For everyone

Chat

Direct messages, group rooms, attachments, reactions, @mentions — the essentials done well.

Where to find it

• Employees: /employee/portal/messages (or Messages card on the portal home).
• Admins: /dashboard/messages or the floating chat bubble in the bottom-right of any dashboard page.

Start a direct message (DM)

1. Click + New in the chat sidebar.
2. Pick a teammate from the directory. Admins see all employees; employees see all admins + teammates.
3. The room appears at the top of your inbox. Type a message and hit Enter.

Start a group chat

1. Click + New in the sidebar, then Group chat →.
2. Enter a name for the room.
3. Tick 2 or more members. You\'re added automatically.
4. Click Create. The room appears in everyone\'s inbox.

Team rooms — automatic

Every DeskTrust Group in your organization auto-gets a team chat room containing all employees in that group plus the group\'s manager admin (if set). No setup — the room shows up automatically the first time you open the chat inbox.

Send an attachment

1. Click the paperclip icon left of the composer.
2. Pick a file. Max 25 MB.
3. Allowed types: images (jpg, png, gif, webp), PDFs, plain text, CSV, docx, xlsx, zip.
4. The file appears as a staged chip above the composer. Add more or remove one.
5. Type your message (optional) and send. Files upload before the message.

Images preview inline. Other file types show a labeled download link.

Reactions

1. Hover a message. Click the 😊 button that appears next to it.
2. Pick one of six quick reactions or use your keyboard.
3. Existing reactions show as pills under the message with a count. Click your own reaction pill to remove it.

@mentions

Type @firstname in a message. If the name matches any room member (case- and punctuation-insensitive), their tab title flashes with a preview of your message. Mentioned names appear in blue bold.

Edit or delete your messages

• Hover your own message. Click the ⋯ button.
• Edit: inline edit box appears. Save shows "(edited)" next to the timestamp.
• Delete: soft-deletes the message. It disappears from everyone\'s view but stays in the audit trail.

Org admins can delete anyone\'s messages for moderation.

Search

1. Open a room.
2. Use the search input in the room header. Type ≥ 2 characters and press Enter.
3. Results replace the message list. Click Clear to go back.

Search covers the last 90 days on Starter, and the last full year on Growth/Enterprise.

Presence + typing indicators

• Green dot next to a name = they have a DeskTrust tab open right now.
• When someone is typing, the room shows "<name> is typing…" for 2-3 seconds.
• Read receipts: your sent messages show as read when the recipient opens the room.