Chat

Chat is where your team talks in real time: one-to-one, in groups and in space chats. Messages, files, calls and alerts from outside tools all live in the same place. Open it from Chat in the left menu.

Kinds of chats​

A meeting also gets its own chat, which stays in Chat after the meeting ends.

The chat list has filters at the top: Unread, Direct, Groups, Spaces, Meetings and Archive. Chats you pin show under Pinned.

Start a chat​

1. Select New chat (the pencil button).
2. In To:, type a name or e-mail. One person makes a direct chat; two or more make a group. If a direct chat with that person already exists, it opens.
3. Optionally give a group a name, or link it to a space.
4. Write the first message. The chat is created when you send it.

A group can later become a space chat with Link to a space in the chat menu. Its history and attachments stay.

Writing messages​

• Enter sends, Shift+Enter adds a new line.
• Up in an empty box edits your last message.
• Drag files into the chat or use Attach files. Images and videos show a preview.
• Text supports inline code, fenced code blocks (with a Copy code button) and links.
• If you go offline, messages wait in line and are sent once you reconnect.

Mentions​

Type @ to pick someone in the chat. @everyone notifies all members, even those who muted the chat, so Crewhall asks you to confirm first.

Emoji and GIFs​

Use Add emoji for the emoji picker. A message with only one to three emoji shows them large. If your admin turned GIFs on, use Send a GIF or the /gif command to search GIPHY.

Slash commands​

You can also schedule a message from Send later next to the send button, or with Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Pick Tomorrow 09:00, Monday 09:00 or Custom date and time…. Waiting messages are listed under Scheduled messages, where you can edit, send now or delete them.

Working with messages​

Hover a message, or open More actions, to:

• Reply: quotes the message in your answer. Selecting the quote jumps to the original.
• Forward, Copy, Copy link
• Pin: up to 50 messages per chat; see them in the Pinned tab.
• Mark as unread
• Message info: who has seen the message.
• Edit: your own messages; they show (edited).
• Delete: the message is deleted for everyone and shows "This message was deleted". Attached files go to the Drive trash. Space admins can also delete other people's messages.

Select an emoji under a message, or Pick a reaction, to react. Hover a reaction to see who reacted.

Keyboard shortcuts for messages: R reply, E edit, U mark as unread.

Files and pinned tabs​

Each chat has three tabs: Chat, Files and Pinned. Files lists every file shared in the chat with filters (All, Documents, Media, Code), a search box, Open in Drive and Go to message.

Sharing Drive items, pages and cards​

• In the message box, use Add a Drive, page or board item to attach a reference.
• Paste a Crewhall link into the box and it becomes an item card.
• From a Drive item, page or board card, pick Send to chat, choose a chat or person and add an optional note.

No public link is created. People who open the item see it only with their own permission. See Drive.

Searching messages​

Open Search messages (Ctrl+E). Type from:name to filter by person, or use the From, Chat, With files and Date filters. Only chats you can read, and only the history shared with you, are searched.

Managing a chat​

The chat menu in the header holds:

• Pin, Mark as unread, Mute (1 hour, Until tomorrow morning, 1 week)
• Notifications: All, Critical only, Mentions only or None
• Members, Add people: when you add people, choose how much history they see (none, the last 7 or 30 days, or all).
• Rename or Name the group, Link to a space, Apps and webhooks
• Archive (just for you) or Archive for everyone
• Leave chat, Delete for me
• Delete for everyone: only for groups, only if your admin allows it. You type the chat name to confirm. This cannot be undone.

Calls from chat​

In direct and group chats, the header has Voice call and Video call. Everyone in the chat is called at once. The person called can Accept, Decline or answer I am busy. In space chats, Start a meeting opens a meeting room for the chat. While a call is going on, the header shows a join button instead. Missed and finished calls are logged in the chat. See Meetings.

Status and presence​

Your presence is Online, Away, Busy, Do not disturb or Offline. To change it, open Set your status from your account menu or press Alt+S. You can:

• add an emoji and a status message, and pick when to clear it;
• set Visibility: Online, Busy (notifications go quiet), Do not disturb (only calls and critical alerts come through), Appear away or Invisible;
• turn on Automatic "In a meeting" to show as busy during calendar meetings and calls, and as presenting while you share your screen.

Notifications​

Go to My account › Notifications to choose, for each kind of notification, whether it reaches you in the app, on the desktop, as a push on your phone or by e-mail. The same page has Quiet hours, E-mail digest (off, hourly, daily) and Message sound. Some boxes are locked for security.

Incoming webhooks and integrations​

Outside tools can post into a chat as a bot. Open the chat menu › Apps and webhooks.

1. Select Add incoming webhook and give it a Name (shown as the bot name).
2. Copy the Webhook URL. The secret key is part of the URL and is shown in full only once.
3. Send a JSON body to it:

curl -X POST '<webhook-url>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"text":"Deploy finished","card":{"severity":"success","title":"api 1.4.0 is live"}}'

Card severity can be critical, warning, success or info. Google Chat text and cardsV2 bodies are accepted as they are, so moving from Google Chat only means changing the URL. Limits: 60 requests a minute and 32 KB per body. Each webhook has a Delivery log for the last 7 days and can be muted, turned off or given a new URL.

Add integration brings GitHub, Azure DevOps or Jira events into the chat as cards. Pick the events, then paste the URL and the one-time secret into the service's webhook settings. Alert cards offer I'm on it and Open a board card.