Message your team

Team chat is where your staff talk to each other: channels for a team or topic, direct messages for one person or a small group, and threads to keep a conversation tidy. It works on a phone, a tablet and a desktop, and it is separate for each workspace you belong to.

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What you’re looking at

The list on the left has your conversations: Channels, Direct messages, your Starred ones and your own sections. A name in bold has messages you haven’t read, and a red number means someone mentioned you. Press Ctrl+K (Command+K on a Mac) to jump to any channel or person by name. On a phone the same list is the Home tab, with DMs, Activity and Search beside it; see Use Team chat on any screen. The middle is the conversation: the messages, a New messages line where you left off, and the box where you write. A thread opens beside it on a wide screen and as a sheet on a smaller one. A strip under the channel name tells you when the connection drops: Reconnecting… while it retries, or Offline — messages will send when you’re back. Messages you write while offline wait and send in order when you reconnect. One that can’t be sent shows Retry and Discard.

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Chat without leaving your page

Select Team chat in the sidebar (or in the menu on a phone) and the chat opens right where you are, so you can reply and carry on with what you were doing. On a large screen it docks on the right and the page behind stays usable; on a phone or tablet it covers the screen as a sheet, with Close at the top. It opens the conversation you last had open, or your general channel the first time. The unread count stays on the Team chat item. Select Open full chat in its header when you want threads, search and everything else. To go straight to the full Team chat instead, hold Ctrl (Command on a Mac) or Shift while you select the item, middle-click it, or press and hold it on a touch screen. It doesn’t open on a till screen, and when you are already on the Team chat page the item simply takes you there.

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Send a message

You can make text bold, italic or code, start a line with a dash for a list, and paste a web link. Only web links open, and nothing from outside is loaded into the conversation.

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Reply in a thread

Hover over a message and select Reply in thread, or on a phone or tablet open Message actions on the message and choose it. Replies stay under the message instead of filling the channel, and the message shows a count such as 2 replies. You follow a thread you start, reply to, or are mentioned in; choose Follow thread or Unfollow thread to change that.

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Tag patients

Never type a patient’s details into a message. Select the + button next to the message box, then Tag patients. Search by name or ID, tick as many patients as the message is about (up to 10), and select Tag 2 patients (the button shows the number you picked). Remove a patient from the message with the x on their chip. The message shows a chip for each patient that opens their record, and opening it is recorded in the patient’s access history. Someone who isn’t allowed to see a patient sees Restricted patient instead of the name. Each tagged patient’s Team chat tab on their record lists the conversation, marked Tagged, for the people who are members of it. Deleting the tagged message removes it from the tab. After a message is sent, its author, an owner or a manager can still take a tag off it: select the x on the patient’s chip in the message and confirm Remove tag. The message stays. If no other message in the conversation tags that patient, the conversation leaves their Team chat tab. Removing a tag is recorded in the audit log. If what you type looks like a phone number or a date of birth, a gentle reminder suggests tagging the patient instead. Channel names must never contain patient details either.

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React, edit, delete, pin and save

Open Message actions on a message (hover on a computer):

• Pick an emoji to react. Select your own reaction again to remove it.
• Edit your own message within 24 hours. It then shows (edited).
• Delete your own message at any time. Everyone sees Message deleted in its place. Owners and managers can delete someone else’s message, and must give a reason. A record of the original is kept for the workspace’s audit trail.
• Pin keeps a message findable under Pinned messages in the conversation header, and the message shows a Pinned mark that everyone sees at once. In Pinned messages, select Go to message to jump to it, or Unpin to remove it. You can unpin a message you pinned; channel admins, owners and managers can unpin any. Save for later keeps a private bookmark only you can see.

A message from someone who has since left shows their name followed by (former staff).

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Create a channel

To join a public channel, select +, then Browse channels, and select Join.

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Choose what you’re notified about

Select Channel details at the top of a conversation. Notify me about offers Every new message, Only mentions and direct messages, or Nothing. Mute silences it for an hour, eight hours, a day or a week. A muted channel stays in your list and still counts mentions of you. Notifications say who wrote and where, never what they wrote. If a mention or direct message goes unread for a while, you may get a short email reminder that also contains no message text. It follows your email notification setting.

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Your privacy and your clinic’s retention

Select Team chat settings in the list header. Private channels and direct messages are visible only to their members. Owners and managers cannot browse them. If the workspace ever needs to review one, it happens through a logged export with a stated reason.

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The first time you open it

A short four-step tour appears once, with a picture for each step. Select Next and Back to move through it, or Skip the tour at any step; it doesn’t come back. You may also be asked to read the Team chat policy and select I agree before you can post. You can read it again in Team chat settings, and an owner can edit it.

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Ticks, undo, acknowledging and checklists

• In a direct message, group message or patient conversation, your messages show a tick: Sent, Delivered, or Read by 2 of 3. Someone who turned read receipts off never counts as having read it, but delivered is still shown.
• A new message waits five seconds so you can select Undo before it goes. Urgent messages go at once.
• An owner, manager or channel admin can ask everyone to confirm a message. People select I’ve read this; the sender selects Who has read it and can send one reminder.
• Start lines with - [ ] to make a checklist anyone in the channel can tick. Each tick shows who and when.
• A message you wrote shows (edited); select it to see the earlier versions.

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Who can do this

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Check it worked

Send a message and ask a colleague to open the same channel: it appears for them within a moment, without a refresh. Reload the page and it is still there. A colleague you mention sees a notification in their bell.

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Common issues

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FAQ

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