A Chat Space is a real-time group chat inside your community, similar to a channel in Discord or Slack. Members send messages, reply in threads, react, and share files, all in one live conversation. Use it for quick questions, live event chatter, or a members' lounge.
Who can do this: Community owners and admins create Chat Spaces. Space admins can change a Chat Space's settings. · Where: Create and configure on the web. Members chat on the web and in the iOS and Android apps. · Plan: Chat Spaces, and how many you can have, depend on your platform plan.
Create a chat space
- Start a new space from the sidebar (a category's ⋮ menu, then Create space) or from Admin → Community → Spaces (Create Space).
- Choose Chat Space ("Real-time messaging similar to Discord. Quick conversations.").
- Choose the privacy, add a name, category, and description, and click Create Space.
If the Chat Space card shows Upgrade with Chatrooms unavailable, your platform plan doesn't include chat spaces. Chatroom limit reached means you've used all the chat spaces your plan allows. Check your usage in Admin → Billing → Plan & Usage, and see Check plan usage and limits. For the full form, see Create a space.
Chat space privacy and joining
Chat messages are members-only in every Chat Space. Even in a space that people can find and join freely, only members can read and send messages. Non-members see "Join this space to see and send messages."
- Public is offered when you create a Chat Space, but you can't switch an existing Chat Space to Public later: in Access Policy, the option is marked "Chat messages are members-only".
- Private and Secret are available.
- Chat Spaces can't use the By invitation only join policy, so pick Anyone can join, By request, or By purchase.
See Set a space's privacy and join policy.
Chat space settings
Open the space's Manage panel (the gear icon on the space, or Manage space in the space's ⋯ menu). A Chat Space has fewer sections than other spaces:
- Basics & branding: name, description, icon, avatar, cover, category, and Hide member count ("Don't show the number of members to non-members").
- Access Policy: privacy and joining. Under Advanced, set Who can send messages and Who can reply and react to Members only or Admins and moderators. Choose Admins and moderators for a read-only announcements chat.
- Members and Join Requests: roles and requests. See Add space moderators.
- Danger Zone: archive or delete the space.
Chat Spaces have no topics, collections, layout options, review queue, or moderation rules, and they don't support events or live sessions. Auto-moderation rules don't check chat messages.
Chatting: threads, formatting, and mentions
- Type in Message in chatroom... and press Enter to send; Shift + Enter adds a new line. Attach media, files, or a GIF.
- Use a message's actions to React, Reply in a thread, Forward, Copy message text, or Save it. All threads and Saved messages collect them.
- Formatting: messages support bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, code blocks, quotes, and lists, plus links you paste. Click the formatting help button for examples, or use Ctrl/⌘ + B, I, or E for bold, italic, or code. Anything else shows exactly as typed.
- Mentions: type @ to get suggestions from the space's members. Mentions depend on Allow Mentions in Admin → Settings → Communication; when it's off, there are no suggestions or mention notifications, but messages still send.
- Search in chatroom finds messages, and Jump to date goes back in history.
Moderate a chat space: pin and delete messages
Space admins and moderators, and community owners and admins who have joined the space, can:
- Pin messages: open a message's menu and click Pin. Pinned messages appear in a banner at the top and in Pinned Messages, where moderators can drag them to reorder. Everyone in the space can read pinned messages. Pinning is available on the web.
- Delete other members' messages: click Delete, then confirm "Delete this message for everyone?". The message disappears for everyone and can't be restored.
- Mute, ban, or remove members from the Members page of the Manage panel.
Members can delete their own messages and use Report message. Reports go to the Reports Queue; see Review reported content.
Members who can't send messages, for example because they're muted, see "You can't send messages in this space right now." An archived Chat Space shows "This space is archived and read-only." No one can send messages there, and members and space moderators can't open it.
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