Zulip homepage

Help center home

Guides

Getting started

Setting up your organization

Account basics

Preferences

Writing messages

Sending messages

Reading messages

People

Channels

Topics

Notifications

Apps

Zulip administration

Organization basics

Users

Channel management

Organization settings

Bots & integrations

Support

Back to Zulip

Create a channel

By default, all users other than guests can create channels. Administrators can restrict the ability to create a channel to specific roles.

If you are an administrator setting up channels for the first time, check out our guide to setting up channels for a new organization.

Create a channel

  • 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 Create channel on the right, or click the plus () icon in the upper right.

  4. Fill out the requested information.

  5. (optional) Click on Advanced configurations to review and update additional channel settings.

  6. Click Continue to add subscribers.

  7. Add users who will be subscribed to the channel, and click Create.

Note: You will only see the Create channel button if you have permission to create channels.

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

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

  3. Tap the Create new channel button at the top of the app.

  4. Fill out the requested info, and tap Create.

Note: You will only see the Create new channel button if you have permission to create channels.

Channel options

There are several parameters you can set while creating a channel. All but Announce channel you can change later.

  • Channel name: Appears in the left sidebar for subscribed users. The channel name can be in any language, and can include spaces and other punctuation.

  • Channel description: Helps users decide whether to subscribe when they are browsing channels.

  • Announce new channel in the channel configured by your organization: Posts a message in the "new channels" topic advertising the new channel.

  • Who can access this channel: See Channel permissions.

  • Default channel for new users: Whether new users will be automatically subscribed to the new channel.

  • Who can post to this channel: See Channel permissions.

  • Who can unsubscribe others from this channel: See Restrict channel membership management.

  • Message retention period: See Message retention policy.

  • Choose subscribers: You can copy the membership from an existing channel or user group, add all users, or enter users one by one.

Don't see an answer to your question? Contact this Zulip server's administrators for support.