Channel

The Channel is the group's quick conversation inside the community, instead of an outside messaging group: messages arrive in real time, the newest one sits at the bottom, and any message can become a thread with its replies.

It is a space module in the Community tab of Add Space. One space is one channel: to have several channels (#general, #announcements, #class-2026), create several spaces and use a menu section to group them. Who creates the space: owner or admin.

#Channel, Feed or Messages?

Rule of thumb: if people expect an answer in the next few minutes, it's a Channel; if they expect the text to be found next week, it's the Feed; if they don't want the group to see it, it's Messages.

#Who can do what

Whoever can't write doesn't see the message box, neither in the channel nor in the thread, and finds "Only people with permission write in this channel. You can read and react to messages." That is how you make an announcements channel: Who can post = Staff (or Admins), and the rest of the community reads and reacts.

The channel has no prior approval: moderation happens after posting, by deleting.

#How it works

#The conversation

The channel opens at the first unread message, marked by the New messages line, or at the end if you've read everything. Messages are grouped by day (Today, Yesterday, the date), and older ones load as you scroll up. If a new message arrives while you're far from the end, Jump to the end shows up.

An empty channel shows "Get the group talking"; the start of the history says "This is the start of #name".

#Threads

Reply in thread opens that message's conversation: in a panel beside the channel when there's room, or full screen, with Back, on a narrow screen. On a phone, tapping a message that has a thread (or N replies) opens the thread full screen; the system back closes it too. The message shows N replies and, when there are replies you haven't read, N new replies.

Threads have one level: you reply to a channel message, not to a reply.

You automatically follow the thread of your own message, the threads you replied in and the ones you were mentioned in. In the thread, Follow thread and Unfollow change that. Followers get replies in the bell and, if they don't read them, by e-mail.

#Reactions

Hover over the message for the 7 quick reactions, or More emojis to pick any emoji, with search. On a phone, touch and hold the message: a sheet slides up from the bottom with the 7 reactions, the + (every emoji), Reply in thread, Copy text, Edit message and Delete message; touching and holding a reaction shows how many people reacted with it. Each reaction shows the emoji and how many people reacted; clicking again takes yours back. Each message takes up to 20 different emojis.

#Mentions

Type @ and the start of a name: the People to mention list shows only who can open the space. The person mentioned gets "Someone mentioned you in #name" in the bell and, if they don't read it, an e-mail. Mentioning someone who can't open the space notifies no one. Each message notifies at most 20 people.

The person card. Clicking an @Name mention, or the name or photo of whoever wrote, opens a small card with the photo, the name, the job title and the chat status ("online", "busy", "away" or "Offline" with the last seen), and two buttons:

• Send message, which opens the conversation with the person under the chat's rules. With Add first, the connection button shows instead (Add, Request sent, Accept; see connections). When you can't write, the button is disabled with the reason: "This person isn't taking new conversations right now." or, if you are Unavailable, "You're Unavailable in the chat. Change your status to message people."
• View profile, which goes to the member page.

A mention of yourself shows only View profile.

#Photos and video

In the message box:

• Add photo: up to 10 photos per message (JPG, PNG, WebP or GIF), up to 50 MB each.
• Add video: 1 video per message, sent as a file (MP4, WebM or MOV, up to 350 MB) or recorded on the spot with Record video, up to 10 minutes, like a Drop.

The emoji button next to them adds an emoji to the text.

#Formatting

The text takes simple formatting, shown already formatted in the message:

Line breaks stay as written: on a computer, Shift + Enter breaks the line and Enter sends; on a phone, Enter breaks the line and Send sends. Markers only count at the edge of a word (a _ inside file_name stays as it is). Any other markup shows as text.

#Edit and delete

On the message, More actions › Edit or Delete (on a phone, touch and hold the message and pick Edit message or Delete message).

• Edit: only the author, with no deadline. Enter saves, Esc cancels. The message then shows (edited).
• Delete: the notice message deleted takes its place, and its photos and video go with it. If the message had a thread, the thread stays, with all its replies, attached to the notice.

