Internal chat

In short: In Chat you talk to colleagues within your account, in a direct conversation or in a group. You share files of up to 100 MB, mention colleagues with @, react with emoji, edit or withdraw your own messages, give a group its own icon, mute conversations and search back through the history. The same list also contains the conversation with aishaa and the aishaa support chat. The same conversations are in the dock at the bottom right of the screen.

Where to find this

The chat is in two places, with the same conversations and the same messages:

• In the dock at the bottom right of the screen, next to the page you are working on. You open it with the chat button in the top bar (tooltip aishaa and chat) or with the round button at the bottom right. See The dock: aishaa, chat and Now.
• On its own page: click Chat in the main menu. From the dock you get there with the Open full chat button above an open conversation.

This article describes the chat page. In the dock everything works the same way, only the conversation list is a narrow bar with avatars there instead of a list with names.

Who: from the Viewer role, everyone in the account. The chat covers the whole account: you can chat with all colleagues in the account, regardless of organisation.

The Chat page with the conversation list on the left (buttons New message, New group and Discover groups, search field, the aishaa and aishaa support conversations) and an open group conversation with messages and the input field on the right.

The conversation list

The list of conversations is on the left. At the top there are three buttons and a search field:

Two conversations are always at the top:

• aishaa with the text Tell aishaa how to handle your customer service. You see this conversation from the Team lead role. See aishaa in chat: instructions and proposals.
• aishaa support with the text Reach the aishaa team with any question. Everyone sees this conversation. See Reach the aishaa team.

Each row shows the avatar (for a group, the group icon, see Name and icon of a group), a green dot if the colleague is online, a snippet of the latest message (Message withdrawn or Attachments where applicable), the time, an @ if you still have an unread mention in that conversation, and a badge with the number of unread messages. Without conversations, it says No conversations yet and Start a conversation with a colleague.

Creating a group

1. Click New group.
2. Fill in the Group name (up to 200 characters).
3. Switch on Public group if everyone in the account should be able to find and join the group. The explanation reads Anyone in the account can find and join this group. Off means a private group to which you add colleagues yourself.
4. Search for colleagues under Search people and select them.
5. Click New group.

The New group dialog with the Group name field, the Public group switch and the Search people search field with selected colleagues.

Reading a conversation

At the top of an open conversation you see, for a group, the group icon, the name, for a public group a globe icon with the tooltip Public group, for a muted conversation a crossed-out bell with the tooltip Muted: no push or email from this conversation, and {n} members with the names. In a direct conversation it says Online if the colleague is online. A name followed by the label aishaa is a member of the aishaa team.

• The @ button jumps to the newest mention of you in this conversation (tooltip Jump to a mention of you (newest first)). If there is none, you see Nobody has mentioned you here yet.
• If you open a conversation with unread messages, the line New messages appears above the first unread message.
• Older messages load by themselves as you scroll up; no button is needed for that any more. When you look far back through the history, the bar You are viewing older messages appears with the Jump to latest messages button.
• If you are reading older messages while a new message comes in, your screen stays where you were. At the bottom right, a button with a down arrow (Go to the newest messages) appears with the number of new messages, for example 3 new. A message only counts as read once you are at the bottom of the conversation.
• Images are shown in the message and open large with a click; the download icon in the corner saves them. Other files are shown as a chip with the file name; click it to download. Attachments are visible to all colleagues in the conversation, whichever organisation they have open at that moment.
• An edited message shows edited in italics before the time; a withdrawn message shows Message withdrawn.
• Changes to a group appear as a quiet line in the conversation, without a speech bubble: for example (name) created the group “(group name)”, (name) added (name), (name) joined the group, (name) left the group, (name) renamed the group to “(name)”, (name) changed the group icon, (name) made the group public or made the group private, and (name) added aishaa or removed aishaa. If it is about you, it says You instead of your name. Such a line does not count as an unread message, does not produce a notification and does not appear in search results.

How messages are arranged

• Each day starts with a separator pill: Today, Yesterday, then the name of the weekday, and further back the date.
• If the same colleague sends several messages within ten minutes on the same day, they are shown as one run below each other: the name and avatar only appear above the first message.
• Each message keeps its own time, at the bottom right of the bubble. Hover over it for the full date and time.

