How to Make an Announcement Channel on Discord (and Publish to It)

If you run a Discord server for a community, a course, a product or a fan group, you'll know how quickly important updates get buried under chat. An announcement channel fixes that. It's a channel for the news that matters, and it comes with a Follow button so people can pipe your updates straight into their own servers.

Here's how to set one up, based on Discord's own help pages, plus the one requirement that stops most people at the first step and what your followers will and won't see.

What an announcement channel on Discord does differently

Discord describes announcement channels as special text channels that include a Follow button. When you publish a message there, it appears as a regular message in every server that follows the channel. You'll recognise one by the megaphone icon next to its name.

That's the real difference from a normal text channel where you've simply locked down who can post. A locked channel keeps updates tidy inside your server. An announcement channel also lets your updates travel to other servers, which is handy for creators whose fans run their own groups.

Turning on Community before you make a Discord announcement channel

This is the bit that catches people out. According to Discord's help, announcement channels are only available to servers with Community enabled. If you open the channel creator and there's no Announcement option, that's almost always why.

Community is a server-wide setting that the owner or an admin switches on. Discord has a separate help article called Enabling Your Community Server that walks through it. Once Community is on, the Announcement channel type appears.

Creating a new announcement channel on Discord step by step

Discord's help gives these steps for a brand new channel:

1. In your channel list, hover over the category where you want the channel to live.
2. Click the plus icon next to the category name to create a channel.
3. Select Announcement as the channel type.
4. Type a channel name. Short and obvious works best, such as news or updates.
5. Press Create Channel to confirm.

On the mobile app, menus vary by app version and Discord's announcement article only shows the desktop route, so if you can't find the option on your phone, set it up from a computer or the browser version.

Converting an existing Discord channel into an announcement channel

Already have a channel where you post updates? You don't need to start again. Discord's help says you can switch it over:

1. Hover over the channel name and press the Edit Channel icon (the cog).
2. Scroll down to the Announcement Channel option and toggle it on.
3. Press Save Changes.

Your existing messages stay put. From then on, the channel gets the megaphone icon and the Follow button.

Choosing who can publish in your Discord announcement channel

Discord's advice is to grant permissions only to trusted members, and it's good advice. Its help explains that the Send Messages permission lets members publish their own messages, while Manage Messages lets them publish any message in the channel. You set both in the channel's Permissions tab.

For most small servers I'd keep posting to the owner and one or two moderators. If you haven't set up a moderator role yet, my guide on creating roles on Discord shows how to build one before you hand out these permissions.

Publishing a Discord announcement so followers receive it

Posting and publishing are two separate steps, and that's deliberate. After you post a message in the announcement channel, Discord shows a Publish option on it. Pressing Publish shares the message with all servers following your channel. If you don't press it, the message only lives in your own server.

Discord's help also lists a few behaviours worth knowing before you publish:

• Messages appear in following servers exactly as they look in yours, including embeds, images, videos, emojis and spoiler tags.
• @everyone and @here mentions aren't pushed through to following servers.
• Editing a published message updates it in following servers too.
• Deleting a published message removes it but leaves an [Original Message Deleted] note.
• There's a rate limit of 10 publishes per hour, and you'll see an error message if you go over it.

Discord also says announcement channels can't receive messages from other announcement channels, so you can't chain one into another.

What people see when they follow your Discord announcement channel

Question	What Discord's help says
What do followers need?	The Manage Webhooks permission in their own server
Where do posts land?	In the server and channel they picked when they clicked Follow
Who appears to post them?	A bot named after your server
Do role pings come through?	No, the bot removes role mentions, including @everyone and @here
How do they unfollow?	Server Settings, then Integrations, then Channels Followed, and delete the bot

Discord's Channel Following page adds that admins choose which posts get published, so if a follower says they missed something, check whether you pressed Publish on it.

Using a Discord announcement channel for a creator or business server

A clean announcement channel makes a server feel organised. A few uses that work well:

• Product or course updates, so members don't have to scroll chat to find them.
• Live stream or event reminders, published once and followed by fan servers.
• Changelogs and release notes for apps and games.
• Weekly tips, which Discord itself suggests as a channel idea.

If you're automating some of this, a bot can post on a schedule for you. My walkthrough on adding a bot to your Discord server covers the permissions side.

If the Discord announcement channel option is missing

1. Check Community is enabled on the server. Without it, there's no Announcement type.
2. Check you have permission to manage channels. If you're not the owner or an admin, ask them.
3. Try from a computer or the browser if you're on mobile and can't see the toggle.
4. If Publish doesn't appear, check you have Send Messages or Manage Messages in that channel.
5. If you hit an error after lots of posts, you may be over the 10 publishes per hour limit, so wait and try again.

Frequently asked questions

How do I make an announcement channel on Discord?

Hover over a category, click the plus icon, choose Announcement as the channel type, name it and press Create Channel. Your server needs Community enabled first.

Why can't I see the Announcement channel option on Discord?

Discord's help says announcement channels are only available to servers with Community enabled. Turn on Community in your server settings, then try again.

Can I turn an existing channel into an announcement channel?

Yes. Open Edit Channel, scroll down, toggle on Announcement Channel and press Save Changes.

Do @everyone pings work in followed announcement channels?

No. Discord says @everyone, @here and other role mentions aren't pushed through to following servers.

Is there a limit on Discord announcements?

Yes. Discord's help lists a rate limit of 10 publishes per hour, with an error message if you go over it.

How do people follow a Discord announcement channel?

They click Follow on the channel, which has a megaphone icon, then pick a server and channel where they have the Manage Webhooks permission.