Messages (team chat)

Messages is real-time chat for your firm's team. It lets you send quick, text-based messages to anyone in your firm, one-on-one or in a group, without leaving Esqase. Chats open as small floating windows at the bottom-right of the screen, so you can keep working while you talk. New messages arrive near-instantly and update the red unread badge on the Messages icon on their own, so you never miss one. You can also react to a message with an emoji, reply to quote it, edit your own message for a few minutes after sending, and delete messages.

Before you begin

• Who you can message. Messages is for members of your firm, the colleagues who sign in to the dashboard. It is for internal team chat only. Messaging clients from here is not available yet.
• Where Messages lives. Messages is built into the top bar of the dashboard, so it is available on every page. There is no separate Messages page in the sidebar.
• Permissions. Access to Messages is controlled by a Chat permission on your role. By default every role can use Messages, so you should see it out of the box. If a firm owner or administrator turns the Chat permission off for your role, the Messages icon disappears and you will not be able to send or receive chats. See Roles and permissions.
• Your messages belong to the firm you are working in. If you belong to more than one firm and switch between them, Messages shows the conversations for the firm you are currently viewing.

The Messages icon and unread badge

The Messages icon is your way in. It sits in the top bar of the dashboard, just to the left of the notification bell.

1. Look at the top-right of the dashboard header for the Messages icon (a speech-bubble icon).
2. When you have conversations with unread messages, a small red badge sits on the icon. The number is how many of your conversations have messages you have not read yet, not the total count of unread messages. Once you pass 99, the badge shows 99+.
3. Click the Messages icon to open the Messages menu.

Mark conversations as read

A conversation counts as unread (and adds to the red badge) when someone else sends a message you have not seen yet. There are three ways to clear it:

• Open the conversation. Reading a conversation marks it read automatically, so simply opening it clears its unread state.
• Mark one conversation read without opening it. In the Messages menu or on the full Messages page, hover over an unread conversation and click the check mark that appears on its right. It is marked read and the badge updates.
• Mark everything read at once. While you have unread conversations, a Mark all read button appears at the top of the Messages menu (and at the top of the conversation list on the full page). Click it to clear them all in one step.

Marking read only changes what counts as unread for you. It never deletes messages and never affects what anyone else sees.

Open the Messages menu

Clicking the Messages icon opens a dropdown menu. From here you can jump back into an existing conversation, start a new one-on-one chat, or start a group.

The menu has four parts:

• A Messages heading with a New group button on the right.
• A Search team members box.
• A list that shows either your conversations or your firm's team members, depending on what you are doing (see below).
• A View all messages link at the bottom that opens the full Messages page (see The full Messages page).

Your conversation list

When you open the menu and you already have conversations, the list shows them most recent first. Each row shows:

• An avatar and the conversation's name (the other person's name for a one-on-one, or the group's name for a group).
• A one-line preview of the last message. If the last message was yours, it is prefixed with You:.
• How long ago the last message arrived (for example, "5 minutes ago").
• A small dot on the right while the conversation has unread messages. Unread conversations also show their name and preview in bold so they stand out.

Click any conversation to reopen it. It opens as a floating chat panel at the bottom-right (see Floating chat panels).

Starting a one-on-one chat

To message a single teammate, you pick them from your firm's team members:

1. Open the Messages menu.
2. Type a name (or part of one) into the Search team members box. The list switches to matching team members as you type. (If you have no conversations yet, the team-member list shows automatically so you can start your first chat.)
3. Click the teammate you want.
4. Esqase opens a chat with that person at the bottom-right, ready for your first message.

If you already have a one-on-one chat with that person, Esqase reopens the existing one rather than creating a duplicate, so all your past messages with them stay in a single thread.

The full Messages page

For a roomier view, click View all messages at the bottom of the Messages menu to open the full Messages page. It shows everything in one place:

• A list of your conversations runs down the left, with the same Search team members box and New group button as the menu.
• The conversation you pick opens in a large reading pane on the right, with the full message history and the same message box you use in the panels.
• Your most recent conversation opens automatically when you arrive, and the one you are viewing stays highlighted in the list.

Everything works exactly as it does in the floating panels: sending, mentions, reactions, replies, editing, deleting, typing indicators, and real-time delivery, just with more room. The floating panels and the full page stay in sync, so a message you send in one place shows up in the other.

Start a group chat

A group chat lets you talk with several teammates at once in a single thread.

1. Open the Messages menu and click New group in the top right. The New group chat dialog opens with the prompt "Pick the team members to include."
2. Use the Search team members box to find people, then click each person you want to add. A check mark appears next to everyone you have selected. Click a selected person again to remove them.
3. Once you have selected two or more people, a Group name (optional) box appears at the top. Type a name for the group if you like, or leave it blank.
4. Click Create group to start the chat. (If you select only one person, the button reads Start chat and Esqase creates a one-on-one chat instead, reusing an existing one if you already have it.)
5. The new group opens as a floating chat panel at the bottom-right.

To back out without creating anything, click Cancel.

Floating chat panels

Chats open as small floating windows ("panels") at the bottom-right of the dashboard, similar to a Messenger-style chat. They stay with you as you move around the app so a conversation never interrupts your work.

A chat panel has:

• A header showing the conversation's name, a minimize button (the minus icon), and a close button (the X icon).
• The message thread, with the newest messages at the bottom.
• A message box at the bottom where you type and send.

Up to three at once

You can have up to three chat panels open side by side. If you open a fourth conversation, Esqase closes the oldest panel to make room. Closing a panel here does not delete the conversation; it just tucks it away. You can reopen it any time from the Messages menu, with its history intact.

