- Overview ---
- Creating or Joining Teams ---
- Direct Chat Options ---
- Messaging/Chatting with Teams and Users ---
- Threads ---
Overview
Select 
on the left panel to access the Team Chat screen.
Chat is an office collaboration tool that allows you to communicate internally by exchanging text messages, voice notes, and files with any user on the company's phone system.
Communication can be delivered to individual users or teams (groups of users). Its additional functions include threads, emojis, tagging, and formatting for links and code blocks.
An introduction page is displayed when you access the Chat Screen with two buttons prompting you to Start a direct chat or Join or create a team. This is displayed only once (unless if you sign in/out or refresh your browser) but you can access the direct chat and team functions with other interface buttons.
You can adjust the size of the Chat screen areas by clicking and dragging the dividing lines between them.
The Teams and Direct Chat Lists
The Chat main panel includes two drop-down lists:
- Teams shows all the teams you joined or were added to.
Teams can be public (
) – open to anyone in the company to join, or private (
) – can be joined only by invitation from the team's administrator. When you get added to a private team it will automatically appear here. - Direct Chat shows all the users you are directly chatting with and their availability status – Online (
) or Offline (
). Online users see your messages instantly while offline users will see them once they sign in to the TeleConsole.
Note that users have to be signed into the desktop or web versions of the TeleConsole to have their status shown here. Direct chat is not yet supported on the mobile versions and you cannot see or chat with mobile users (you can still call or message them.)
New messages from teams or users are indicated with a counter for each ( like 
) and a badge counter for the total number of messages on the chat main button (
). Both of these depend on the Team notification settings and the Unread count settings. If the latter is disabled, no counters will appear!
Users can be hidden from the direct chat list and the lists themselves can be collapsed or expanded.
Teams Nickname
You can use a nickname in chats Instead of your TeleConsole profile name.
To edit your nickname access your account by clicking your initial icon (
) on the top-right (next to your name and extension/internal number.) Click Edit Profile, enter a nickname in the Teams Nickname field, and click SAVE CHANGES.
To remove the nickname simply enter a blank nickname!
Your nickname will appear in all Direct and Team chats as well as teams notices
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Other users can also see your nickname when they add you to a team or to their Direct Chat list or when they write you a message.
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Creating or Joining Teams
Select 
(from either the introduction page or top of the chat screen) to see the teams page with a summary of all available teams on the system, including public teams you can join and teams that you have created.
Teams you are already a member of are marked as Joined. Teams are also marked as public ( ) or private (). You can only see the private teams that you created and currently manage!
You can only join public teams. To join a private team you need to ask its administrator to add you to it. Once the administrator adds you, the team will automatically appear in your Teams list.
Click Refresh if you don't see a certain team to update the summary.
Joining and Leaving a Public Team
If a team is public, simply click JOIN next to it to join it.
Before joining a team you can click VIEW to see the latest activity in the team (messages or threads and notices about who joined or left it). On this screen, you can click JOIN TEAM to join the team or SEE MORE DETAILS to see a list of all the users in the team and some additional details about it (like who created it and when.)
After you join a team it will show in the Teams list.
When you no longer want to receive messages from a team you can leave it by selecting the team, clicking the menu button (
), and selecting Leave team.
Adding Members to a Public Team (As a Non-Owner)
When you are already a member of a public team you can add members to it, even if you are not its owner (the user who created it).
Do this by selecting the team in the Teams list, clicking the menu button (), and selecting Manage team. Select the MEMBERS tab and click 
. Select the users you want to add to the team and click ADD.
The team will automatically be added to the Teams list of the selected users.
Creating Teams (Private or Public)
Create a new team by clicking the 
button next to the Teams list or by selecting Join or Create a Team (from the introduction page or top of the Chat screen) and 
. Enter the Name of the team, select if it is Private or Public, and click CREATE. The Description field is optional.
Managing Teams You Created – Updating, Deleting, and Adding Members
After you create a team you can select it under the Teams list and click the menu button () on the top-right. Here you can select to Delete the team or select to Manage Team, update any of its details (name, description, or type), and select UPDATE TEAM.
If you delete a team all its related messages and threads will be permanently erased from the server and cannot be recovered!
You will automatically become a member of the team you created. Public teams are visible to all users who can just join them. Private teams are invisible to all users except their owners (the users who created them.)
Adding new members to a private or public team that you created:
- Select the team under the Teams Chat list.
- Click the menu button () on the top-right and select Manage Team.
- Select the MEMBERS tab and click
. - Pick new members from the list or search for them by name. Users that are already in your group are marked with
. Selected users appear under the search box. Click ADD to add all selected users to the team.
The new members of the team will now appear under its MEMBERS tab. Remove any user from the team by selecting 
. You cannot remove yourself ( 
) from the team.
On the users' end, they do not need to accept the invitation to join the team. It will automatically appear in their Teams list.
Direct Chat Options
Adding Users
If a user message you directly, he will be automatically added to your Direct Chat list.
Otherwise, you need to add a user to your Direct Chat list before you can chat with him. To do so select Start direct chat on the introduction page or click 
next to the Direct Chat list. Select a user from the list or search for one by name. You can add one user at a time to the list.
Hiding, Viewing Details, Calling, and Status of Users
The availability status of the selected user is indicated at the top of the chat window by both a badge icon ( online 
or Offline 
) and a short description telling you the user is "Online now" or when he was "Last seen online".
When you don't want to see a chat history with a user select him, select the menu button (
) on the top-right, and select Leave chat (this will not delete the messages from the user, just hide them.)
The user will automatically get added back to the Direct Chat list if he messages you again.
