Chat Panel

This is accessed by clicking the Toolbar Chat button button on the Toolbar.

Use this panel to chat to users in your organisation.

You can operate this panel by using your mouse or keyboard (see Accessibility Features).

Label 1

Panel help and control buttons

	Displays this Help page.
	Hides the panel. You can restore it by clicking the Chat button on the Toolbar.
	Closes the panel losing any in-progress chat conversations.

Label 2

Chat buttons

Use these buttons to initiate or continue a chat.

	Initiates or continues a chat with a single user.
	Initiates or continues a chat with a group of users.

Label 3

Search chats field

Use this to filter the chats list by entering at least the first two characters of a user's first name or last name, or the first two characters of any word in a chat group name.

Label 4

Chat list

Displays your previous chats with single users and chat groups, allowing you to continue conversations. You can filter this list using the Search chats field (see above).

The icon indicates a chat group. The single user icons are colour-coded to indicate user availability statuses. For the meanings of the single user icons, see the Comms Panel - Contacts Tab.

In a list that you have filtered by user, any chat groups in which that user participated are also shown.

Today's chats are time stamped; older chats are date stamped with the month followed by the day of the month.

A symbol next to a user or chat group indicates the number of unread messages. For example, the illustration above shows two unread messages: one from Baz Parsons and another from Bilal Khan in the 'Bookings' chat group.

Clicking a chat item opens the chat in the right-hand side of the panel, allowing you to send further messages to the user or chat group.

Note: the content of chat messages that are over 30 days old is not displayed.

Label 5

Contact buttons

These buttons have the following functions:

	(Single chat user only) Calls the user.
	(Single chat user only) Displays the user in the Comms Panel - Contacts Tab, allowing you to see their contact details and to contact them using an available mode of communication.
	(Chat group only) Displays the chat group's messages.
	(Chat group only) Displays and allows you to manage the chat group.

Label 6

Chat messages

Displays the messages in the selected chat or chat group.

Shaded	Messages sent by you
Unshaded	Messages sent by other users

A chat message that is sent within five minutes of the user's previously sent message is grouped under the same date and timestamp.

Label 7

Message composer

Use this to type the message you want to send to the user or chat group in the active chat.

You can paste copied text into this field by pressing Ctrl + V on your keyboard and you can use the keyboard Enter key to start a new line in the message.

Click this button to send the message.