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Contents

• Introduction
• Important Notes
• Enable Group Chat
• Start a Group Conversation
• Manage Conversations
  • Send Messages
  • Edit Messages
  • React to Messages
  • Mention Someone
  • Attach Files to Messages
  • Reply to Messages (Quote)
  • Delete Messages
• Font Size Control
• Conversation Settings

This feature is exclusively available to users of the ChMeetings Branded App.

Introduction

Group Chat allow Group Leaders and members to chat with each other within the group. This helps facilitate communication and information flow so your church can better connect with people, organize group events, make announcements, and more. 

Important Notes

• This guide is for Group Leaders, who are the only ones who can create conversations.
• The feature works the same way for both Group Leaders and Members, who have a very similar experience. We will highlight any differences within the guide. 
• Group Chats are currently limited to a maximum of 1,000 participants.
• The number of conversations you can initiate is unlimited.

Enable Group Chat

To access Group Chat within a group, you must first enable the feature for that specific group. You can do this either by creating a new group, or editing an existing one. 

• In the Add Group / Edit Group window, toggle on Enable Group Chat. 
• Save changes when ready. 

Start a Group Conversation

First, remember that you must be a Group Leader to initiate a conversation. To get started, go to Group Chat, in the main menu, and follow the steps below: 

• The next screen shows your current conversations. The left side of the screen shows a list of your conversations, while the right side shows the messages in the selected conversation. Here is what the Group Chat screen looks like when you first get started.
  
  
  
   
• Group leaders who are logged into their member view can also start a chat from under the Group Chat menu item, using the New Conversation button. 
  
  
• To start a new conversation, click New Conversation. If you’re using the mobile app, click the icon at the bottom right.
  
  
  
   
• In the New Conversation setup window, configure the following:
  • Photo: Browse your device and choose a representative photo for the conversation.
  • Name: Provide a clear name for your conversation.
  • Who can see messages: 
    • Leaders & Members lets both Group Leaders and members send messages. 
    • Leaders Only means that only Group Leaders can send messages within the conversation.
      
      Messages are accessible to both leaders and members regardless of what you select here. 
      
       
  • Select the Group within which you want the conversation to be active.
  • Save when done.
    
    
     

Once a conversation is started, it is listed under Group Chat; within the main menu, for all participants.

Manage Conversations

Once you create a conversation, it will be listed under Group Chat, on the left side of your screen. You can see the conversation name, as well as the last message (or an excerpt of it if it’s longer than one line). 

Click a conversation to reveal its corresponding messages. You can switch between conversations from the same screen. 

Note that if you start typing a message within a conversation, then select another one, the previously typed and unsent message will be lost. 

Send Messages

When sending messages, the group chat area behaves very similarly to other messaging apps you may be familiar with, for example, WhatsApp. 

To enter your message text, type it within the text box at the bottom right of your screen. If you’re using the mobile app, the text box is at the bottom of your screen, right above the app menu. 

To send your message, press enter, or tap the Send button next to the text box.

Once sent, your message will display within the conversation. 

When your message is sent, everyone in the conversation receives a notification, unless they have muted the conversation.

Edit Messages

Chat participants, regardless of their role (Group Leader, Member, etc.), can only edit their own messages, within 15 minutes of sending. 

To edit a message, hover over it to reveal the Edit (🖉) icon. Click it, edit your text, then Save. 

On the mobile app, tap the message you want to edit, and then tap the Edit (🖉) icon, edit your text, and Save.
 

React to Messages

Conversation participants can react to each other’s messages with the following:

• Like
• Love 
• Pray 

If you are using a computer, you can access these reactions by hovering over a message with your mouse, clicking the smile icon, and then selecting your reaction. 

On the mobile app, tap the message you want to react to, and then tap your reaction.

Once you react to a message, the sender will receive a push notification about your reaction.

Mention Someone

Use the “@” sign to mention someone. As soon as you type in the “@” sign and start typing the person’s name, you will be able to select them from a list of search results. You can only mention people who are part of the group to which the chat is associated. 

Attach Files to Messages

Using the Attachment option, you can easily attach different files to your messages: audio, video, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, pdf, and pptx. You can see previews for Images and presentations, play audio video and download other files. Here is a quick demo of the feature:

Reply to Messages (Quote)

To reply to a message, first, hover over it.

On the mobile app, tap the message you want to reply to, 

Next, click or tap the Reply () icon, 

Enter your text, and send the message as usual.

Attach Files to Messages

Using the Attachment option, you can easily attach different files to your messages: audio, video, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, pdf, and pptx. You can see previews for Images and presentations, play audio video and download other files. The maximum file size is 10 MB. Here is a quick demo of the feature:

Delete Messages

Group Leaders can delete their own messages, as well as those sent by members. Members can only delete their own messages, within 60h of sending. For all chat participants, deletion is available within 60h of sending the message..

We recommend exercising caution when deleting messages and only doing so in situations when, for example, someone sends an incomplete message, or their message was sent in the wrong conversation.

To delete a message, while using your computer, hover over it and click the bin icon displayed next to it. You must confirm your choice and cannot restore messages after deletion. 

To delete a message on the mobile app, tap the message to see the Delete option.

Once the message is deleted, everyone in the conversation will be able to see a notification that the message was deleted. This remains saved within the conversation.

Font Size Control

You can control the chat font size to suit your preference or accessibility needs.

Find the Font Size () icon at the top of your conversations, next to the Settings (⚙) icon. You can choose between Small, Normal (Default), Large, and Extra Large. The size you choose remains saved until you decide to change it.

Conversation Settings

Group Leaders and Members can access Conversation Settings by clicking the Gear icon at the top right of your conversation (on both the web and mobile app).

Here are the settings you can configure as a Group Leader: 

• Mute or Unmute the conversation: When muting a conversation, you will stop receiving notifications when new messages are received within it. 
• Disable and Re-Enable the conversation: When disabling a conversation, it will remain listed and visible to everyone, but messages can no longer be sent within it. Everyone will see a “Conversation Disabled” message. This is useful to do when a conversation is closed and you want to prevent further messages without removing it. When a conversation is disabled, you will see this icon next to it in your conversations list:
• Edit lets you update the conversation name or reconfigure who can send messages.
• Delete will permanently remove the conversation. Please proceed with caution. You will need to confirm your choice before the conversation is deleted.

Members can access conversation settings as well, but the only option available to them is to mute or unmute the conversation.