Auto-Hide Inactive Channels and the New Chat and Channels Interface Just Don’t Work for Some People

It’s hard to create a client user interface that works well on Windows, Mac, and browsers that satisfies the often very different demands which exist in a very large user base (320 million or so, in what’s now a very old official figure). Yet that’s the task that the Teams development group sets itself as it rolls out interface changes. Sometimes, things don’t go to plan.

Solving the Auto-Hide Inactive Channels Mess

Take the plan to auto-hide inactive channels so that old and potentially obsolete channels wouldn’t get in the way of real work. On paper, it sounds like a wonderful idea. Channels do age over time and people do lose interest in what happens in some channels. Manually hiding a bunch of old channels could occupy a rainy Sunday afternoon, but who wants to do that.

The original intention is explained in Microsoft 365 roadmap item 325780, where we discover that “Teams will automatically detect inactive channels you haven’t interacted with in a while, and automatically hide them for you.” Soon after the launch of the feature in July 2024, Microsoft ran into user discontent.

The important word in Microsoft’s description is “automatically.” When software performs an action without human prompting, the results of the processing can be overlooked. In the case of Teams, people reported that important channels disappeared from the Teams and channels list. According to the unexplained algorithm used by Teams, the now-hidden channels appeared inactive and unused, and so liable for hiding. Users could find and unhide channels (Figure 1), but the extra work is a hassle.

The upshot is that Microsoft announced in MC804771 (March 21, 2025) that “Teams will offer users suggestions on channels that are inactive, and the user is prompted to review their inactive channels and hide them only if they choose.” The change to an opt-in model is expected to roll out to general availability “later in 2025.” Let’s hope that Microsoft does a better job this time around.

Moving Away from The New Chat and Channels Experience

Which brings me neatly to the new Teams Chat and Channel experience, trumpeted by Microsoft as being streamlined to help you collaborate more effectively. I’ve used the new interface since its earliest beta release as a new take on how to use channels. After Microsoft released the full version in October 2024, my review led off with “Microsoft’s waffle about the new experience is pure marketing spin.” That note reflected some of my frustration with trying to make the new experience work for me, despite having the opportunity to discuss the matter in depth with some of those responsible for the new interface.

After a further six months of trying, I’ve concluded that I work better with the old experience. I like the separation between chats and Teams. I find it easier to stay on top of current activities and find that I don’t overlook things the way that I do when chats and teams are comingled.

I know others share the same opinion, even if Microsoft’s fabled telemetry tells a different story (but those who construct and control the telemetry get to decide what the story is). I do know of people who love working in the new way, even if it doesn’t work for me. I suspect that the reaction to the new interface is highly individual and greatly influenced by how people work with Teams. As I noted in my review, in some tenants I use chat mostly. In others, it’s channel-based, and in others it’s a combination. I find that chat-centric activities are best in the new experience, but I still decided to revert to the old interface everywhere.

Both the Old and the New

The nice thing is that Teams supports both the old and new experience. In other words, the software respects user choice and doesn’t attempt to force people to do things in the one true way. It’s always better when user choice is respected, especially when changes are introduced in user interfaces. Maybe those responsible for the auto-hide inactive channels feature might have learned that lesson.

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