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Manage channel visibility

Choose which roles and members can see and use specific channels and groups.

What is Channel Visibility?​

Channel Visibility is the list of roles and members who can see a channel. Add a role or member and they can see that channel or channel group; leave them off and it's invisible to them: not locked, just not there.

Seeing a channel and acting in it are two separate things. Channel Visibility handles the seeing. What a member can then do inside (send messages, delete messages, and so on) comes from their roles, which you can adjust for one channel in its permissions (below). For how roles and visibility fit together, see Roles and permissions overview.

When you create a channel or channel group, Root adds the EVERYONE role to Channel Visibility automatically, so everyone can see it. Remove EVERYONE to make the channel private, or keep it and adjust what people can do in the channel's permissions.

Set permissions for a role or member​

Most of the time you don't need any extra setup. Adding a role or member to Channel Visibility is enough to let them see and use the channel based on their roles.

When you want to change one specific permission in one specific place, set that role or member's permissions for the channel. For example, an announcements channel might let everyone read but allow only owners to post.

Each permission can be set to one of three states:

StateWhat it does
AllowTurns the permission on here, whatever the member's roles say
DenyTurns the permission off here, whatever the member's roles say
InheritLeaves it to the member's roles (the default)

For the full list of permissions you can set, see All permissions.

When deny wins​

A member can be covered by more than one entry, for example through two different roles. If a permission is set to Deny anywhere that applies, the member doesn't have it, even if it's allowed somewhere else. Deny always wins. For a worked example, see how Root resolves conflicting permissions.

Who can manage Channel Visibility?​

You need this permission on the channel or channel group you're editing.

Required permissions
  • Channel Full Control

Add a role or member​

Add a role or member to Channel Visibility to let them see a channel or channel group.

  1. Right-click the channel or channel group and select Edit channel or Edit channel group.
  2. Go to the Permissions section.
  3. Select Add role or Add user.
  4. Choose a role or search for a specific member.
  5. (Optional) Set specific permissions to Allow or Deny for that role or member.
  6. Select Save.

Edit a role or member's permissions​

Change the permissions for a role or member on a channel.

  1. Right-click the channel or channel group and select Edit channel or Edit channel group.
  2. Go to the Permissions section.
  3. Select the role or member you want to modify.
  4. For each permission you want to change, select Allow, Deny, or Inherit.
  5. Select Save.

Remove a role or member​

Remove a role or member from Channel Visibility to revoke their access to a channel or channel group.

  1. Right-click the channel or channel group and select Edit channel or Edit channel group.
  2. Go to the Permissions section.
  3. Select the role or member you want to remove.
  4. Right-click and select Remove.
  5. Select Save.