Help › Chat · 5 min read
Direct messages and groups
Starting a conversation, message requests, group chats, and the controls on every conversation.
Chat covers three kinds of conversation: direct messages between two people, groups, and a Space's channels. They share one list and one set of controls.
Start a direct message
Open Chat and start a new chat: on the web, New chat, then pick a person; in the app, Start a new chat, then New message. One person makes a direct message.
Whether you may message them at all is their choice: Who can message you in their privacy settings is set to everyone, their followers, or nobody. Someone you have blocked, or who has blocked you, cannot be messaged either. See Privacy controls.
Where the message lands is a different question: if they follow you it goes straight to their conversations, and otherwise it waits in their requests.
Message requests
A conversation from someone you have no relationship with waits under Requests. You can read a direct message there, and the composer says you need to accept before you can reply. A group invitation shows only the group's name until you accept it.
- Accept moves it into your conversations.
- On the web, Delete removes it, and Block & report blocks the sender and sends a report to Novagora's safety team. In the app, Decline removes it.
The sender is not told you have seen it until you reply. A request that looks like spam is held back under Filtered (the Spam tab on the web) instead of waiting with the others. Once you delete or decline a request, new requests from the same person do not reach you for 30 days.
Group chats
On the web, pick two or more people in New chat, give the group a name if you like (Group name), and choose Start chat. In the app, choose Start a new chat, then New group. The person who creates a group is its admin, and only the admin adds, removes and renames.
- Add members — a group holds up to 128 people when its creator (or the admin who took over after they left) is on Free, 256 on Pro and 512 on Ultra, counting invitations not yet answered. Someone who follows the admin, or already has an accepted direct message with them, joins straight away. Anyone else receives a request first. Someone whose Who can message you leaves you out cannot be added, unless you already have an accepted direct message with them.
- Remove — a member you remove loses access immediately, and it is confirmed first.
- Rename group — changes the group's name for everyone in it.
- Group members — visible only to people in the group.
- Leave group — confirmed first. If you are the admin, another member becomes admin as you go.
Leaving takes the conversation out of your list.
In a conversation
| Action | Notes |
|---|---|
| Reply | Answers one message. The composer shows Replying to. On the web, a message that has replies shows how many, and they open as a Thread |
| Copy | Copies the message text |
| React | An emoji on a message; you can use up to 5 different emojis on one message |
| Edit | Your own messages, for 24 hours after sending; marked as edited. A forwarded message cannot be edited |
| Delete | Your own messages, and other people's where you moderate (a group's admins, a channel's moderators); leaves a placeholder so the thread still reads |
| Pin | Adds it to the conversation's pinned list. In a direct message either of you can pin; in a group it is the admin's, and in a channel it needs the Space's chat moderation |
| Forward | Sends it to one or more conversations you choose, up to 10 at once |
| Search | Searches the messages in this conversation |
| Report, Block author | Someone else's message; see Reporting and Blocking |
On the web you can also attach a GIF file from your device with Add a GIF in the composer.
A forwarded message says where it came from: Forwarded from the person who wrote it, and the channel or group it was in, each a link. When you forward, Show sender's name and Show where it's from let you leave either out; a direct message is never named as the source. If the author's Who can show your name on forwards setting leaves you out, the forward reads Forwarded from a hidden account instead — see Privacy controls.
Seen by appears when read receipts are on. Turning read receipts off in your privacy settings means others stop seeing yours — and you stop seeing theirs, unless you read privately with Pro or Ultra (see Privacy extras).
A typing indicator shows while someone is writing. It is transient and is never stored.
Chat background sets the look of your chats — one background for every chat from Appearance in your settings, or one for a single chat from its menu. Only you see it. Curated backgrounds come with Pro or Ultra; your own photo, with blur, dim and tint, comes with Ultra.
Managing the conversation list
- Pin conversation keeps it at the top, for you only.
- Mute conversation stops its notifications without leaving it.
- Delete conversation, in a direct message, asks how far it reaches: Only for me, where the other person keeps their copy, or For both of us, which removes it for them too. Deleted messages do not come back.
- Block is offered from a direct message as Block only (the conversation stays) or Delete the conversation and block. Blocking is explained in Blocking, muting, and hiding.
- Search the list by conversation name, or by the other person's name in a direct message, and filter it to Unread.
The unread badge is deliberately approximate on very large accounts and shows 99+ past a point, so counting never becomes the slow part of opening the app.
When you cannot send
| The composer says | Why |
|---|---|
| Accept this request to reply | It is still a message request |
| You can't send messages here | In a direct message: one of you blocked the other, or your request has not been accepted and their Who can message you leaves you out. Existing history stays available, but shared actions and read receipts stop until that changes |
| Your role in this Space can't send messages here | In a channel: your role, or a no chat restriction, does not allow sending |
| You're timed out in this Space until … | In a channel: a moderator timed you out, and sending comes back at that time |
| This is an official Novagora conversation (in the app: Official and read-only) | A Novagora system conversation, which only Novagora writes to. Replies go through Send feedback |
| This channel is archived. History stays readable | The channel was archived |
Your messages are yours: Space moderators cannot read direct messages or group chats. Channels are Space content and are moderated as such.
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