Chat

Chat is where your team talks in real time, right next to the work. You get channels for a topic, a team, or a project, direct messages for one person or a small group, and threads that keep a focused reply chain out of the main conversation. Messages arrive the instant they are sent, and you can react with emoji, mention people, attach files, pin what matters, and search everything you have access to.

• Channels for topics, teams, and projects, public to your workspace or private to an invited list
• Direct messages for one person or a small group
• Threads that keep replies tidy without flooding the channel
• Emoji reactions, @mentions, and read receipts
• File and image attachments with inline previews
• Pinned messages and saved items for anything worth keeping
• Full-text search across every channel and message you can see
• A live typing indicator, and a clear reconnecting state when your connection drops

• You only see channels and direct messages you are a member of. A private channel is invisible to everyone who has not been added, and a direct message is visible only to the people in it.
• Leaving a channel removes it from your list but does not delete its history for the members who remain.
• Attachments are scanned before they are shared. A file that fails the scan is quarantined and never delivered.
• Your admin can set a retention window and a legal hold. Under a legal hold, messages are preserved even when a retention window would otherwise remove them.
• Editing or deleting a message keeps an audit trail. A deleted message leaves a small tombstone marker so the record of the conversation stays honest.

1. 1Open Chat from the sidebar, or press Cmd-K and type "chat".
2. 2Pick a channel from the rail on the left, or start a direct message with the New message button.
3. 3Type in the composer at the bottom and press Enter to send. Use Shift-Enter for a new line.
4. 4Type @ to mention a teammate, or drag a file onto the conversation to attach it.
5. 5Hover a message to react, reply in a thread, pin it, or save it for later.

What is the difference between a channel and a direct message?

A channel is a named space that the people you invite can join, and it is the right home for a topic, a team, or a project. A channel can be public, so anyone in your workspace can find and join it, or private, so only an invited list can see it. A direct message is a private conversation between you and one or more specific people, and it is only ever visible to those people.

Who can read a private channel or my direct messages?

Only members. A private channel is completely hidden from anyone who has not been added to it, and a direct message is visible only to its participants. No one, including a workspace admin browsing the app, can read a conversation they are not part of. Where your organization policy allows it, an admin with a compliance role can export conversations for legal reasons, and every such access is written to the audit log.

What happens to my messages if my internet drops?

Chat notices right away and shows a reconnecting indicator, so you are never left guessing. Whatever you were reading stays on screen. When the connection comes back, Chat quietly fills in the messages you missed so you do not have to refresh the page, and a message you sent stays queued and is delivered as soon as you are back online.

Can I turn a message into a task?

Yes. Hover the message, open its actions, and choose to convert it to a task. The new task keeps a link back to the original message, so the context travels with the work.

How do I find an old message?

Use search. It looks across every channel and direct message you have access to, and never across ones you do not. Search by the words in the message, then open any result to jump straight to it in context.