Channels

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Channels in Rocket.Chat are chat rooms designed to improve communication and collaboration. For example, you can create a dedicated channel for designers in your workspace to discuss design-related topics.

Type of channels

Channels can be public or private. You can find the list of channels you are part of in the workspace sidebar.

Public channels

  • Open to all members of a Rocket.Chat workspace.

  • Anything posted is visible and searchable by everyone.

  • Ideal for sharing information widely, onboarding new members, or building an organization-wide knowledge base.

  • Common use cases: company-wide announcements, department updates, or programming language discussions.

  • Identified by this icon:

Private channels

  • Only visible to invited members.

  • Used for sensitive or confidential conversations.

  • Membership is by invitation only. Permissions determine who can invite others.

  • By default, only administrators, room owners, and moderators can invite members.

  • Identified by the lock icon:

Channel security and permissions

Rocket.Chat provides options to control who can post or react to messages in a channel:

Read-only channels

  • Only users with the Post ReadOnly permission can send messages.

  • Best for announcements or voting.

  • To allow reactions:

    • Go to Channel info > Edit > Advanced settings and enable Allow reacting.

Broadcast channels

Like read-only channels, broadcast channels allow authorized users with the Post ReadOnly permission to write new messages while other users can reply to existing messages.

However, it differs from read-only channels in the following ways:

  • All messages have a reply button that redirects you to the sender's direct message (DM), replying to the message as a quote.

  • Users can’t react to messages.

Encrypted channels

  • Encrypted channels have end-to-end encryption enabled across all messages exchanged by the channel members.

  • To learn more, see End to End Encryption.

Channel information

The Channel Information screen provides details about the current channel, including:

  • Channel Name: How the channel appears in the sidebar and search.

  • Topic: Displayed in the header near the title, useful for providing context.

  • Announcement: Highlighted in a bar under the header.

  • Description: The channel’s description.

  • Private: Whether the channel is public or private (can be toggled).

  • Read Only: Indicates if the channel is restricted to certain users.

  • Archived: Indicates if a channel is archived. Nobody can post messages on an archived channel; a channel search will not find that channel. Admins can find archived channels using the Directory.

  • Password to access: Password-protected channels require users to enter the password before joining.

If a Retention Policy is active on this channel, a red warning box appears stating when messages or files are deleted. For more details, see Rocket.Chat Room Roles.

The general channel

Every workspace includes a general channel created automatically when administrators first log in.

  • All users are added to it by default.

  • Admins can manage or delete the general channel like any other channel.

For more information, see Manage Channels and Channel Actions.