With the same menu, you can Call the user using the keypad or see his details by selecting View contact which will open the Contacts screen.
Messaging/Chatting with Teams and Users
To send a message simply select a team or a user in the Teams or Direct Chat list, type your message in the message field, and select 
. You can also record and send a voice note by selecting 
.
Text Formatting
You can format the message with the bold (
), italics (
), or underlined (
) buttons or with the Control+B, Control+I, and Control+U keys on your keyboard respectively.
You can add emojis to your text with 
.
You can mark a text to appear as a code block (grey background) with 
. If you want to remove the code block formatting, copy the text and paste it with Control+Shift+V on your keyboard.
Mark a text as a link with 
. Clicking links will direct the user to the link's URL on a web browser. The URL is the text itself (meaning you cannot insert a separate address on top of the marked text.) Links are also generated automatically when you type URL-related abbreviations such as WWW or .COM.
If you want to mention (tag) users in your message select 
(or type @ on your keyboard) followed by the user's name. A list with relevant matches will be displayed.
The mentioned user is converted to a clickable link (both on your side and any recipient of the message). Clicking the link opens a window where you can send the user a quick message with direct chat, call him (
), see her contact details (
), or open a direct chat window with her (
).
Tagging users can affect the notifications they receive, depending on their notification settings. See more details here.
Attaching Files or Images
Use the 
button to navigate and attach files or images from your device. The files you attach show up as boxes. Images show up as a thumbnail. Remove either by selecting 
. Select an image thumbnail to preview it directly in the TeleConsole. You can also preview PDFs in the TeleConsole by selecting the View PDF in the TeleConsole option under the PDF file name. Other file types cannot be previewed.
On the desktop versions, you can also drag-and-drop files/images from other windows to the chat box to attach them.
Recording Voice Notes
Instead of typing a long message you can record a voice note by selecting . (you can still add text to the message if you want.) The message will start recording instantly and audio waveforms will show as you speak.
Select 
to stop the recording and attach the voice note to your message. Select 
to stop and discard the recording.
If recording is not working test (and possibly change) the default microphone. You can do this from the Sound & Devices quick menu or from the TeleConsole settings. If you can't solve the problem in the TeleConsole try changing the audio configuration from the settings options of your device.
Use 
to preview a voice note before sending it. You can drag the playhead around to skip forward or backward. Select 1X to change the playback preview speed of the voice note.
Message Read Receipts
When you first message a user you will see a grey check mark (
) next to the message, indicating it has been sent out.
As soon as the message reaches the intended recipient (usually instantly) it will be marked with a double grey check mark (
).
After the user has opened and read the message it will be indicated by two green check marks (
).
Message (and Notices) Options
Different options become available for sent or received messages when you hover your mouse pointer over them. These are applicable for both team messages and direct messages you exchange with users.
The options are also available for notices in team chat history (such as when a user joins or leaves a team), like the reaction (emoji) that is seen here for a user that left the General group.
The available message/notice options are:
– add a Reaction to the message or notice. A reaction is like an emoji except that it appears under the message/notice and is not to be confused with the emojis you can add in the body of a message.
When you hover your mouse pointer over a reaction you will see the name of the user who made the reaction.
– start a Thread (see next). A thread is a discussion relating to a specific message or a notice that keeps the main chat history neater. You can start a thread for any notice or message. 
– Forward the message. This will open a window where you can select users or teams to forward the message to.
Selected users and teams appear at the top of the window. You can click
to remove any selection you made.
Note that you have to scroll to the bottom to see the available teams. You will see all public teams but only the private teams you are a member of or have created.
Forwarded messages are indicated as such, above the message, in the relevant chat history (for a direct chat this is only indicated at the recipient's end.)
-
– Edit the message. You can only edit the messages that you wrote! Messages by other users can only be edited by them.
When you edit the message you only see the emoji button. To display other formatting options you need to highlight some or all of the text.
Edited messages appear as such.
– Delete the message. This will delete just the message and not the entire conversation.
You will be prompted to select to delete the message for everyone or just for yourself.
If you are not the owner of the message (you didn't write it) you can only delete it for yourself!
Threads
A thread is a discussion relating to a specific message or a notice. The message or notice is the topic of the thread and its collection of replies (sub-messages) is kept in a separate panel. This keeps the main chat or notice history neater.
You can start a new thread from the message/notices options (see above.)
Team chat threads can have multiple participants while direct chat threads will only have two – yourself and the other user you are conversing with.
The thread box shows the icons of the participants, the total number of replies in the thread, and the last reply.
Click the thread box to open a thread panel showing all of its replies. The message the thread belongs to appears at the top of the panel as its topic. You can type additional replies in the Reply box and click to add them to the thread. You can also record a voice note by clicking .
Click 
on the top-right to close the thread's panel.
Replies Options
Hovering your mouse pointer over a reply will show some options for it. These are identical to the messages/notices options (see above) but you don't get the Thread option (meaning you cannot insert a thread inside a thread) or the forwarding option.
The available reply options are:
– add a Reaction. A reaction is like an emoji except that it appears under the reply.
When you hover your mouse pointer over a reaction you will see the name of the user who made the reaction.-
– Edit the thread. You can only edit the replies that you wrote! Replies by other users can only be edited by them.
When you edit the reply you only see the emoji button. To display other formatting options you need to highlight some or all of the text.
Edited messages appear as such.
– Delete the reply. This will delete just the reply and not the entire thread.
You will be prompted to select to delete the reply for everyone or just for yourself.
If you are not the owner of the reply (you didn't write it) you can only delete it for yourself!