Twitter.
Microsoft Teams Connect will allow users to collaborate with external parties and clients in Shared Channels. They will be able to access these channels within the main app view alongside standard and private channels. Shared Channels will offer all features such as chat, co-authoring documents, and sharing content with external users in real-time.
The Shared Channels experience rolled out in private preview during the Microsoft Ignite Spring 2021. The company will keep listening to the feedback to refine its functionality and infrastructure while the feature is in preview. It’s one of the much-anticipated features which will help Microsoft Teams to compete with Slack, which allows up to 20 organizations to collaborate with Slack Connect.
