Messages

Every conversation you are in, sorted into groups, people, projects and events.

Where this lives: Manage > Messages

What this is

Messages holds every conversation you are part of.

Some are between you and one person. Some are rooms belonging to a group, a project or an event.

What you see

The heading reads Messages.

Four tabs run across the top: Groups, People, Projects and Events. Groups is where you start. A dot on a tab means something in it is unread.

If you have connected a bridged network, one more tab appears for it.

Each tab has its own line when it is empty. Groups says to join a group to chat with it. People says to start one with the pencil above. Projects says projects you are part of get a room. Events says to say you are going to an event to join its thread.

Pressing a group or a person opens their threads. The list of everything slides away into a strip of pictures, and that one entity's conversations slide in, with the main one first. A row at the top takes you back.

The pane on the right holds the conversation. Before you choose one it tells you to pick a conversation to read it here.

At the bottom of an open conversation sits a box to write in. Pressing Enter sends. Holding Shift and pressing Enter starts a new line.

What you can do here

• Open and read a thread. See Read a conversation.
• Write to one person. See Start a conversation.
• Write to several people at once. See Start a group chat.
• Go to a group's room. See Open a group's room.

How to

Read a conversation

1. Open Messages under Manage.
2. Press the tab you want: Groups, People, Projects or Events.
3. Press a row. Its threads open.
4. Press a thread. The conversation opens on the right.

Start a conversation

1. Open Messages under Manage.
2. Press the pencil at the top.
3. Type at least two letters of somebody's name.
4. Press the person from the results.
5. Send it. The conversation opens.

Start a group chat

1. Open Messages under Manage.
2. Press the pencil at the top.
3. Search and press two or more people. Each becomes a small chip you can remove.
4. Send it. A group chat is made instead of a one-to-one conversation.

Open a group's room

1. Open the group's page.
2. Press Chat at the top right. It appears only for members.
3. Messages opens with the group's room ready.

If nothing opens, the group has not switched its room on. An admin does that under Group Settings, on the Chat tab.

What changes for you

You must be signed in to reach Messages.

The list refreshes itself while you have it open, and stops while the tab is in the background.

In a room you do not belong to, the writing box says you cannot post here, and the pane explains that you are not a member of the room.

On a phone an open conversation fills the screen, with a control to go back to the list.

Older links that point straight at one person or one room still work. They open Messages with that thread already chosen.

Where this connects

• People is where the Message button on a person's row sends you.
• A group's page carries the Chat button.
• Broadcast is for writing to a whole membership rather than a thread.