Why can't I hide all old teams sites?

Question

I want to hide multiple teams sites, some will go but some just stay put

Answer 1

Hi @Langley L.J,

Thank you for posting your question.

Some Teams remain because Teams visibility is not equivalent to site visibility, and hiding is not a guaranteed or permanent state. This is expected behavior given the current Teams architecture.

In the current Teams experience, a Team will only move into the Hidden teams section if all of its channels are hidden. If even one channel remains visible, the Team will continue to appear in your Teams list. This is why some Teams hide as expected while others seem to refuse to disappear, particularly in the newer Teams client.

Hiding a Team in the Teams client only affects how it appears in your personal Teams interface. It does not hide or disable the underlying SharePoint site, nor does it remove your membership or access to the Team. As long as you remain a member of the associated Microsoft 365 Group, the Team continues to exist and may still surface in Teams.

Even after hiding channels, Teams can reappear if:

• You are mentioned (@you)
• A followed channel has activity
• A post you previously interacted with gets a reply

Teams prioritizes discoverability over strict hiding, so visibility can be restored automatically.

However, I believe this suggestion could be greatly elevating to Teams' users' workflow, I highly recommend submitting a suggestion directly from Teams by navigating to: Microsoft Teams · Community. This is the most effective way to ensure your voice reaches the product team and can be considered for future improvements.  

 Once you've submitted your feedback, feel free to share the link here in the comments. I’ll be happy to upvote it to help bring more visibility.  

Note: As Microsoft Community moderators, please note that we are not involved in product design decisions and do not have direct access to the development roadmap, we want to assure you that your feedback has been acknowledged and is valued.  

In the meantime, if you see my replies bring helpful information, please kindly accept it as an answer and vote it up by your original account, which raised this question. Once marked, it will automatically pin to top. As other users will also search information in this community, your valuable vote up will definitely also help other users who have similar queries easily to find the correct channel and useful information more quickly.   

I hope this provides enough clarity and helps you stay inform with your current situation.

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.    

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Answer 2

Some Teams and channels can be hidden from view, but others will remain visible depending on how they are used and how they are configured.

Key points:

1. Hiding channels vs. hiding teams
   • A channel can be hidden by going to the channel name, selecting More options (…) and then Hide.
   • If all channels in a team are hidden, the team itself is also hidden from the main list.
   • A hidden channel still receives notifications for @mentions, @tags, and replies to followed posts, so it may still appear active even when hidden.
2. How to find and manage hidden teams/channels
   • At the bottom of the list of chats and channels, select See all your teams and channels or See all your teams.
   • From there, teams can be sorted and filtered (for example, to show teams with hidden channels or archived teams), and channels can be set to Show or remain hidden.
   • Teams that are not used often may be automatically moved into Hidden teams; they can be brought back by selecting the team and choosing Show.
3. Why some “old” teams won’t disappear
   • If a team still has channels shown, the team will remain visible in the main list until those channels are hidden.
   • Teams that have been automatically moved to Hidden teams are not deleted; they are only tucked away and can still be accessed.
   • Teams cannot be fully removed from the list just by hiding if they are still active or needed for access to information; hiding only changes visibility, not existence.

To hide as many old team sites as possible, hide all channels in those teams (which hides the team), then use See all your teams and channels to verify they appear under Hidden teams instead of the main list.

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References:

• What's a team in Microsoft Teams?
• Show, hide, or favorite a channel in Microsoft Teams