Manage teams

Teams make workspace members easier to understand

Teams group workspace members by department, project group, class, client pod, function, or working group. They make the Teams view easier to browse and help teammates understand who belongs together.

Teams are not the same as workspace roles, and they are not always the same as item permissions. A person can belong to the Design team and still need explicit permission on a private canvas. A contractor can edit one canvas without appearing in a team at all if they were invited as an external collaborator.

For member roles, read Members, guests, and external collaborators. For the directory experience, read Find workspace teams.

Availability and permissions

Where to find teams

Open Home, then choose Teams in the workspace header. In compact layouts, the Members, Teams, and Org chart shortcuts move below the workspace identity. Some workspaces also show team information in the org chart or member profile areas.

Create teams from the Teams header. Use the admin actions on a team card to edit its name, add or remove members, or clean up an old team. If you only need to find a group or person, browse Teams or Members without changing it.

In large workspaces, teams and member expansion may load as you search or open a team. If a team does not show every person immediately, search within the team, clear filters, and confirm the active workspace.

What teams are good for

Create or edit a team

Open Home, choose Teams in the workspace header, then use Add team in the Teams header. Name the team clearly enough that people can recognize it from search, mentions, or Teams. Add members who actually belong to that group. To edit an existing team, use the admin action on its team card. If your workspace uses descriptions, keep the description practical: what the team owns, who should contact them, or what work they usually handle.

After saving, check the team from Teams. Make sure the right people appear and that the name is not easily confused with another team.

If the action is missing, check your role. Team management is usually an admin or manager action. The Teams view may let everyone browse teams without letting everyone edit them.

Add or remove members

Add members when they join the group or need to appear with that group in Teams. Remove members when they leave the group. Removing a person from a team should not automatically remove them from the workspace unless you also deactivate or remove their workspace membership.

When someone leaves the company, handle workspace member access separately in Manage workspace members. Team cleanup alone does not block old workspace links.

When someone only needs one shared item, do not add them to a team as a workaround. Share the item with the right permission through Share work with teammates or Share a canvas.

Teams and permissions

Teams help people find each other, but item permission still matters. A private canvas, project, task, dashboard, file, or Goals/OKRs item can still have its own access rules.

If someone joins a team and still cannot open a canvas, open the canvas Share dialog. The team change may be correct for organization, but the canvas still needs the right access.

If a team is available in a sharing picker, remember that adding the team grants access according to that item’s sharing rules. Review the permission carefully, especially when the team is large.

Examples

If a Product team owns quarterly planning, create or maintain a Product team so members are easy to find from Teams. Then share the planning canvas or Goals/OKRs items with the correct people or teams.

If a client project has people from Design, Sales, and Success, create a client pod team only if that group will keep working together. Otherwise, share the project or canvas directly.

If a student cannot open a class canvas, adding them to a team is not enough. Confirm whether they are a workspace member and whether the canvas grants view, comment, or edit access.

Common mistakes

The most common mistake is treating teams as a universal permission system. They are a directory and grouping tool first. Use the item’s sharing settings when the problem is one canvas or project.

Another mistake is keeping old teams forever. Stale groups make Teams harder to trust. Rename or archive old groups when your workspace exposes that action, and remove members who no longer belong.

Do not add guests or clients to teams just to make them easier to find. If they are not workspace members, manage them from the shared item. See Invite guests and external collaborators.

Recover when team data looks wrong

If a member is missing from a team, confirm they are an active workspace member first. Then check the team’s member list and filters.

If a team is missing from Teams, check the active workspace, search spelling, and whether the team was renamed, archived, or deleted.

If a team change did not change canvas access, open the item’s Share dialog and update permission there. Use Share work with teammates for the item sharing workflow.

If you cannot edit teams, ask a workspace admin to confirm your role. Browsing teams and managing teams are separate responsibilities.