Use Team Messaging

Important: Depending on your organization's requirements for 8x8 Work for Desktop, you may have access to Team Messaging or to group chat.

Let’s say you want to send a chat message to all members of your team, rather than sending one at a time. Using Team Messaging with 8x8 Work for Desktop, you can create a purpose-made chat room to streamline your communications with your company contacts. In your list of Messages , you can create persistent chat rooms that you can access in addition to your individual chats. These rooms can be public or private, allowing you to collaborate with any colleague in your organization at any time, or keep confidential information secure within a small group of people.

If you want to quickly find an existing chat room, you can search for the desired room by name as you would search for a contact.

Note: By using the search bar in 8x8 Work, anyone on your phone system can find and access public chat rooms, while private rooms are only visible to people who have been invited to the room.

Features

  • Collaborative chat rooms: With Team Messaging, collaborate with your colleagues via chat more effectively than ever before! Create chat rooms on demand, stay up to date on your team's latest discussions, bring multiple teams together to collaborate, and much more! Based on your needs you can create public or private chat rooms:

    • Public (default): A public chat room can be found by anyone in your company contact list by using the search bar of 8x8 Work, and can be accessed by anyone at any time. To invite co-workers, use "at" mentions. For example, to get Alice Fox's attention, post @Alice Fox. Alternatively, you can ask Alice to search for this room by name.
    • Private: A private chat room can only be found and accessed by room members who are invited. A member who has been invited can later be removed from the room for security reasons; once a person has been removed from a chat room, they no longer have access to the message history of that room.
  • Ability to invite colleagues to private chat rooms: As a member of a private room, you can invite colleagues relevant to the conversation to bring them into your discussions; a fully-collaborative experience allows any member of a private room to invite a new member.
  • Quick access to information on chat rooms: By opening the details page of a chat room, you can see the room type, description, and name, as well as the member list for a private room.
  • Ability to get a colleague's attention in a room: Type <@> before the name of a colleague at any time to mention them in a chat room they have access to, and quickly bring their attention to the current conversation.
    If you try to mention a colleague in a one-on-one chat or private room they are not part of, you instead silent-mention the colleague without notifying them; for example, this helps you introduce a new teammate to other colleagues in your organization.
  • Notification settings for messages and changes: Has your chat room been renamed, or have new colleagues been invited to your private chat room? Whenever something about a chat room changes, you are notified in your chat history for that room. In addition, you can choose to be notified of all messages in a room to stay up-to-date, or reduce interruptions when you are busy by choosing to be notified only when you are mentioned.

Create and use chat rooms

Collaborate with colleagues by creating a chat room from scratch, or by using an existing chat room. Once you create a chat room, you can invite members to private chat rooms, and quickly view details on any chat room you have access to.

Features

  • Create and participate in flexible chat rooms that allow you to quickly share information and discuss ideas with your colleagues.
  • As a member of a private room, you can invite colleagues relevant to the chat room to bring them into your discussions whenever needed.
  • By opening the details page of a chat room, you can see the room type, name, and description, as well as the member list for a private room. This way, you can quickly view information for any chat room you participate in, and switch between conversations in various rooms without losing your bearings.

Public and private chat rooms

Depending on your current needs, you can use a public or private chat room for your discussions. Under Messages > Rooms, you can find all public and private rooms you've participated in.

  • Public chat rooms (labeled as public next to the room name) are ideal for fully-collaborative discussions with anyone in your organization:
    • Public rooms are visible to all users listed in your company directory, and can be accessed by any user who finds them.
    • Mentioning any user in a public room brings their attention to the conversation, and displays the chat room in their list of rooms.
  • Private chat rooms (labeled as private next to the room name) are best for discussions of confidential information that is currently secure within a small group of people:
    • Private rooms are visible and accessible only to room members who have been invited.
    • Only users who have been invited to a private room can be mentioned in it to bring their attention to the conversation.
    • If the wrong person has been invited to a chat room by mistake, or if a person in the chat room is moving to a different team in your organization, you can remove the person from your chat room.
    • Private rooms display the avatar for three members in addition to the remaining number of members included in the room. Clicking on the avatars opens the Members window.
  1. Go to Messages and click > Create Room to start creating a new chat room.
  2. In the Create room window that displays, under Room name, enter the name of the chat room.

  3. In the right side of the Room name box, choose one of the available avatars or add a picture to customize that chat room:

    • To add a picture to the room avatar, clickAdd image and in the Add image window that displays, click Upload.
    • Browse through your image files, and select.

    • Click Open > Save and go back and go back to upload your image.

  4. Click the Make private toggle to select the chat room type::
    • Public (default): A public chat room can be found by anyone in your company contact list by using the search bar of 8x8 Work, and can be accessed by anyone at any time. To invite co-workers, use "at" mentions. For example, to get Alice Fox's attention, post @Alice Fox. Alternatively, you can ask Alice to search for this room by name.
    • Private: A private chat room can only be found and accessed by room members who are invited. A member who has been invited can later be removed from the room for security reasons; once a person has been removed from a chat room, they no longer have access to the message history of that room.

  5. If you are creating a private room, by enabling the Make private toggle switch, the Add members field displays. invite colleagues into the room. To add members, simply type the names of the colleagues you wish to invite and select them when their names show up in the drop-down list.

    Notes:
    - If you are creating a public room, you do not have the option to invite people, since public rooms are visible to all your company contacts.
    - You can add members to a private room at any time from the Members window. To access the Members window, select the desired private room and click the avatars of the members from the top of the chat panel, or select More Options> View/edit members

  6. Click Create. The new chat room opens, and you can begin typing in the chat.

Note: If you choose a name for your room that duplicates another room name, when you try to save the room, you receive a message that you duplicated the room name and you have to choose another name. The maximum length for a room name is now 255 characters (from 50).

