Starting Guide to the Chat

Instant messaging that improves your team's communication

Shoshana Fleischmann avatar
Written by Shoshana Fleischmann
Updated over a week ago

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!

How to Activate the Chat

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

GIF of activating the Chat feature on Connecteam's admin dashboard

Types of Chats

Now that you have activated the chat lets 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 are New Chat, New Team and New Channel.

Screenshot of types of chat in Connecteam's Chat feature

New Chat

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.

New Team

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 have the ability to see and respond to messages.

New Channel

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!

Adding a Description When Creating a Team Chat/Channel

When creating a Team Chat or Cannel 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.

Screenshot of description field in Connecteam's Chat feature

Assigning a Team Chat or Channel to Select Users or to Smart Groups

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.

Screenshot of selecting smart groups in Connecteam's Chat feature

Smart Group

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 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 also to the Team Chat and you don't need to remember to add them.

GIF of assigning smart groups to chat in Connecteam's Chat feature

Selected Users

If you want to create a chat with users that are not a 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.

GIF of assigning users to chat in Connecteam's Chat feature

How to Use the Chat: Starting a Chat from Anywhere in the Platform

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

Screenshot of chat icon at top of screen on Connecteam's dashboard

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

GIF of chat opening on Connecteam's admin dashboard

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.

Screenshot of Chat feature integration in Job Scheduler on Connecteam's admin dashboard

How to Check if Your Message was Read

We know how important it is to understand wether or not your users actually 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.

Individual Chat

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

Screenshot of two check marks on message in Connecteam's Chat feature

Team Chat

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

Screenshot of message status button in Connecteam's Chat feature
Screenshot of message status in Connecteam's Chat feature

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

Summary

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.

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