# Team Chat

## Overview

Team Chat is WaDesk's built-in, Slack-style messenger for your internal team. It gives operators a place to talk to each other — ask a question, share context, coordinate on a tricky customer — without leaving the app and without anything ever going out over WhatsApp.

Open it from the top navigation Chat item. It sits right next to the Team Inbox so your team can switch between answering customers and talking to each other in one tab.

> Internal only. Team Chat lives entirely inside WaDesk. Messages here are never sent to customers, never touch WhatsApp / Unofficial API / Cloud API, and don't cost message credits. It is purely for your team.

## The Chat Layout

The page has three areas:

- Left — Channels. The list of channels you belong to, each with an unread badge, plus a member search box.
- Center — the conversation. The selected channel's message stream and the composer at the bottom.
- Right / header — channel info. The channel name, description, and who is online or typing.

Every workspace automatically gets a #general channel that includes everyone — it's created for you the first time anyone opens Team Chat, and it cannot be deleted.

## Channels

Channels organize conversations by topic or team. There are two kinds you can create, plus direct messages:

Type | Who can see it
--- | ---
Public | Every member of the workspace is automatically included. Good for #general, #announcements, #support.
Private | Invite-only. Only people explicitly added can see or post. The creator joins automatically as the channel admin.
Direct message | A one-to-one conversation between two teammates.

### Creating a channel

1. Click the add (+) control next to the Channels heading.
2. Enter a name — lowercase letters, numbers, dashes, and underscores only (for example `support`).
3. Add an optional description so teammates know what the channel is for.
4. Choose Public or Private and create it.

> Admins only. Creating and deleting channels is limited to workspace owners and admins. The #general channel is protected and cannot be deleted. Names must be unique within the workspace.

## Sending Messages

Type in the composer at the bottom of a channel and send. While you type, teammates viewing the same channel see a typing indicator. A few things you can do:

- Reply to a specific message to keep a thread of context (replies stay within the same channel).
- Edit your own message within a 15-minute window — edited messages show an "(edited)" badge.
- Delete your own message; admins can delete any message in the workspace.
- Pin an important message so it stands out (channel admins or the message author).
- React with an emoji — tapping the same emoji again removes your reaction.

Unread counts per channel update as new messages arrive, and a channel is marked read once you open it.

## @Mentions

To get a specific teammate's attention, type @ in the composer. A picker of workspace members appears — choose someone to mention them. The mentioned person is highlighted in the message so they know the note is for them.

> Tip: Mentions only resolve to people who are members of the workspace, so you can't accidentally tag someone outside your team.

## Images & File Attachments

Share files right in a channel:

1. Click the attach control, or simply drag an image into the composer.
2. Supported types include images, PDFs, and common document formats (up to 20 MB).
3. An attachment preview appears before you send so you can confirm the right file.
4. Image attachments render as inline previews in the message stream; documents show as a downloadable file with its name.

## Inviting Teammates & the Approval Flow

Anyone in the workspace can request to bring a new teammate into Team Chat, but additions are gated by admin approval so the roster stays controlled.

1. Click the Invite teammate control next to the Channels heading.
2. Enter the person's email (and optionally their name) plus a short note on why they should join. You can also target a specific channel.
3. Submit the request. If you are an owner or admin, it's approved instantly and the person is added right away. Otherwise it's submitted as pending.

The approval flow works like this:

Status | What it means
--- | ---
Pending | Submitted by a non-admin, waiting for an owner or admin to review.
Approved | An admin accepted it — the invitee is added to the workspace and to the target channel (if one was chosen).
Declined | An admin rejected the request; nobody is added.

Admins see all pending requests and can approve or decline each one; regular members see only the requests they themselves submitted.

> Note: If the invited email doesn't yet belong to a WaDesk account, the request is recorded but the person can't be auto-joined — send them a sign-up link separately, then approve once they have an account.

## Presence, Typing & Search

- Online presence — teammates active in the workspace show as online.
- Typing indicator — see when someone is composing a message in the current channel.
- Search — find past messages within a channel by typing a word or phrase.

Presence and typing are lightweight and refresh on their own, so you always have a current picture of who's around without any setup.