> Rally Help Center. Index of every page: https://rallywith.ai/help/llms.txt
> This chapter's pages: https://rallywith.ai/help/spaces-and-breakouts/llms.txt

# Arranging your Channels

> Pin, move, file and archive Channels so the sidebar shows what matters.

With your Spaces in place, the next job is getting the right Channels onto the
right shelves and the busiest ones within reach. Almost all of it happens in the
sidebar's Channel list, under the Space pills.

## The Channel menu

Right-click any Channel in the sidebar for its menu. From top to bottom:

| Item | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Pin** / **Unpin** | Keeps the Channel at the top of the list, for you. See [Pinning](#pinning). |
| **Mark as unread** | Marks the Channel unread again, so it nags you later. |
| **Share** | Invites someone by email into the Channel's main conversation. See [Sharing with people outside your Organization](https://rallywith.ai/help/spaces-and-breakouts/sharing-with-guests.md). |
| **Rename** | Opens **Rename channel**. Names can be up to 180 characters. |
| **Add to space** | Puts the Channel in another Space as well. See [One Channel, several Spaces](#one-channel-several-spaces). |
| **Manage access** | Shows exactly who can read the Channel and why. See [Who can see what](https://rallywith.ai/help/spaces-and-breakouts/who-can-see-what.md). |
| **Remove from space** | Takes the Channel out of the Space whose pill you have selected. |
| **Archive channel** | Retires the Channel for everyone. See [Archiving](#archiving). |

Not every item appears every time. Rally's own built-in Channels do not offer
**Add to space**, **Manage access** or **Remove from space**, and neither does a
Space you only see through one of its Channels.

Renaming, icons and colours are covered in more detail in
[Names, icons and colours](https://rallywith.ai/help/working-in-a-channel/name-icon-and-colour.md).

Open the Channel and click its name in the title pill for a second menu, with
**Copy link**, the **Pinned in sidebar** switch, its People, Sidekicks and
Breakouts. See
[Names, icons and colours](https://rallywith.ai/help/working-in-a-channel/name-icon-and-colour.md#the-title-pill).

## Pinning

Channels in the sidebar are listed alphabetically, which is fair but not always
helpful. Pinning keeps the Channels you live in at the top, in a **Pinned**
section, in whatever order you like. The section is always there, even before
you pin anything: empty, it reads **Move a channel here to pin it**.

- **To pin**, drag a Channel up into **Pinned** and let go. You can also
  right-click it and choose **Pin**, or open it, click its name in the title
  pill, choose **More** and turn on **Pinned in sidebar**.
- **To unpin**, right-click it and choose **Unpin**, or turn **Pinned in
  sidebar** off.
- **To reorder your pins**, drag them up and down. From the keyboard, select a
  pinned Channel, hold <kbd>⌥ Option</kbd> and press <kbd>↑</kbd> or
  <kbd>↓</kbd>. The arrow keys on their own only move the selection.

Pins are yours alone. They follow you to your other devices and change nothing
for anyone else in the Channel. Each Space keeps its own pins, so with a Space's
pill selected, a Channel that lives in two Spaces can be pinned in one and not
the other. Under **All**, **Pinned** shows everything you have pinned in any
Space, in an order of its own that you arrange the same way and that also
follows you to your other devices. Unpinning a Channel under **All** unpins it
everywhere. Only pinned Channels can be reordered. The rest stay alphabetical.

You can pin up to 1,000 Channels, by which point the Pinned section has become
the sidebar and you are back where you started.

The Space pills reorder in much the same way: drag a pill sideways, or select
it and use <kbd>⌥ Option</kbd> with <kbd>←</kbd> or <kbd>→</kbd>.

## Moving a Channel to another Space

Drag a Channel from the sidebar's list and drop it on a Space's pill. The
pill pulses to say it has caught it. The Channel moves: it leaves the Space
you dragged it from and lives in the new one instead.

- You can only drop on a Space you are able to change, and not on the Space you
  are already in.
- If the Channel you moved was open, Rally opens the next Channel in the list,
  or the Space's page if it was the last one.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Moving a Channel can change who sees it. Drop it in an Organization-wide Space
> and everyone in the Organization can now read it. Drop it in a private Space
> and it may become hidden from people who used to see it. Read
> [Who can see what](https://rallywith.ai/help/spaces-and-breakouts/who-can-see-what.md) before you rearrange anything
> sensitive.

## One Channel, several Spaces

A Channel can sit in more than one Space at once and shows up under each, so
work that belongs to two teams does not need copying.

- **To add it to another Space**, right-click the Channel, choose **Add to
  space** and pick the Space. It stays where it was as well. Spaces you cannot
  pick are greyed out with the reason, such as **This channel is already in**
  that Space.
- **To take it out of a Space**, open that Space, right-click the Channel and
  choose **Remove from space**. You can also do this from
  [Manage access](https://rallywith.ai/help/spaces-and-breakouts/who-can-see-what.md).

Every Channel must live in at least one Space. If you try to remove it from its
last one, Rally refuses: **Every channel needs a space, and this would leave one
with none. Add it to another space first.**

Remember that each Space a Channel is in is another group of people who may be
able to read it.

## Archiving

When a piece of work is finished, archive it. Archiving takes the thing out of
the sidebar and stops anyone from working in it. Rally keeps the content: there
is no button anywhere that deletes a Channel.

| To archive | Do this |
| --- | --- |
| A Channel | Right-click it in the sidebar and choose **Archive channel**, or choose it at the bottom of the Channel's title pill menu. |
| A Breakout | Click its name in its title pill and choose **Archive breakout**. See [Breakouts](https://rallywith.ai/help/spaces-and-breakouts/breakouts.md). |
| A Space | Right-click its pill and choose **Archive space**. See [Spaces](https://rallywith.ai/help/spaces-and-breakouts/spaces.md#archive-and-restore-a-space). |
| A Sidekick | Click **…** on the Sidekick and choose **Archive Sidekick**. See [The Sidekicks window](https://rallywith.ai/help/sidekicks/the-sidekicks-window.md). |

> [!WARNING]
> Archiving a Channel affects everyone, not only you. It leaves the sidebar for
> everyone who can see it, and nobody, you included, can open it again. Any work
> Rally is doing in it stops, scheduled follow-ups stop, and email sent to the
> Channel's address is refused. Nothing is deleted, but Rally has no way in the
> app to bring an archived Channel or Breakout back. If you only want it out of
> your way, pin the Channels you care about instead.

Spaces are the exception: an archived Space can be restored, as described in
[Spaces](https://rallywith.ai/help/spaces-and-breakouts/spaces.md#archive-and-restore-a-space).

## Making room

The sidebar stays open; it does not fold away. To give the conversation more
room, drag the sidebar's right edge to make it narrower. Rally remembers the
width on this Mac.

## When something goes wrong

If one of these sidebar changes fails (archiving, pinning, reordering, adding a
Channel to a Space, moving it or removing it), Rally shows a small window in the
middle of the screen. Its title says what failed, such as **Channel could not be
moved** or **Channel could not be pinned**, and one sentence says what state
things are in now, for example that the pinned list is back in the order it was
in. Click **OK** to close it.

Clicking **OK** only says you have seen it. Nothing is retried for you. Most of
these messages suggest trying again in a moment, and that usually works. If it
keeps failing, see [Common problems and fixes](https://rallywith.ai/help/help-and-glossary/common-problems.md).

Next: [Breakouts](https://rallywith.ai/help/spaces-and-breakouts/breakouts.md), for when a conversation needs a side room.