Channels

Chat spaces inside a Disco Academy that let Admins host ongoing conversation with Members, broadcast updates, and collect feedback without pulling Members out to external tools.

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Overview

Each Channel has a name, a running message history, threaded replies, and @-mentions. Admins control who has access instead of Members self-selecting. Channels can live at the Academy level or inside an individual Program, making it easy to separate broad academy-wide conversation from Program-specific discussion. At either level, a Channel can be open to everyone in scope or restricted to specific Members and Member Groups. Channels are enabled by default. If they have been turned off on your Academy, an Admin can turn them back on under Admin → Appearance → Sidebar by enabling the Channels toggle and clicking Save.

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Create an Academy-Level Channel

1. From the Academy Home page, click the + icon at the top of the left sidebar and select Add App.
2. Select Channel from the modal.
3. Configure the Channel:

• Icon and title: shown in the sidebar.
• Description: tells Members what the Channel is for.
• Access: choose All Members to open the Channel to everyone in the Academy, or restrict it to specific Members and Member Groups.

4. Click Save Changes.

Once saved, the Channel appears in the left sidebar for every Member with access.

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Create a Program-Level Channel

1. Open the Program and click the + icon on the Program tab, then select Add App.
2. Select Channel from the modal.
3. Configure the Channel. Access can be opened to every Member enrolled in the Program or restricted to specific Members and Member Groups.
4. Click Save Changes.

Program Channels show in the Program sidebar rather than the Academy sidebar. Disco automatically includes the Academy’s Owners and Admins in every Program Channel so they keep visibility into Program conversation, even when they are not enrolled in the Program.

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Post Messages

Open any Channel to load its message history, its header, and the message input at the bottom of the page. From the input, post messages with rich text (bold, italic, strikethrough, links, bulleted and numbered lists), emoji, and file, image, or video attachments. The input also lets you attach other Disco content. Attach an Event, a piece of Content, a Program, or a Survey and it posts as a link card Members can click to open the attached item. For help drafting a message, click Write with AI in the input. Describe what you want to say and Disco generates a draft dropped directly into the input. Review the draft and send it manually. Write with AI never posts a message on its own. POV Set a clear purpose in the Channel description before inviting Members in. A Channel with an obvious topic (“Week 3 cohort discussion”) draws better participation than a generic one (“general”).

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Mention Members and the Channel

To pull attention to a message, type @ in the input and select a Member to mention them directly, or type @channel to notify everyone in the Channel. Individual @-mentions are always available. Use of @channel can be restricted to Admins under Admin → Settings.

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Start a Thread

Reply to any message to start a thread. Thread replies open in a thread pane to the right of the main feed, keeping follow-on conversation attached to the message that started it and out of the main Channel timeline.

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Pin a Message

Hover any message and select Pin from its options bar. Pinned messages collect in a pane opened from the pin icon in the Channel header. Use pinning to surface announcements, rules, or links Members should be able to find quickly. Unpin a message from either spot. Pinning is Admin-only. Members can react, reply in threads, and post, but they cannot pin.

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Per-Message Actions

Hover a message to reveal its options bar. Anyone in the Channel can:

• Add a reaction
• Reply in a thread
• Quote reply
• Copy a link to the message
• Mark as unread

Admins can also pin or unpin a message, mute a Member, and delete any Member’s message. Members can edit or delete only their own messages.

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Manage a Channel’s Settings

Open the 3-dot menu in the Channel header to open the Channel Settings drawer. It includes five tabs:

• Details: edit the Channel’s name, icon, and description.
• Access: visibility is locked after creation. For private Channels, add or remove Member Groups and individual Members here. If a removal would leave the Channel without any Admin, Disco blocks the save and shows a warning.
• Notifications: sets your own notification preference for this Channel: All New Messages, @ Mentions (default), or Off.
• Members: a read-only list of everyone with access, grouped by Member Group, Admins, and Members.
• Pins: the list of pinned messages.

