Conversations

The Chat Window

The chat button at the bottom of the menu opens the Chat window, with a count of what is unread. The window lists your conversations in groups, oldest first and newest last: Team Channels, Direct Messages, Tickets, Projects, and Tasks (action channels.home). Each group opens and closes with a tap, shows how many unread messages it holds, and marks each unread conversation with a dot. New starts a direct message with any teammate. On a phone the window covers the screen; on a wide screen your work moves over to make room for it.

A project's, task's, or ticket's chat shows while the record is open. Once it is finished (a completed or cancelled project, a done task, a closed ticket), its chat leaves the list after its last messages are read. Open it again from the record any time.

Reading

Opening a conversation shows its newest messages, and older ones as you scroll (action channels.messages). Opening it marks it read and clears its notices on the bell. Messages one person sends within a few minutes sit together under one name and time.

Your own messages carry a read mark: one gray check when nobody has read it yet, a blue one when some have, and a light blue one when everyone has.

Sending

Type a message and press Enter (Shift and Enter starts a new line), or tap Send (action channels.send). The toolbar adds bold, italic, strikethrough, code, and lists. Links open in a new tab. A direct message or a record's chat starts with its first message.

Files: the paperclip, dragging files in, or pasting sends them, up to 10 at a time, each with its own progress bar and Cancel. Each file is kept with that conversation in your company's own file storage, encrypted with your company's key, and shows as a picture, a video or sound that plays in place, or a card with Download. A file shared in a project's or task's chat is also on the project's Files card. A new conversation starts with words; files follow (Files on Records).

Reactions

Hover over a message (or tap it on a phone) and tap the smile to react: thumbs up, heart, laugh, party, eyes, check, or thanks (action channels.react). Tap a reaction again to take yours back. Each shows who gave it.

Mentions and the Bell

Type @ and the first letters of a teammate's first name, then pick them (action channels.people). They see "Mia Member mentioned you in #general" on the bell, if they may read that conversation. The bell also tells:

• the other person, about a direct message: "New message from Mia Member";
• the people on a project, task, or ticket (its manager or assignee) and everyone who wrote in its chat before: "Mia Member wrote in ACMEPR-12";
• the person who asked the chat assistant, when it answers.

While a notice is unread, more messages in the same conversation update it ("3 new messages from Mia Member") instead of adding more.

Must-Read Channels

A channel can be set so every post must be read (like #announcements). A new post in it opens Chat on that channel, and nothing else in Chat can be opened until it has been read. I Have Read This closes it.

Clear

Each group with unread messages has Clear, which marks everything in that group read for you only, and its notices (action channels.read_group). It never changes what anyone else sees, and a must-read post is read only by opening it.