Chatting in ActiveCollab

Chat hub allows sharing instant messages with individuals, groups, or teams. 

Who can see the chat hub?

Chatting is available for user roles: Owner, Member, and Member+. Chatting is not available for roles Client+ and Client users. 

If you do not see chat conversations, then you are:

• Not a part of that group chat,
• Not a part of that team.

If you do not see chat hub entirely, then you are:

• given a Client or Client+ role in ActiveCollab.

Chat Functions

Use the in-app Chat to send and receive messages, share files, and leave reactions to messages in the chat hub.

Chat Hub

Click on the chat bubble in the bottom right corner of the window to open the chat hub. 

All conversations are listed as Recent and Others. 

If you are a part of a conversation, it will be listed as Recent. Conversations are ordered from the latest to the oldest. 

The list named Others shows all the other people with whom you do not have a private conversation, as well as teams you are a part of. To start a conversation with them, press the name of the person or team. 

In the upper right corner of the chat hub, you can see a magnifying glass for search, and the button for starting a new conversation.

Types of Conversations

Within the chat hub, you can have: 

• Private conversations,
• Group conversations,
• Team conversations.

General Group

The General group in the chat hub is where you will find all the users who are in the Owner company in the ActiveCollab. This does not apply to Clients and Clients+ who cannot access the chat hub. General group is set by default.

Search

In the upper right corner, you will see a magnifying glass icon which you can use to search for: 

• Individuals, 
• Groups, 
• Teams.

Send a Message

Type text into the text box and click Send or press Enter.

Delete/Edit Sent Message

To delete or edit a message you've sent:

• Hover the sent message, 
• Find and click the three dots menu,
• Choose Delete or Edit to perform the action on the sent message.

Note: ActiveCollab never deletes your messages without your action, they will be there for as long as you wish.

Mark As Unread 

To mark a message that you've received as unread: 

• Hover over the message, 
• Find the three-dot menu which appears to the right side of the message, 
• Click on the three-dot menu, 
• Select option Mark as unread,
• The message will appear as unread in your inbox.

Sharing Files

To share files in the chat conversation: 

• Open the conversation window,
• Click the plus in the bottom left of the conversation,
• Add a file from the computer, Dropbox, or Google Drive.

Once the file is uploaded, it shows up in the conversation message draft, from which it can be sent or deleted.

Once the file is sent it is shown in the conversation window.

Shortcuts

New messages are shown as pop-up bubbles on the right, which can be useful if you want to quickly open the conversation.

• Hover over the bubble to see the name of the conversation,
• Open the bubble to read unread messages,
• Once you have no unread messages, the chat bubble with unread messages will disappear.

Receiving Messages

New messages in conversations are shown as a badge number on the Chat bubble, and each is accompanied by a sound when ActiveCollab is opened in the browser.

New messages are also shown as conversation shortcuts, a bubble appearing in the bottom right, that you can hover over to see the name of the conversation.

Click the name of the conversation to Mute it and you will not receive badges or sounds for that conversation.

Turning Off Conversation Shortcuts and Sounds

Click on your avatar in the chat hub header and you will be able to turn off sounds or conversation shortcuts.

Chatting with an individual

Find a person you would like to share a private conversation with, and communicate through ActiveCollab’s Chat!

• Find a member’s name through the Search field in the Chat hub,
• Click the person's name,
• Type the message,
• Press Send or Enter.

Chatting with a group

Create a group that you can chat with or use existing Team conversations and General conversations, which are automatically generated. Members of teams in the People section will see team chat in the Chat hub. Once a person leaves the team, that team chat will also disappear.

• Click New Message
• Search people to message
• Add participants to the conversation
• Click create group
• Type a message
• Click Send or press Enter

Chatting With Teams

If you are a part of the team, the team's name will be listed in Others. From here you can start a team conversation.

Managing group conversations

The conversation administrator is the person with the crown. Admin manages people in group conversations.

To add new people to a group:

• Open the group conversation,
• Click on the name of the conversation,
• Find Invite,
• Find the person through search,
• Click on the row next to their name,
• The checkbox indicates that the person is selected,
• Click Invite to complete the process of invitation.
  

To manage participants:

• Click the conversation name,
• Choose Participants,
• See all participants listed either as Admins or Participants,
• Click X next to a person's name to remove them from the group conversation,
• Click crown to make them the Admin of the conversation.

Mute or Leave or Delete a Group 

To mute, leave, or delete a group, click the name of the group. 

• Find the options Mute/Unmute to stop receiving notifications,
• Leave to leave a group, a pop-up window asks you to confirm your action,
• Delete a group, a pop-up window asks you to confirm your action.

Only an Admin of a group conversation can delete a group conversation.

Reacting to Messages

To react to a message: 

• Hover the cursor over any message,
• Emoji icon appears,
• Click and select one or more.

Chatting Via Mobile App

You can exchange messages and files with your colleagues on your phone as well. 

Download the latest version of the app: 

•  iOS  
• Android 

• Receive new messages to chat in real-time,
• Use reactions,
• Upload files to conversations from your phone or camera.