Sending a message

1. Type in the Write a message… field. The field grows with your text up to six lines. You can use formatting (see Formatting in messages).
2. Optionally add files with the paperclip icon Attach file. You can choose several files at once; each file can be up to 100 MB.
3. Press Enter or click Send. Shift+Enter starts a new line. On a touchscreen keyboard, Enter always starts a new line; send with the button instead.

While you type, you see above the input box what your message is going to do: (name) gets a notification or (names) get a notification for mentions, Everyone in the group gets a notification for @everyone, aishaa will answer this message if you address aishaa, and for each ticket number you mention, the number and subject of the ticket (Shows as a ticket card in your message). If a ticket you mention does not exist or you may not see it, it says Ticket #(number) not found.

The input box is cleared as soon as you send: text, attachments and the message you replied to disappear straight away, so you can keep typing. If sending fails, your text comes back in the input box, in front of whatever you have typed in the meantime. If you have moved to another conversation in the meantime, the text does not come back.

Formatting in messages

Messages in the chat support simple Markdown formatting: **bold**, *italic*, ~~strikethrough~~, `code`, lists with a hyphen or a number, quotes with > and tables. This also applies to aishaa’s messages. A heading is shown as a bold line and an image link as an ordinary link; aishaa does not load images from outside. HTML in a message stays plain text. Mentions, ticket numbers and links keep working within formatted text.

Mentions

Type @ followed by a colleague’s name and choose from the list. The colleague gets a notification (see Notifications). In a group you can also choose @everyone (or @iedereen), with the explanation Notify everyone in this group. If aishaa is a member of the group, @aishaa is also in the list.

In the message, a mention becomes a card with the name and the status Online or Offline and the New message button to start a conversation with that colleague straight away. An email address in your text is not treated as a mention.

Mentioning tickets

Type # followed by a ticket number, for example #1234. The message then shows a card with the subject and status of the ticket, so colleagues can open it straight away. At most five ticket numbers per message are shown as a card.

Reacting, replying, editing and withdrawing

Hover over a message. You see a row of quick reactions (👍 ❤️ 😂 😮 😢 🙏 🎉 ✅ 👀 🔥) and a three-dot menu.

The conversation menu

Click the three-dot menu at the top right of a conversation.

The three-dot menu of a group conversation with Mark as unread, Mute notifications, Name and icon, Add members, Make public, Add aishaa to this group and Leave group.

Name and icon of a group

Every group has an icon in the conversation list and at the top of the conversation. Every member of the group can change the name and the icon.

1. Open the group and click the group icon at the top, or choose Name and icon in the three-dot menu.
2. Change the Group name if needed.
3. Choose an icon on one of the tabs:

4. Optionally choose a Colour, or leave it on Automatic.
5. Click Save.

A line appears in the conversation saying the group was changed, so all members see who changed what.

The Name and icon dialog of a group with the Group name field, the tabs Default, Icon, Emoji, Logo and Upload, and the colour choice.

Searching

Type in the search field above the conversation list. You first see the colleagues and conversations that match, and below them, under Messages, the messages containing the text, with the writer’s name and a snippet. Click a result to open the conversation at that message. If nothing is found, it says No messages found.

A proposal that is locked

If the chat contains a proposal from aishaa to change something in your settings, that proposal may be blocked by a lock. The card then shows (item) is locked by (name) and This proposal cannot be approved yet: (item). Unlock that first, then approve. Approving is disabled until an Account admin removes the lock. See Lock configuration.

Good to know

• Messages in the chat are visible to all participants in the conversation; in a public group, that means everyone in the account, including the full history from before someone joined.
• You cannot edit or delete a colleague’s message.
• In the aishaa conversation and in aishaa support you cannot attach files. In the aishaa conversation, reactions, editing and withdrawing are not available.
• The chat is meant for internal discussion. You send messages to customers from the ticket.
• If your question is about one ticket, use the conversation with aishaa on that ticket instead of the chat. See aishaa on this ticket.
• You can read what triggers a notification and when (push, email for a mention) in Notifications.

Related

• The dock: aishaa, chat and Now
• aishaa in chat: instructions and proposals
• Lock configuration
• Reach the aishaa team
• Notifications
• Keyboard shortcuts