How to Delete, Archive, Edit a Slack Channel (Complete Tutorial)
Slack is one of a handful of chat applications that you can expect to use in any workplace. It’s also an app that many users opt to use for daily communication. If you need to know how to delete a Slack channel, edit it, or archive it, this guide walks you through each option. Slack is easy to learn to use, but if you have to manage a Slack team for others, you may have to manage more components than the average user.
Learn how to set reminders in Slack, add apps, or find and send GIFs.
How to delete a Slack channel, edit, and archive
Channels are one of the highlights in Slack. They are ‘grouped’ discussions. Ideally, if you need to talk about something specific, you’d create a dedicated channel for it. You can change the channel name to something else or you can archive it and create a new one whenever you need to.
By default, all members except guests can archive channels they are a member of. However, Workspace Owners or Org Owners can restrict that permission, and channel managers can archive channels they manage. Deleting a channel is more restricted: on Free, Pro, and Business+ workspaces, only Workspace Owners and Workspace Admins can delete channels. On Enterprise Grid, deletion permissions can be restricted further to specific role types or custom roles.
Archive vs delete: what happens
Before removing a channel, it’s worth understanding what each option actually does, since one of them is permanent.
Archiving a channel closes it to new activity but keeps it in the workspace. The channel’s message history is retained and remains searchable on paid plans. Members can still view past conversations, and the channel can be unarchived later if needed.
Deleting a channel is permanent. The channel and all of its message history are removed and cannot be recovered. Retention settings do not preserve messages from a deleted channel. If there is any chance you may need the channel or its history again, archiving is the safer choice. You can review Slack’s official documentation on deleting channels for the most up-to-date permission details.
How to delete a Slack channel
To delete a Slack channel, make sure you have the right permissions enabled for your account or sign in with an admin account. Knowing how to delete a Slack channel correctly ensures you don’t accidentally remove important message history.
- Open Slack.
- Open the channel you want to delete.
- Click the channel name in the header at the top of the conversation.
- Go to Settings.
- Choose Delete channel.
- Select Delete this channel.
- Check the confirmation box acknowledging that the deletion is permanent.
- Click Delete Channel.
Channels you cannot delete
The default #general channel — sometimes named #all-companyname depending on your workspace — cannot be archived or deleted. This is a Slack restriction that applies regardless of your permission level. If you open a channel and the Delete channel option is missing from Settings, the most likely explanation is either that you do not have the required permissions or that the channel is a protected default channel. In either case, the option simply will not appear.
Delete an archived Slack channel
If a channel has already been archived, you can still delete it permanently. Archived channels do not appear in the regular sidebar, so the steps are slightly different. This is useful to know when you want to understand how to delete a Slack channel that was previously archived rather than active.
- Open Slack.
- Click More in the left sidebar, then select Channels (or open the Channel Browser from your workspace directory).
- Filter or search for Archived channels.
- Select the archived channel you want to delete.
- Click the channel name in the header.
- Open Settings.
- Choose Delete this channel.
- Check the confirmation box acknowledging that the deletion is permanent.
- Click Delete Channel.
Slack: Edit channel
To edit a Slack channel, make sure it’s a channel that you’ve created or that you have admin rights to edit channels created by other users.
- Open Slack.
- Right-click the Channel you want to edit.
- Select Additional options from the context menu.
- Click Rename this channel to change the channel’s name.
- Click Set the channel description to change the description for the channel.
- Click Change to Private or Change to Public to change its audience.
Slack: Archive channel
To archive a channel, make sure you have the right permissions to do so.
- Open Slack.
- Right-click the channel you want to archive.
- Select Additional options from the context menu.
- Click Archive this channel.
- Confirm that you want to archive the channel.
Conclusion
Slack isn’t hard to learn to use. It’s different especially if you’ve always used apps like Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger, or Skype and the like for daily communication. If you’re setting up a team for work or for games, knowing how to delete a Slack channel, edit it, or archive it is a fundamental skill for any workspace manager.
