Messages

The Messages add-on is your internal chat. Hold one-to-one conversations with colleagues, talk to your contacts, create private group chats, and open company-wide channels — all without leaving BusinessHRM. Messages can include rich text, @-mentions and file attachments.

Where to find it

Before you start: The Messages module must be enabled for your role. The Messages item shows an unread-count badge when you have new messages.

The Messages screen

Messages is a single workspace: a list of conversations on the left and the open chat on the right. Across the top are up to four tabs:

Tab	What it is
Private	One-to-one chat with employees and admins.
Contact	One-to-one chat with your contacts (only appears when contact chat is enabled in settings).
Group	Private group chats you are a member of.
Channel	Open, company-wide channels everyone can see.

Note: Contacts who log in to the portal see a restricted view — they only get the one-to-one chat tab, never Group or Channel.

Starting a conversation

Open the Private tab (or Contact tab to message a contact).
Click New Conversation.
In the dialog, choose the person under Choose Member (or Choose Contact).
Type your message in the Message box. You can @-mention people and attach files under Add File.
Click Send.

Once a conversation is open, use the message box at the bottom to keep chatting. Press Enter to send, Shift+Enter for a new line. The Upload File link reveals a drag-and-drop area for attachments.

Tip: Use the Search people, group, contact box at the top of the conversation list to jump straight to someone.

Who you can message

Employees and admins can message all employees, and — if your administrator has enabled it — your contacts.
Contacts can only reply to the employees and/or admins your administrator allows. If contact chat is restricted, a contact can message only the employees on their projects.

You always pick recipients from a searchable list of people in your account; you cannot type in an outside email address.

Group chats

A group is a private conversation between selected members.

Create a group

Open the Group tab and click Create Group.
Fill in:

Field	Meaning	Required
Name	The group's name (must be unique).	Yes
Select Members	The employees to add (use Select All / Deselect All).	Yes — at least one
Description	An optional description.	No

Click Save.

The creator becomes the group owner, and everyone added is notified that they have joined.

Managing a group

Open a group and use its menu to View, Edit or Delete it. In the Group Details view you can:

See the owner (marked with a crown), members and description.
Remove a member (owner, or an admin/employee, for any non-owner member).
Leave the group from your own row.

Permission: Only the group owner or an admin can edit or delete a group.

Channels

Channels work like open groups but with no membership list — every employee/admin sees every channel. Create one from the Channel tab with Create Channel; it only needs a Name and optional Description.

Attachments

Every message can carry one or more files. Use Upload File (or Add File in the New Conversation dialog) to drag and drop them. Attached files appear under the message with View, Download and Delete options (you can delete only files you sent). The allowed file types, size and count come from your company's global file-upload settings.

Notifications and live updates

You get an in-app (and email) notification for new messages, @-mentions and being added to a group.
Opening a conversation marks it as read; unread counts show on each conversation and on the Messages menu item.
If real-time messaging (Pusher) is configured for your company, messages and a live "typing…" indicator appear instantly. Otherwise the app checks for new messages every few seconds.

Message Settings (admins)

Administrators control chat behaviour from the Message Settings page (requires the Manage Message Setting permission):

Setting	What it does
Allow chat between contact and employees?	Lets contacts and employees message each other.
Allow chat between contact and admin?	Lets contacts message admins.
Only project members can chat with contact	Restricts contact chat to employees on the contact's projects.
Send Sound Notification Alert	Plays a sound for new messages (the app checks every 10 seconds).