diff --git a/docs/using/common.md b/docs/using/common.md
index 8ad83c9c..6012fcaa 100644
--- a/docs/using/common.md
+++ b/docs/using/common.md
@@ -113,3 +113,17 @@ pip install some-package
 conda install some-package
 ```
 
+### Using alternative channels
+
+Conda is configured by default to use only the [`conda-forge`](https://anaconda.org/conda-forge) channel. 
+However, alternative channels can be used either one shot by overwriting the default channel in the installation command or by configuring `conda` to use different channels.
+The examples below shows how to use the [anaconda default channels](https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main) instead of `conda-forge` to install packages.
+
+```bash
+# using defaults channels to install a package
+conda install --channel defaults humanize
+# configure conda to add default channels at the top of the list
+conda config --system --prepend channels defaults
+# install a package
+conda install humanize
+```
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