Sidebar Sections in Slack and Teams: Sort Your Chats and Channels
A long sidebar is hard to scan. Both Slack and Teams let you group chats and channels into sections that only you see. The steps differ, and Slack ties the feature to paid plans. Here is what each help page says.
Miles Crawford
The quick version
In Slack on a paid plan, hover over Channels in the sidebar, click the three dots, then Channel section, name it and click Create. In Teams, go to Chat or Teams, select New items, then New section, name it and select Create. Slack says custom sections are only visible to you. Teams says you can have up to 50 sections with up to 50 conversations each.
Slack: create and fill a section
Slack says custom sections are for channels, direct messages and apps, and are available on paid plans. On the free version you manage the sidebar in other ways, or start a free trial. To create one on desktop, hover over Channels in the sidebar on the Home tab, click the three dots icon, click Channel section, enter a name or pick a suggestion, optionally choose an emoji, and click Create. To move a conversation, drag it into the section, or open it and click the star icon (or the section's emoji) at the top and pick a section. To move several at once, click the Manage my sidebar icon at the top of Home, then Bulk manage conversations, check the ones you want, and click Move to.
Slack: filter, sort, rename
Each custom section can have its own filter and sort. By default a section shows Active only, which hides conversations with no new activity in the past 30 days. Slack lists three sort choices: A-Z, Recency and Priority. To rename or delete a section, select its name on the Home tab, click the three dots icon, then choose Rename or Delete section. When you remove a conversation from a section, it goes back to the Channels or Direct messages section.
Teams: create a section
Microsoft says you can reorder chats and channels by creating custom sections and arranging items by hand. To create a section, select Chat or Teams on the left, select New items, then New section, enter a name and select Create. To add a conversation, open More options next to the chat or channel name, select Move to, then pick the section. Microsoft's note says you can create up to 50 sections, and each section can hold up to 50 conversations.
Teams: reorder, Favorites and muted chats
Microsoft says drag-and-drop reordering is available in the Teams desktop app, and only when the list is sorted by Custom. You can also drag a whole section to a new spot. Separately, you can drag a chat into the Favorites list for quick access, and Microsoft says muted chats go to a Muted section at the bottom of your chat list by default, unless the chat is already in a custom section.
Which one for what?
Our read: start with two or three sections named for how you work, such as "Today", "Projects" and "Reference", instead of one per team. Slack's 30-day Active only default is handy for a busy list, but check it if a quiet channel seems to be missing. In Teams, keep your most-used chats in Favorites and use sections for the rest. Pair this with muting noisy channels for a calmer list.
What to be careful about
- Slack custom sections need a paid plan. Slack says the free version has other ways to manage the sidebar.
- Slack's Active only filter hides quiet conversations. It hides ones with no new activity in the past 30 days. Use the search icon on the section to browse them.
- Teams limits are 50 sections and 50 conversations per section. Microsoft lists both in its note.
- Teams reordering needs the Custom sort. Microsoft says you cannot reorder a section sorted by something else.
- Slack Enterprise needs the workspace. In an Enterprise organization, a channel only appears in a custom section if it has been added to the workspace you are viewing.
- Sections are personal. Slack says custom sections are only visible to you. Slack also says you can share a section to invite others to several channels at once.
Sources
Checked October 21, 2026. Steps and limits follow each product's own help articles. The advice on how to name and use sections is ours.