Channels

A Channel is a team's list of Threads: a stable, named place for an ongoing area of work, such as a team, a client or an open role. You met the Channels list in A tour of the window. This page is about making Channels, finding your way around one, and deciding who belongs in it.

The General Channel#

Every Organization starts with one Channel, General. Everyone in the Organization can see it, and it sits in the Channels list in its alphabetical place like any other.

General is a little different from the Channels you make yourself:

• You cannot make it private. It is always open to the whole Organization.
• You cannot rename it. It is the Organization's home address, and it stays.

Create a Channel#

1. Click Channels at the left edge of the window.
2. Click + beside All channels. Its tooltip says New channel.
3. Type a Name, up to 180 characters, and click Create channel.

Rally opens the new Channel straight away. Every Channel starts open to the whole Organization. If it should be private, make it so from its menu, as described below.

Any active member of the Organization can create a Channel. Guests (people shared into a single conversation, see Sharing with people outside your Organization) cannot.

A Channel's screen#

Click a Channel in the Channels list and its screen fills the window. A Channel has no conversation of its own. Nobody chats there and Rally never replies there. Its screen answers one question: what work is going on in here?

The feed#

The middle of the screen is the Channel's feed, with one entry for each Thread in the Channel. It reads from the top down: the oldest Thread is at the top and the newest is at the bottom, beside the message box. If there are a lot, a Show earlier threads button at the top fetches more.

Each entry shows:

• who started the Thread, and when;
• a line or two saying what the Thread is for;
• a chip with the Thread's name. Click it to open the Thread.

Every entry looks the same, whatever kind of work the Thread holds, so a feed reads quickly.

A private Thread you are not in is not in the feed. If someone sends you a link to one, you can ask to join it; see Asking to join from a link.

A Channel with no Threads yet explains to people who can start a Thread how Channels gather related work, how the input box starts a Thread, how to collaborate with Rally and other people, and how private Breakouts and merging work fit together. Other viewers see No threads yet.

Start a Thread#

The message box at the bottom of a Channel's screen starts a new Thread in that Channel. It says Start a thread in and the Channel's name.

1. Type what you want Rally to do. Attach files or mention teammates as you would in any message.
2. Press Return or click Start thread.

Your message becomes the Thread's first message, the Thread opens in a pane beside the Channel, and Rally starts work. Rally names the Thread for you, as described in Your first Thread.

This is the only way to start a Thread yourself, so every Thread has a home and its results have somewhere to go back to. Sidekicks, Slack and email can still start Threads of their own, in the Channel they are set up for or in General.

In a private Channel only its members see the message box.

Opening a Thread beside its Channel#

A Thread you open from the feed opens in a pane on the right, with the Channel still on the left, so you can keep an eye on both. Click the close button on the Thread's title pill to go back to the Channel on its own. Opening a Breakout from the Thread moves everything one step left, and the Channel becomes a breadcrumb you can click to come back. A tour of the window walks through it.

The Channel's menu#

At the top of the Channel's screen is its name in a rounded pill. Click it for the Channel's menu:

• Add people and People list the Channel's members and let you add or remove them. The People row also says whether the Channel is Public or Private. See Who belongs in a Channel.
• Rename opens Rename channel. Names can be up to 180 characters, which is plenty, even for a committee.
• Sidekicks lists the Channel's Sidekicks. See The Channel's Sidekicks.
• Copy link copies a link that opens the Channel.
• More holds the rest:
  • Icon changes the Channel's icon and color. Clicking the icon in the pill does the same. Threads whose home is this Channel, and their Breakouts, take its color.
  • Pinned in my sidebar pins the Channel to the top of your Channels list. You can also right-click the Channel in the list and choose Pin.
  • Public to organization is the privacy switch. See Private channels.
  • Archive channel takes the Channel out of everyone's Channels list, after asking. Its Threads keep going, and any that sit in no other Channel move to General so nobody loses them. See Archiving.

General's menu has no privacy switch and no Archive channel. A Channel you can see but not change (see below) shows its people but offers nothing to change.

Who belongs in a Channel#

A Channel has members: the people listed under People in its menu. To add someone, open the menu, choose Add people and pick them. To take someone out, open People and choose Remove from channel beside their name, or Leave the channel beside your own.

In a Channel open to the whole Organization, the member list is mostly a record of who belongs to it, since everyone can see it anyway. In a private Channel, the members are the only people who can see it at all.

Private channels#

Every Channel starts open to the whole Organization. To make one private, open its menu, choose More and turn off Public to organization. Turn it back on to open the Channel to the Organization again.

A private Channel:

• shows up only for its members. Everyone else does not see it in their Channels list, and a link to it tells them Channel not found;
• keeps you in it when you make it private, so it is never left with nobody in it;
• starts each new Thread private to the person who started it, and to anyone they mention in the first message, until they add more people.

Channels you can see but not change#

Sometimes a Channel appears in your list even though you are not one of its members. That happens when someone added you to a Thread that sits in a private Channel. Rally shows you the Channel so the Thread has somewhere to sit, but you cannot rename it, change its people, or start a Thread in it.

The Channel's Sidekicks#

A Channel can suggest Sidekicks for the work done in it. Open the Channel's menu and choose Sidekicks to see them. Choose Add Sidekick to add one from your Organization. To take one off the list, right-click it.

A Sidekick added here is recommended in every Thread in the Channel, including Threads started later. Removing it stops it being added from then on; Threads that already have it keep it. Sidekicks in a Thread explains what a recommendation does.

A Thread in several Channels#

A Thread can sit in more than one Channel. It shows in each Channel's feed, and its row in your Threads list carries a chip for each, so work that belongs to two teams does not need copying.

If you open a link to a Channel that has been archived, that has been made private, or that you no longer have access to, Rally shows Channel not found and It may have been archived, made private, or you may no longer have access. Rally deliberately does not say which.

Next: Arranging your Threads, to keep the work you care about within reach.