MS Teams channels improperly being hidden when clicked

Dear @DianaParkin-2543, 

Good day, and I appreciate the clear explanation of your concern. I understand how disruptive this is, especially since it affects the channels you actively use. 

Under normal Microsoft Teams behavior, a channel is hidden only when the Hide option is deliberately selected from the channel’s menu. Once hidden, the channel no longer appears in the main list until it is manually shown again. 

To reduce the impact and help keep channels visible, the following options may help stabilize the behavior: 

Please make sure your operating system and Teams application are fully updated before proceeding with any troubleshooting steps. You can check for updates by going to More options (…) > Update Teams.   

Option 1: Explicitly set the channel to Show 

Even if a channel is currently accessible, it may still be flagged as hidden in the background. Explicitly setting it to Show ensures it remains visible. 

Open Microsoft Teams. 

Scroll to the bottom of the Chats and teams list. 

Select See all your teams or See all your teams and channels. 

Select the relevant team and choose See all channels. 

Locate the affected channel and select Show next to it. 

Option 2: Add the channel to Favorites as a workaround 

Favoriting a channel keeps it easily accessible and reduces disruption if Teams temporarily reorganizes the channel list. 

Locate the channel name. 

Select More options next to the channel. 

Choose Show in and then select Favorites. 

Option 3: Repair or reset the Microsoft Teams client 

Inconsistent local app data or cached state can sometimes cause unexpected interface behavior. Repairing or resetting the Teams app refreshes its local configuration. 

Please follow this guidance to repair the Teams app: Repair an Office application - Microsoft Support 

For steps to reset the Teams app, see this article: Clear the Teams client cache - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn 

Option 4: Reinstall Microsoft Teams app 

You may try uninstalling the Teams app and then reinstalling it using this link: Download Teams Desktop and Mobile Apps | Microsoft Teams  

Once the installation is complete, please check again to see if the issue persists.  

As community moderators, we kindly ask for your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. While we may not have visibility into performing deeper backend analysis, we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.  

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions or need further support, please don’t hesitate to reach out at any time. 

Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

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This behavior matches how Teams treats previewed vs. shown/hidden channels, not a random hide/unhide bug.

In the current channel model, channels can be in three states for a team member:

1. Shown – permanently listed in the channel list.
2. Hidden – not listed, but can still send notifications depending on settings.
3. Previewed (italic) – temporarily visible while being previewed; if not explicitly set to Show, they disappear again when navigating away.

When a channel name appears in italics, that indicates a previewed channel. If the channel is in this state and is not explicitly changed to Show, it will revert to hidden after leaving it. This can look like Teams is “hiding” a channel that was just used, but it is actually reverting a previewed/hidden channel that was never promoted to shown.

To prevent channels from disappearing after clicking them:

1. In the Teams list, go to the team that contains the channel.
2. Select See all channels for that team.
3. In the list of channels, select Show next to each channel that should always stay visible.
   • This moves the channel from hidden/previewed to shown, so it will no longer revert to hidden after navigating away.

Additional details from the current behavior:

• When joining a team, only some channels are shown by default; others start as hidden and may appear in italics when previewed. To keep them, they must be explicitly set to Show from See all channels.
• Channels can also be hidden manually via More options > Hide; hidden channels can be restored via hidden channels > Show or via See all channels.

By ensuring frequently used channels are set to Show (not just previewed), the channels will remain visible and will not auto-hide when switching away.

References:

• Choose channels to display in Microsoft Teams
• Show, hide, or favorite a channel in Microsoft Teams
• Show and hide channels
• Demystifying channels in Microsoft Teams