Details
From mid-2024, you were unable to have a channel named ‘General’ in new teams, but that’s about to change. You will be able to name the first channel ‘General’ when creating a team on the desktop client and rename an existing first channel to ’General’, you will no longer see the The name General is reserved. Try another name message.
Naming the channel ‘General’ will display that channel at the top of the team in the channel list. First channels named anything else will not appear at the top.
You can manually name the channel ‘General’ by typing the name (1) or by selecting More options > Set name to General (2).

Availability
Due early to mid-May 2025.
Source, related links, and references
MC1048628.
Image(s): Microsoft.
How do I change a channel name in Microsoft Teams? See: Edit a channel in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Support.
Page originally published
12th April 2025 and kept up to date.
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