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Delete a Channel

From the 3-dot menu, select Remove. Disco warns you that deletion is permanent before proceeding. There is no archive. Removing a Channel wipes its message history, and Disco cannot recover it. If you want a Channel out of the sidebar without losing the conversation, restrict access to a smaller group rather than deleting.

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Settings and Configurations

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Channels Enabled (Academy-Wide)

Channels are on by default. Turn them on or off for the whole Academy under Admin → Appearance → Sidebar. Turning Channels off hides them for everyone without deleting existing Channels or their history.

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@channel Permissions (Academy-Wide)

Under Admin → Settings, choose who can use @channel across the Academy:

• Admins Only: only Owners and Admins (including Program Managers and Instructors) can notify everyone in a Channel.
• Everyone: any Member in a Channel can use @channel.

This setting applies to every Channel in the Academy. It does not affect individual @-mentions of specific Members, which are always available.

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Per-Channel Settings

Each Channel’s identity and access is editable from the Channel Settings drawer:

• Name and icon: displayed in the sidebar for every Member with access.
• Description: shown as a tooltip when hovering the Channel name in the header. Use it to clarify what belongs in the Channel.
• Access: visibility (public or private) and, for private Channels, the list of Members and Member Groups that can see and post.

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Notification Preferences (Per Member)

From the Notifications tab of any Channel Settings drawer, a Member can set their own email and push notification preference for that Channel:

• All New Messages: notifications for every new message.
• @ Mentions (default): notifications only when the Member is @-mentioned or when someone replies in a thread they are part of.
• Off: no email or push notifications for that Channel.

Preferences are per Member and per Channel. Admins cannot override a Member’s notification preferences. In-app Disco notifications continue regardless of this setting.

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FAQ

Can I change a public Channel to private (or the other way around) after it is created? No. Visibility is set at creation and cannot be changed afterward. To change visibility, delete the Channel and recreate it. For a private Channel whose audience needs to grow, add another Member Group or individual Members to the access list instead. Can I set up a Channel where only Admins can reply? Not natively. Channel-level access controls decide who can see and participate in the Channel, but they do not split by action type. As a workaround, set expectations in the Channel description that only Admins respond and moderate off-topic replies. For broadcast-style communication, use a Feed app, which supports “only Admins can post.” How do I remove a Member from a Channel? Open the Channel Settings drawer, go to the Access tab, and remove the Member or the Member Group they belong to. For Program Channels, removing someone from the Program itself also removes their Channel access. Can I remove myself from a private Channel? Not directly, if your access comes from a Program you are enrolled in. Channel membership follows Program enrollment, so you need to be removed from the Program or Academy to lose access. If you are the only Admin in a private Channel, another Admin must be added before you can be removed. Why did my @channel mention not notify anyone? Channels with more than 1,000 Members skip the @channel notification fan-out. The message still posts, but nobody receives the ping. For very large Channels, use individual @-mentions or a pinned announcement instead. Also check the Academy-wide @channel setting under Admin → Settings to confirm Members are allowed to use it. Why can’t I see a Group in the Channel access picker? Admin-view-only Member Groups do not appear in the picker. A Member Group configured to be visible only to Admins cannot be selected when choosing who can access a Channel. Academy-level Member Groups also do not appear in the picker for Program Channels. Only Program-level groups can be used there. Can Members pin messages? No. Pinning is Admin-only. If a Member wants a message pinned, ask an Admin in the Channel to pin it for them. Can I recover a Channel I deleted? No. Channel deletion is permanent and message history cannot be recovered. If you need to step a Channel out of the sidebar temporarily, restrict access to a smaller group rather than deleting. Can I create or configure a Channel from the Disco mobile app? No. Channel creation and editing are web-only. Use the web app for setup and changes. Members can still read, post, react, and manage their own notification preferences on mobile. Does a Member who is not in a private Channel see its messages in search? No. Private Channel messages are scoped in search. Only Owners, Admins, and Program Managers for their own Program see those messages in results regardless of Channel membership. Does turning my notification preference off stop in-app notifications too? No. Setting a Channel to Off only stops email and push notifications. In-app Disco notifications, including sidebar indicators and entries in the notification drawer, continue regardless.