Deleting your own message hides it right away, with Undo for 5 seconds ("Message deleted"); a deleted message with no thread leaves the conversation.

#Unread

In the menu, a channel with new messages is in bold, with the number of unread mentions next to it. Reading the channel to the end, or the thread, clears what you read. Your own message never counts as unread, and someone who just joined the space doesn't inherit the history as unread.

Mute channel, at the top of the channel: mentions and replies in that channel stop generating notices and e-mails, and unread messages keep counting. Unmute channel undoes it. The top also shows who is in the conversation and Search the channel, which searches the loaded messages.

#Limits

Past a limit, the message isn't sent and "You hit the message limit. Wait a moment." shows up (or the media limit notice).

#E-mail

A mention and a reply in a thread you follow arrive in the bell, right away. If you don't read them within 10 minutes, an e-mail follows, at most one per channel every 6 hours ("You were mentioned in #general", "New replies in #general" or "Mentions and replies in #general"). The e-mail doesn't carry the message text: it takes you to the channel. Each new message in the channel doesn't trigger an e-mail.

You can turn it off with the Channels: mentions and replies category in E-mails from this community, or with the footer link.

#Step by step

#Create a channel

Role: owner or admin.

1. In the menu, under Add Space, open the Community tab and choose Channel.
2. Give it a name (it becomes the channel's #name), a description, the visibility and Who can post.
3. Create it. The space opens straight in the conversation.

There's no "one or several" choice and no prior approval: the space is the channel.

#Send a message

1. Open the channel and type in Message #name.
2. If you like, Add photo, Add video or Record video, and @ to mention.
3. Send (on a computer, Enter too).

#Reply in a thread

1. On the message, Reply in thread.
2. Type in Reply in thread and send.
3. Close thread goes back to the channel.

#Examples

A class's #general. Who can post = Anyone: students ask quick questions, set up the study group and react to the teacher's notes. A question that takes off becomes a thread and doesn't run over the rest of the conversation.

A coworking #announcements. Who can post = Staff: the front desk announces the lift maintenance with a photo; residents read it, react with 👍 and follow the notice's thread to know when it's over.

#Common errors and how to fix them

#Frequently asked questions

Can a space have several channels? No. One space is one channel; create a space for each channel and group them in a section.

Does the staff read my private messages through the channel? The channel belongs to the group: whoever opens the space reads it. To talk to one person only, use Messages, which the staff never reads.

Does someone who loses access to the space keep getting notices? No. The bell and the e-mail check access at the moment of notifying.

Does deleting the space delete the messages? Yes, the messages go with the space.

#Through the assistant

The assistant reads and writes in the channel with the same rules as whoever connected it: it only reads channels the person would open in the app, and only writes where Who can post allows. See Tools · Content.

• Reading: get_channel_unread (the unread state of every channel), list_channel_messages, get_channel_thread and list_channel_mentionable_members, which returns the <@id> token to mention someone in the text.
• Ask for confirmation: post_channel_message and reply_channel_thread (they show the channel, how many people see it and the text) and delete_channel_message.
• Author only: update_channel_message.
• No confirmation: set_channel_reaction, follow_channel_thread, unfollow_channel_thread, mark_channel_read and mark_channel_thread_read.

Ask like this: "Create a staff-only announcements channel in the Community section and send the first message." The assistant creates the space (create_space with module: "channel"), sets Who can post = Staff and shows the message before sending. See the recipe.

#In the API

The routes live under /api/channels, with X-CommunityId and login; the path doesn't carry the community. Every route checks access to the space, and writing checks Who can post.

A mention goes in the text as <@id>. Errors: 400 (empty text or over 4,000 characters, a reply to a reply), 403 (no access to the space or no permission to post; editing someone else's message), 404 (a message from another space or community), 409 (deleted message, more than 20 emojis), 429 (limits). An API key uses the channels module (see Authentication). The routes show up in the API reference when the module reaches communities.

#Related

• Feed
• Messages
• Modules
• Roles and permissions
• E-mails from this community
• Tools · Content