On a free Slack, can an owner/admin view private channels?


According to @SlackHQ (the official Slack twitter account), "owners can only see the private channels that they are a member of".

  • That doesn't answer for "Admins" though, if there is a way. – Mastro Mar 4 at 16:48
  • "Owner" is a higher level of access than admin, so it does answer the question in this context. – octern May 5 at 0:19

As of May 2019 Slack's privacy FAQ states that on a free plan, owners can request an export of all data, including private messages and channels. However, they must "provide (a) valid legal process, (b) consent of members, or (c) a requirement or right under applicable laws."


There is workaround though. If you have a Slack app that collects tokens from all you users, that app is able to access all private channels.

Also see this post: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37690761/get-a-list-of-all-private-channels-with-slack-api/53142640#53142640

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