Minimize, restore, and close

• Minimize (the minus icon) collapses a panel to a small bar showing just the conversation's name. The chat keeps its place and you can bring it back later.
• Restore a minimized chat by clicking its collapsed bar, which expands it again.
• Close (the X icon) removes the panel from the bottom-right. Your messages are kept; closing only hides the window. Reopen it from the Messages menu whenever you want.

Scrolling back through a conversation

When you open a chat, Esqase shows the most recent messages. To read older messages, scroll up inside the panel and Esqase loads the earlier ones as you go.

Send a message

1. Open a conversation (from the Messages menu or by starting a new one).
2. Click in the Write a message box at the bottom of the panel and type.
3. Press Enter to send, or click the Send button (the arrow icon). To add a new line without sending, press Shift + Enter.

Your message appears in the thread right away, before it has finished sending. While it is on its way it shows a small Sending... label underneath. As soon as it is delivered the label changes to the time it was sent. In the rare case it cannot be sent, the message turns red and shows Not delivered so you know to try again.

Mention a teammate

Mentioning a teammate inserts their name into your message so it is clear who you are addressing in a busy group conversation.

1. In the message box, type @ followed by the start of a teammate's name.
2. A short list of matching people in the conversation appears above the box.
3. Click the person you want (or keep typing to narrow the list). Their name is inserted into your message as a mention.
4. Finish your message and send it as usual.

React to a message

A reaction is a quick emoji you add to someone's message instead of typing a reply.

1. Move your pointer over the message you want to react to. A small toolbar appears next to it.
2. Click the smile icon (the add-reaction button).
3. Pick an emoji from the short row that pops up. The choices are a fixed set: 👍, ❤️, 😂, 😮, 😢, and 🙏.
4. Your reaction shows as a small chip below the message, with a count of how many people used that emoji.

To take your reaction back, click the chip again. Clicking a chip toggles your own reaction on or off, so the count goes up or down by one. Reactions appear for everyone in the conversation near-instantly.

Reply to a message

Replying quotes the message you are responding to, which keeps things clear in a busy thread.

1. Move your pointer over the message you want to answer and click the Reply icon in the toolbar.
2. A preview bar appears above the message box showing the message you are replying to. (Click the X on the bar to cancel the reply.)
3. Type your message and send it as usual.
4. The sent message shows the quoted snippet above it, so everyone can see what you were replying to.

Edit a message

You can fix a typo or reword your own message for a short time after sending it.

1. Move your pointer over your message. If it is still within the edit window, an Edit (pencil) icon appears in the toolbar.
2. Click it. The message text loads into the message box with an Editing message bar above it.
3. Make your change and press Enter (or click Send) to save it. To back out, click the X on the bar or press Escape.
4. The edited message shows a small edited label so it is clear it was changed.

Delete a message

Hover a message and open the ... (more actions) menu to delete it. There are two kinds of delete:

• Delete for everyone (your own messages, any time). The message is replaced with This message was deleted for everyone in the conversation. The text is removed.
• Delete for you (any message, yours or a teammate's). The message disappears from your view only. Everyone else still sees it normally.

Real-time delivery

Messages are delivered in real time. When a teammate sends you a message, it appears in the conversation near-instantly (usually under a second), the conversation jumps to the top of your Messages list, and the unread badge on the Messages icon updates on its own. Reactions, edits, and deletes from teammates show up just as quickly, and you see an X is typing... line while someone is composing a reply. You do not need to refresh the page.

Chat is intentionally kept separate from the rest of Esqase's alerts: a new message does not show up in your notification bell and does not pop up a browser push banner. Reactions, edits, and deletes are not new alert types either. The only indicator that you have unread chat is the red unread badge on the Messages icon. This keeps message contents private (they are never put into pop-ups or emails) and keeps your notification bell focused on matters, tasks, invoices, and the like.

Who can use Messages

Messages is governed by a single Chat permission on each role, found under Settings > Roles in the Communications group.

• By default, every role can use Messages. New firms start with Messages turned on for everyone.
• A firm owner or administrator can turn the Chat permission off for a role. Members with that role then no longer see the Messages icon and cannot send or receive chats.
• Firm owners always have access, regardless of the grid.

To change who can use Messages, edit the relevant role's permission grid as described in Roles and permissions.

Troubleshooting

• I do not see the Messages icon. Your role does not include the Chat permission. Ask a firm owner or administrator to turn it on under Roles and permissions.
• I can't message a client. Messages is for your firm's team only right now. To work with a client, use Sharing documents, Sending email, or the booking and intake tools.
• I tried to open a fourth chat and another one closed. That is expected. Up to three chat panels can be open at once, so opening a fourth closes the oldest. The closed conversation is not lost; reopen it from the Messages menu.
• I can't find an old conversation by searching. The search box looks through team members, not conversations. Clear the search to see your conversation list, sorted most recent first.
• I started a chat with a teammate and ended up in our old thread. That is by design. Esqase reuses your existing one-on-one chat with a person instead of creating a duplicate, so your history stays together.
• I can't edit my message anymore. Editing is only available for five minutes after you send a message. After that the Edit option goes away. You can still delete the message.
• The Edit option never shows on a teammate's message. You can only edit your own messages. To remove a teammate's message from your own view, use Delete for you from the ... menu.
• A message says "This message was deleted." The sender chose Delete for everyone. The text is gone for everyone in the conversation.

Related

• Notes
• Sending email
• Logging communications
• Notifications
• Roles and permissions
• Activity timelines and audit logs