  1. In a private chat room, click More Options and from the drop-down list select View /edit members ..
  2. In the window that opens, type or select the name(s) of the user(s) you want to add to the room.

  3. When you have selected all the desired users, click Save to invite your colleagues. Existing members of the chat room see a notification that new members have been invited.

  1. In a chat room, click More options , and from the drop-down list select Room details.
  2. In the chat room details page that opens, you can view information on the room, such as the room name and type.

  3. Optional, you can edit the room name. If you are in a private room in which a member has moved to a different team or project, you can also remove the desired member from the private room.

  4. Click Save.

    The system registers the name change and lists the person that made the change. An email is also sent to the members of the room to notify them of the change. All members of a room can edit a room’s name.

  1. Go to Messages > All or Go to Messages > Rooms to view your chat rooms.
  2. Click the room whose avatar you want to customize.
  3. In a chat room, click More Options and select Room details .from the list.

  4. In the chat Room details page that opens, you can choose one of the avatars available in the right side of the Room name box or add a picture to customize that chat room:

    • To add a picture to the room avatar, clickAdd image and in the Add image window that displays, click Upload.
    • Browse through your image files, and select.
    • Click Open > Save and go back and go back to upload your image.
  5. Optional, you can continue to update the chat room information.
  6. Click Save.

.

  1. In a chat room, click More options , and from the drop-down list select Room details.

  2. Hover over the members already added to the room. You can choose any of the available options, to call, send a message or delete any member of the room.

Note: To aid user accessibility, from the Members window you can also:
-View the current status of the avatar of each member of the private room.
-View the contact info card when clicking the avatar.

Mention colleagues

By mentioning a colleague, you can bring the colleague's attention to a discussion in a room they have access to, or simply reference their name if you need to reference them in a private room they don't have access to. Depending on the room or conversation where you try to mention a colleague, you can:

  • @mention and notify your colleague: If you need to bring your colleague into a public room they haven't seen yet, or get their attention in a private room you are both members of, you can mention them to notify them of your new message for them. Once sent in a message, the @mention shows up in bold.
  • Silent-mention your colleague: If your colleague comes up in discussion they don't have access to (such as a one-on-one chat or a private room they are not a member of), you can reference their name to other colleagues without notifying the mentioned colleague. Once sent in a message, the silent mention shows up in italics.

Features

  • Type <@> before the name of a colleague at any time to:
    • @Mention and notify them in a chat room they have access to, and quickly bring their attention to the current conversation.
    • Silent-mention them to reference them without calling their attention.
  • If you were mentioned in a public chat room you had not accessed before, the chat room becomes visible to you under Messages > All or Messages > Rooms for easy access.

If you need a particular person to weigh in on the subject of your current discussion in a chat room, simply tap the @Mention  option before typing their name (for example, <@John Smith>) to get their attention at any time. In a public room, you can @mention any of your company contacts, while in a private room, you can only @mention colleagues who are currently members of the room.

When you are @mentioned in a chat room, you receive a special notification with an @ label to indicate that a colleague is requesting your attention in a chat room.

To @mention and notify colleagues in a chat room:

  1. In a chat room, type <@> before the name of a user (for example, <@John Smith>) to bring up a list of users with matching names; the list narrows as you continue typing.

    • In a public room: You can @mention any colleague in your phone system to bring their attention to the current conversation.
    • In a private room: You can only @mention colleagues who are members of the private room.

    Note: If multiple people visible in the mention suggestion list have the same name, 8x8 Work shows you any information that can be used to differentiate them, such as email address.

  2. Select the user from the list to invite them to the chat room.

If you try to mention a colleague who is not a member of the one-on-one chat or private room you are chatting in, you instead silent-mention the colleague to reference them without calling their attention. When you are about to mention a colleague, you see in the mention suggestion list whether you are about to @mention or silent-mention them in the current room.

To silent-mention colleagues in a chat room:

  1. In a chat room, type <@> before the name of a user (for example, <@John Smith>) to bring up a list of users with matching names; the list narrows as you continue typing. You silent-mention a colleague instead of @mentioning them if they are currently not a member of the one-on-one chat or private room you are in.

    Note: If multiple people visible in the mention suggestion list have the same name, 8x8 Work shows you any information that can be used to differentiate them, such as email address.

  2. Select the user from the list to reference them in the chat room without calling their attention.

Now that you are part of a discussion in a chat room, you can choose how frequently you receive notifications for the room. With Team Messaging, you can toggle between receiving notifications for all messages in the room or, if you receive too many notifications for discussions that are not relevant to you, you can choose to receive notifications only when you are mentioned in the chat room. Your notification settings are unique to each room you have access to.

Features

  • Has your chat room been renamed, or have new colleagues been invited to your private chat room? Whenever something about a chat room changes, you are notified in your chat history for that room.
  • Choose to be notified of all messages in a room to stay up-to-date, or reduce interruptions when you are busy by choosing to be notified only when you are mentioned.

To set up chat room notifications:

In a chat room under Messages , click the button next to the room name to change your notification settings for that chat room:

  • If you are currently Following a chat room: Hover over the button to reveal the Unfollow option, and click the option to receive notifications only for messages where you are mentioned.
  • If you see the option to Follow a chat room: Hover over the button to reveal the Follow option, and click the option to receive notifications for all messages in the chat room.


Regardless of how frequently you receive notifications for a room, you can access the room to view its full history of messages and changes at any time.

For example, if the name of the chat room is updated, or if a new colleague is invited to a private chat room you are part of, you can see these changes listed as system messages in the chat history for that room. Any such change is listed along with the time the change was made, as well as the name of the person who made the change.