Unable to Create a "General" Channel from Scratch in Teams Desktop

Anonymous
2024-09-10T03:57:45+00:00

I encountered an issue when trying to create a new team from scratch in the desktop version of Teams. It seems that naming the first channel has become a mandatory step. However, I am unable to name the channel "General" as it shows the message: "The name General is reserved. Try another name."

Could anyone please advise on how to create a "General" channel from scratch in the desktop version of Teams? Is there a workaround for this restriction?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams for business | Teams and channels | Manage a team or channel

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-01-10T23:10:19+00:00

    Whoever is in charge of New Teams and New Outlook should really spend some time out in the real work before suggesting some of these strange features. It's great that we can now define the name of it, but what if we want to be the name General. It's like they obviously put some thought into it because the added the safety check to not allow the word General. But it never cross their mind that someone would like to call it General when they first create it?

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-12-17T14:47:03+00:00

    I also agree. I'm also having the same issue weather creating from scratch or from another team

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-12-08T14:59:06+00:00

    Josu - obviously I wouldn't be wasting time on this topic or searching the interweb for a solution IF THE BUG WASN'T AFFECTING US.

    We have many existing Teams, yes, that are proper with a General folder - I created a NEW team on Teams desktop and tried to mirror our naming conventions and could not.

    Trying to make the new Team match the existing Teams led me to this thread.

    As noted in my second post, to fix I had to blast the Team and create a new one using one of the other functional methods (in my case starting at Sharepoint). I had to use a slightly different name, but alas, all is now well.

    Sorry to waste your time Myles. Won't do it again.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-12-06T16:20:40+00:00

    Thanks Jennifer. Will remember that for the future. We solved by starting at Sharepoint and Adding to Teams from 365 admin. Also creates a General channel.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-12-06T16:18:24+00:00

    Josu - obviously I wouldn't be wasting time on this topic or searching the interweb for a solution IF THE BUG WASN'T AFFECTING US.

    We have many existing Teams, yes, that are proper with a General folder - I created a NEW team on Teams desktop and tried to mirror our naming conventions and could not.

    Trying to make the new Team match the existing Teams led me to this thread.

    As noted in my second post, to fix I had to blast the Team and create a new one using one of the other functional methods (in my case starting at Sharepoint). I had to use a slightly different name, but alas, all is now well.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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