Unified Hub for Managing All Teams Channel Sites

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Maximize productivity in Microsoft Teams by creating a combined search hub for all private, shared and main channel sites.

Manage Your Team Sites Effectively in Microsoft Teams

Here's a fascinating use case from SharePoint Maven about effortlessly navigating multiple Teams Channel sites. It all started when a client created both private and shared channels in Microsoft Teams, resulting in individual SharePoint sites for each one. Find more about Teams Channels here.

Although they could readily access these channels and related files from the Teams interface, they sought a more streamlined method to search for files on both the main site and channel sites from the SharePoint interface.

The challenge? In Teams, both the private and shared channels created separate SharePoint sites, disconnected from the main site. If the user was in Teams, they could search for the file in both sites via the Teams Search interface. However, navigating the same site in SharePoint lacked the feature to search documents simultaneously across all sites.

The Solution

The solution SharePoint Maven proposed was simple, yet impressive - The use of Hub Sites. If you're not familiar, among the core functionalities of hub sites is their ability to search all associated sites at once from the central Hub Site.

Oxford IT proposed six steps to resolve the issue:

Navigate to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center
Head to the SharePoint Admin Center
Click on Active sites to view your sites
Select the Team Site from the Active Sites list and register it as a Hub Site
Assign a name to the Hub and save
Once registered, the Team site will not only gain the Hub menu but also convert into a Search across sites search box

What's magical about this solution is the automatic association of all channel sites with the main Hub once you register the central site as the hub. Therefore, if you navigate to the central Team Site, which you've deemed as a Hub, its search box will now search the primary (parent) team site and all associated sites, simultaneously!

Conclusion

It's worth noting that indexing all associated sites for search might take a few hours after registering the site as a hub. Once implemented, this neat trick can make navigation across all your Teams' channel sites a breeze, leaving you with a satisfied client, just like SharePoint Maven.

Considering the broader picture

Teams and SharePoint provide fantastic collaborative functionality. An aspect of efficient collaboration involves easy access and navigation through numerous associated documents, sites, and channels. With innovative solutions such as integrating Hub Sites for better search functionality, Microsoft continues to revolutionize our experience in digital collaboration. It ensures that no matter the magnitude, users have seamless, efficient access, helping businesses operate more effectively and productively.

Read the full article Create a Hub for all the Teams channel sites

Teams Channels - Unified Hub for Managing All Teams Channel Sites

Learn about Create a Hub for all the Teams channel sites

Creating a centralized hub for all your Microsoft Teams' channels sites is an interesting use case. These sites, under private or shared channels, have their corresponding SharePoint sites. Users can easily access all these channels and their respective files via the Teams interface. However, they may struggle to find a convenient way to search for all these files from the SharePoint interface - that's where the idea of using Hub Sites comes into play.

It's crucial to understand what goes on behind the curtain. When you create a Team in Microsoft Teams, it also generates a SharePoint site to store all standard channel documents. However, when private and shared sites are created, it also leads to the generation of separate SharePoint sites. If a user is in Microsoft Teams, they could search for files in the main and channel sites using the Teams Search interface. However, if the SharePoint interface is accessed, there is no mechanism to search for all the documents simultaneously.

The solution lies in a feature offered by SharePoint Hub Sites. It allows for searching across all associated sites at once from the main Hub site. So, all you need to do here is register the Team Site as a Hub Site. This step involves navigating to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, SharePoint Admin Center, Active Sites list, and finally registering the Team Site as a Hub site. Make sure to give it a name and save it accordingly.

Once the Team site is registered as a Hub, it gets equipped with the Hub menu. More importantly, though, it also transforms the 'Search this site' search box on the main site into the 'Search across sites' search box. This is where the real magic unfolds. Ideally, other sites that you would want to be a part of the Hub would require manual association with the Hub Site just created. Interestingly, for channel sites, this process is different. When you register the main site as a hub, all channel sites also get automatically associated with the Hub.

You can then search from the main Team site, which is now a hub. The search function will now encompass both the main team site and all associated sites (private and shared channels sites) at once. Do note that indexing for search across all associated sites may take a few hours to apply post-registering the site as a hub.

In conclusion, creating a hub for all Teams channels' sites makes searching across these integrated sites from the SharePoint interface seamless. However, it does go through a process of registration and automatic or manual association with the Hub depending upon site type. Imagine the impact it has - no more hurdles in searching across various channel sites while operating in SharePoint. Now, that's a way to increase productivity!

Keywords

Teams Channel Hub, Create Team Site, Team Site Hub, Organizing Team Channels, Hub for Teams, All Teams Channel Sites, Team Channel Site Creation, Central Hub for Teams, Multi-Team Channel Hub, Consolidate Teams Channels