Every workspace starts with a #general channel and a #random channel. Naturally, your workspace will add more channels to keep discussions focused on specific topics and projects. As your channel list grows, you can manage your sidebar to keep your most important conversations right where you need them.

We'll cover some general tips to manage busy channels, and outline the preferences you can use to organize your sidebar.

Tips and preferences

Here are some features you can use when your channel list starts to look crowded:

• Star channels and direct messages to move them to the top of your sidebar.
• Leave channels you don’t need to be in to remove them from your sidebar.
• Archive channels that are no longer in use. They won't appear in your sidebar.
• Adjust your notifications as workspace activity grows and changes.
  
• Mute channels so they never appear as unread (bold) in your sidebar.
  

You also have a few preferences to change how your sidebar looks:

• Sort channels based on how you use Slack
• Separate public and private channels
• Hide conversations with no new activity

Sort channels scientifically

Your channels appear in alphabetical order by default. If you're on a paid plan, you can choose to scientifically sort them. This will bump the channels most relevant to you (based on how you use Slack) to the top of your sidebar. Here’s how to set this preference:

Note: When channels are listed alphabetically, you can use channel pre-fixes to help organize your sidebar. It’s not currently possible to create sub-channels or folders.

Separate your public and private channels

Tip: If you're on the Enterprise Grid plan, you'll also see the option to List organization channels separately. Check this box to list channels shared across your org separately.

Hide conversations with no unread activity

Instead of listing every channel you’ve joined in your sidebar, you can choose to display only the ones with unread activity. This way, channels and direct messages will only appear in your channel list when there is a message you haven’t seen yet.

Choosing to display only unread and starred conversations will make everything feel a lot more manageable:

Here's how to hide channels and DMs that have already been read: 

Note: With this setting, use the Quick Switcher to find channels that are hidden. To reach other channels and conversations, press ⌘+K on Mac, or Ctrl+K on Windows.