Channels are named rooms within a single entity where your team can talk in one place. This guide walks you through creating a channel, adding members from your entity, and posting your first message.
Before you start
- You need the
chat.participatecapability. Without it, Chat shows You don’t have access to staff chat. - You can only add colleagues who belong to the same entity — the member list is drawn from that entity’s eligible staff.
- Your #general channel already exists for every entity and everyone in it is joined automatically, so create a new channel only when you want a focused, separate room.
Steps
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Open Chat. You arrive in your entity’s #general channel by default.
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If you belong to more than one entity, choose the right one from the Entity selector at the top of the conversation list.
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Under Channels in the left-hand list, select the + button (New channel).
[screenshot: New channel button in the Channels list]
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In the New channel panel, type a Channel name (for example, sales).
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Under Add members, tick each colleague you want to include. You are always added yourself.
[screenshot: New channel panel with name field and member checkboxes]
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Select Create channel. The new channel opens ready to use. (Choose Cancel to discard.)
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In the composer, type your message. To mention someone, type @ and pick a name from the suggestions — mentions resolve to channel members only, and each mentioned person receives an in-app notification.
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To attach a file or image, select the 📎 (Attach) button and choose a file, then Send. A message can carry text, attachments, or both.
[screenshot: message composer with @mention suggestions and attach button]
Result
Your channel appears under Channels and rises to the top of the list as people reply. Messages you send show your name and time; you can Edit or Delete your own messages (only your own) — an edited message is marked (edited) and a deleted one renders as message deleted. Text is limited to 8,000 characters, and unread messages show a count beside the channel name.