> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.incident.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Announcements > Control what your incident announcement posts look like with templates, and where they get posted with rules Announcements keep everyone informed by sharing incidents in a Slack or Microsoft Teams channel. You don't need to set anything up to get started. Every account comes with a default template and a default rule, so incidents are announced automatically from day one. This page is about customizing that behaviour, which comes in two parts: * **Templates** control what your announcement posts look like: the fields, actions, and emojis that appear in the post. * **Rules** control which incidents get announced, and where. To customize either, go to [Settings → Announcements](https://app.incident.io/~/settings/announcements). The Announcements settings page, showing the Templates and Rules sections ## Templates A template controls what an announcement post looks like. Every account starts with a single template, which is marked as your **Default**. This is the template used whenever a rule (or workflow) doesn't specify one. Click a template to edit it. You can add or remove fields and actions, reorder them, and configure which emojis appear next to each field, with a live preview of the post as you go. The Edit announcement template drawer, showing the fields and actions and a live preview of the post To add a field or action, click **Add** and pick from the list. Adding a field to a template by picking from the Add menu ### Using more than one template You're not limited to a single template. Click **Add template** to create additional templates. This is useful when you want variations for specific purposes, such as a stripped-back post for a particular audience, or a template paired with a specific [announcement rule](#rules) so different incidents are announced differently. You can also choose a template in the **Post an incident announcement** step of a [workflow](/workflows). Leaving it blank falls back to your default template. ## Rules Rules control which incidents get announced, and where. By default, we announce every new incident and its updates in a single channel. In Slack, that's your `#incidents` channel. Click a rule to edit it. You can change which channel it posts to, add conditions so it only fires for specific incidents (for example, announcing critical incidents in `#customer-support` too), and pick which template it uses. The Edit announcement rule drawer, showing the rule's settings, conditions, and a live preview of the post Click **Add rule** to create a new rule, for instance to call out specific incident types or severities in a separate channel. Don't delete whichever channel you're using for default announcements. On Slack, if you already had an `#incidents` channel when you installed our app, we'll have created a channel called `#incident-io-incidents` instead, which you can rename to whatever you'd like. For more on redirecting announcements to a different channel, see [Announcement channels](/incidents/change-announcements). ## Team ownership You can give one or more teams ownership of a template or a rule: * **Templates**: set the **Template owner** field when you create or edit a template. Your default template can't be team-owned, and choosing which template is the organization default stays an account-level action. * **Rules**: set the **Announcement rule owner** field in the rule's create or edit drawer. Ownership assigns the template or rule to a team. If your organization uses [team roles](/admin/team-roles), that ownership also controls who can manage it: only members of an owning team with the **Manage announcements** permission, or anyone who holds it account-wide, can make changes, and reassigning ownership always needs that permission granted account-wide. See [Team resources](/catalog/team-resources) for what ownership means more generally. Each team can see the templates and rules they own on their own **Settings → Announcements** page. The Announcements tab of a team's settings, listing the template and rule owned by that team ## FAQs Not much. Templates and rules are configured in the same place and work the same way on both platforms. The main difference is the default announcement channel: on Slack it's your `#incidents` channel, whereas on Microsoft Teams it's the General channel of your Incidents team. See [Announcement channels](/incidents/change-announcements) for more. The announcement builder does not currently support free-form text or @mentioning Slack user groups directly in the announcement post. If you need to notify a specific team when an incident is announced, consider these alternatives: * **Announce to the team's Slack channel**: Use a [rule](#rules) to post directly to the relevant team's channel. * **Invite the user group via a workflow**: Set up a [workflow](/workflows) to automatically invite the Slack user group to the incident channel. * **Auto-subscribe to certain incidents**: Encourage folks to [auto-subscribe](/incidents/subscribing) to incidents belonging to their team.