Connecteam’s chat is your way to create an efficient communication center with your employees. Plus it's easy and instant! The chat allows users to effortlessly share media and files and it’s connected to almost any feature in the system making it easy to chat with anyone anywhere! It is available in both the app and on the desktop for mobile users and admins. With the chat, you to create individual chats, team chats and channels, and unlike most chats Connecteam's chat lets admins decide which actions mobile users can take and who they can start chats with.

This article will go over:

💡 Tip: Open up our Educational Sidebar to become a chat expert in just a few steps!

To activate the chat enter the launchpad, go to the left sidebar, to the Company Chat feature, and activate the chat.

Now that you have activated the chat let's go over how to open a new chat.

To open a new chat, simply navigate to the Add New Button and add the relevant chat. There are 3 types of chats you can create depending on your needs. These are New Chat, New Team, and New Channel.

This one-on-one chat allows you to communicate with a single user or admin. Share information instantly, or clarify shifts by immediately chatting with a user or admin.

In an individual chat, both people can communicate and write in the chat.

Team chats allow you to create groups and share information with a specific group of people. Team chats can be created for specific users by choosing select users, or for Smart Groups that you have already created. In a team chat all the members can see and respond to messages.

A channel is a one-way communication with your employees. If you want to communicate a message to a group of users without anyone being able to respond then this option is for you. A channel ensures you can effectively communicate with your users without the chat becoming flooded. Just like Team Chats, Channels can also be assigned to Smart Groups or Individual Users.

Pro tip: Not familiar with Smart Groups? Check out this article!

When creating a Team Chat or Channel you will be able to add your Teams name as well as add a description, where you will be able to attach any shortcut, image, or file. These attachments will always be available to anyone assigned to the chat in the description.

As previously mentioned, Team Chats and Channels can be assigned either to Select Users or to Smart Groups. Let's go over when to use each one.

If you want to create a Team Chat for a group of existing employees such as your cooks, waiters, and managers, then assigning the chat to Smart Groups is the choice for you. By using Smart Groups the Team Chat will be available to all current and future users that match the group's set rules. If a user is added or removed from a Smart Group, they will also automatically be removed or added to the Team Chat and you don't need to remember to add them.

If you want to create a chat with users that are not part of a specific group, you can use the Select Users option. After choosing the select users option you can manually then add the Users you want to be a part of the Team Chat.

Now that you have learned how to create chats let's talk about how to start a chat from anywhere in the platform. At the top of the screen, the chat icon can always be seen from anywhere inside the platform.

Simply click on it and the chat will open on the right.

Additionally, in all other features such as the Job Schedule, Time Clock, Quick Tasks, and more, you can select the relevant users and create either a team chat or individual chat from the Actions Tab. In the example below I create a team chat with three selected users from inside the Today Tab in the Time Clock Feature.

We know how important it is to understand whether or not your users read the message you sent and for this reason we allow you to know both in an individual chat and in a team chat or channel if your message was read.

In an individual chat, two check marks mean that a message has been read. Below you can see how this looks.

In a team chat, hover over the message you sent, select the drop down arrow, then select message status, and a list of who has read or unread your message will appear

💡 Tip: In the mobile app, you can also access this information. Just hold down the message, and the same options seen above will appear.

In this article we have gone over how to activate the chat, the different types of chats (individual, team, and channel), and how to use the chat. Get started now and see how the chat can improve your company's communication.

Need more guidance? 🙋 Our LIVE support team (at the bottom right corner of your screen) replies to ANY question.