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Questions
- How do I rename a Microsoft Team?
- How do I change a channel name in Microsoft Teams?
- Will renaming our Team break the links people have saved?
- Does the SharePoint web address change when I rename a Team?
- I renamed a channel and the folder in SharePoint still shows the old name. Why?
- Our department changed its name. What do I have to update in Microsoft Teams?
- Can I change the web address of our Teams site?
- As a Team owner, how do I rename a Team on a Mac?
- Nobody can find our Team since I renamed it. What went wrong?
- Will renaming a Team change the email address people use to reach the Team?
Environment
Renaming a Microsoft Team, renaming a channel, and changing a SharePoint site's web address are three separate tasks with three different permission levels. Two of the three are Team owner tasks, and the third is not available to a Team owner at all.
- Applies to owners of a Microsoft Team at Bowdoin. Renaming the Team itself requires Team owner permissions, and members of a Team cannot rename it.
- Renaming a channel requires Team owner permissions, or member permissions where a Team owner has granted them. Only a Team owner can rename the Team's first channel.
- Changing the web address of the Team's SharePoint site requires a SharePoint administrator. A Team owner cannot change a web address from Microsoft Teams.
- Supported on Bowdoin-issued computers running macOS Sequoia (15.x), macOS Tahoe (26.x), or newer, or Windows 11, and on the current version of iPadOS. Personal devices are best-effort only.
- Sign in at office365.bowdoin.edu for the web version of Microsoft Teams or SharePoint. Menu placement varies between versions of Microsoft Teams.
- Not in scope: adding a channel, deleting a channel, or moving files between channels, which are covered by Add, Move, and Remove Channels After Your Team Is Running in the Related Articles section.
Resolution
Rename a Team
- Open Microsoft Teams and select More options next to the Team name.
- Select Manage team.
- Open the Settings tab.
- Expand Team details and select Edit.
- Type the new Team name, then save. Menu placement varies between versions of Microsoft Teams, so look for the same wording in a nearby menu if a label does not match exactly.
Renaming a Team changes the display name people see in Microsoft Teams and in Outlook. Renaming a Team does not move any files, does not change any permissions, and does not change the membership list.
What a Team rename leaves unchanged
The Team's SharePoint site keeps its existing web address. In SharePoint, a site's name and a site's web address are separate properties, and the web address changes only when a SharePoint administrator changes it deliberately.
In practice the old name stays visible in the web address. A Team renamed from "Registrar Projects" to "Academic Records" still sits at a web address containing the old words. Saved links keep working, which is the outcome you want, but people searching for the site by its new name may not recognize the web address. Tell the department that the web address is unchanged, so nobody assumes the site has gone. For the steps to collect the current web addresses, see Get URLs for Teams Channel Folders in the Related Articles section.
Note: The Team's email address may also keep the old name after a rename. If your department relies on emailing the Team, send a test message to the address after renaming, and contact the Bowdoin College Service Desk if the address needs to change.
Rename a channel
- In the Team's channel list, point at the channel and select More options.
- Select Edit channel.
- Under "Channel name", type the new name.
- Select Save.
A channel name must be unique within the Team and cannot contain " * : < > ? / \ |. The new channel name appears everywhere in Microsoft Teams, including search results and notifications.
Why a SharePoint folder name can differ from a channel name
Each standard channel has a folder of the same name in the Team's SharePoint document library. Microsoft does not document that folder being renamed to match a renamed channel, and in practice the folder often keeps its original name. Expect the channel name in Microsoft Teams and the folder name in SharePoint to disagree after a channel rename.
A mismatch between a channel name and a folder name is cosmetic, not broken. The channel still points at the same folder, and the files are untouched. The mismatch does confuse people who open the SharePoint document library directly, so it is worth mentioning to the Team. For an explanation of how channels map to folders, see Understand Microsoft Teams: Channels, Permissions, and File Structure in the Related Articles section.
What other people notice after a rename
Because web addresses do not change, most things keep working after a rename: saved links, synced folders, OneDrive shortcuts, and links pasted inside documents all still resolve. What breaks is recognition. People look for the old Team name in their Teams list, or look for the new Team name in a web address that still shows the old one.
Important: Changing a SharePoint site's web address is a much larger change than renaming a Team. Microsoft creates a redirect at the old web address, and the OneDrive sync app moves syncing to the new web address on its own, but embedded web part links, custom forms, and apps that store the old web address may stop working. Treat a web address change as a project, not a quick edit.
For the steps to repair links and shortcuts that stop working, see Fix Links and Shortcuts After Your Files Move to Teams in the Related Articles section.
The order to work in when renaming
- Agree on the new name with the department. Renaming twice is worse than waiting a week.
- Post in the Team's General channel saying what the new name will be, when the change happens, and that the web address and the files will not change.
- Rename the Team.
- Rename channels only where the old channel names are actually wrong. Every rename costs someone a moment of confusion.
- Update anything you maintain that names the Team: department web pages, onboarding documents, and links inside shared files. For help repairing links, see Fix Links and Shortcuts After Your Files Move to Teams in the Related Articles section.
- Check that people who sync the Team's folders still see those folders on their computers. For the sync steps, see Sync Teams Channels and Shared Folders to Your Computer in the Related Articles section.
When to ask the Service Desk instead of renaming it yourself
Contact the Bowdoin College Service Desk if the SharePoint site's web address needs to change, if the Team's email address needs to match a new department name, if the Team is connected to a separate SharePoint site or to an app that stores the old web address, or if a rename is part of a department reorganization affecting several Teams at once.
Additional Help
If you need further assistance, you have several options:
- Bowdoin Bot: Chat with Bowdoin Bot directly from any KB page for instant answers.
- Phone: Call the Bowdoin College Service Desk at (207) 725-3030.
- In person: Visit the Tech Hub in Smith Union during business hours.
- Submit a ticket: Request assistance through the Service Catalog.
Additional Resources
AI-assisted content: This article was created with AI. It was verified and edited by a human.