Chat for church staff in Eklo: channels, team channels and DMs

Eklo Chat is where a church's staff and volunteers talk: channels for topics like a sermon series or an event, a channel for each team, and direct messages.

Open Chat in the left rail. The sidebar has three sections:

• Direct messages: one-to-one conversations.
• Team Channels: a channel for each team you've joined.
• Channels: topic channels for the whole workspace, like a sermon series or an event.

The Filter channels and people… box narrows the sidebar by name. It doesn't search message text.

Guests don't see channels. They can message people they share a project with.

What's newCopy Anchor Link

• A channel with messages you haven't read is shown in bold. On a phone's conversation list it also gets a dot.
• A number next to a channel counts the times you were @mentioned there, including in its threads.
• Opening a channel marks it read, as long as Eklo is the tab you're looking at. Your other devices and tabs catch up on their own.
• When you open a channel with unread messages, a New line shows where they start.
• Replies in threads, Eklo's notes (such as a rename) and your own messages never make a channel unread. Neither does anything from before you joined the workspace or the team.
• Workspace owners and admins can read every team's channel, but only the channels of teams they're in turn bold.

Create a channelCopy Anchor Link

Who: anyone in the workspace except guests.

1. Click + next to Channels.
2. Type a name and confirm.

Eklo turns the name into lowercase words joined by hyphens, so "Easter Sunday" becomes easter-sunday. The name needs at least 3 letters or numbers, and no two channels can share a name. If nothing appears, try a longer or different name.

Everyone in the workspace can read a topic channel, and post in it unless it's an announcement channel. There are no private topic channels; for a private group, create a Private team. See Teams.

Team channelsCopy Anchor Link

Every team gets a channel automatically. Its members can read it, and so can the workspace's owners and admins. Your own teams' channels are listed under Team Channels; owners and admins find the rest folded away under Other teams. To get a team's channel in your sidebar, join the team. The team's name next to the channel's opens the team's page; on a phone it's the team's color.

A team's admins choose who can post: Anyone in the team can post or Only team admins can post. Change it on the team's page under Settings → Team chat.

Announcement channelsCopy Anchor Link

In an announcement channel, only admins post and everyone else reads. A megaphone next to the channel's name marks it in the sidebar. In place of the message box, everyone else sees who can post:

• in a topic channel, such as announcements: "Only workspace admins can post here.";
• in a team channel: "Only Worship team admins can post here.", with the team's name.

Rename or describe a channelCopy Anchor Link

Who: the person who created the channel, the workspace's owners and admins, and, for a team channel, that team's admins.

1. Open the channel and click the pencil icon next to its name.
2. In Edit channel, change the Name (up to 120 characters) or the Description (up to 500 characters). The description is shown next to the channel's name.
3. Click Save.

Eklo posts a note in the channel, such as "Sam renamed the channel to easter-sunday", so everyone can see what changed.

A team channel takes the team's name when the team is renamed.

Archive a channelCopy Anchor Link

Who: the person who created the channel, and the workspace's owners and admins.

1. Open the channel and click the pencil icon next to its name.
2. Click Archive…, then Archive channel.

The channel leaves everyone's sidebar and no one can post in it, but its messages stay. To bring it back, click Archived channels under Channels, then Unarchive. If another channel has taken its name in the meantime, rename that one first.

A team's channel is archived with the team, from the team's page.

Mute a channel or a direct messageCopy Anchor Link

Open the channel or direct message and click the bell next to its name. Click it again to unmute. A mute is yours alone: nobody else sees it.

• A muted channel or direct message is dimmed in your sidebar with a crossed-out bell, and new messages there don't turn it bold or count as unread.
• You're still told when someone @mentions you in a muted channel, and the channel turns bold and shows the number until you read it.
• Replies in a muted channel's threads don't notify you.
• A muted direct message sends you no "unread messages" email, and stays out of your digest.
• Your other devices and tabs catch up on their own.

Send messagesCopy Anchor Link

• Type in the box at the bottom and press Enter to send. Shift+Enter starts a new line.
• Messages are plain text, up to 10,000 characters.
• A conversation opens at its newest message and keeps up as messages arrive. If you've scrolled up to read, it stays where you are, and a new messages button shows how many have come in; it takes you back down. Earlier messages load as you scroll up.
• To mention someone, type @ and the start of any of their names (or click the @ button), then click them in the list, or move to them with the arrow keys and press Enter or Tab. Their name goes into the message as @Name; if you change it before sending, it's sent as plain text. People you mention in a channel get a notification, if they can read that channel.
• The list shows the people in the conversation first, up to eight at a time. Accents don't matter: @jose finds José.
• A mention of you counts on the Chat icon and the bell until you open it. Opening the channel reads the mentions in its messages, and opening a thread reads the mentions in its replies, so they clear from both and you aren't emailed about them.
• When someone replies in a thread you started or replied in, you get a notification, such as "Sarah and 2 others replied in a thread in #easter". It stays one notification per thread however many replies come in, counts on the Chat icon, and clears when you open the thread. A reply that @mentions you comes as the mention instead.

Editing and deletingCopy Anchor Link

On a computer, hover over your message, click More actions (⋯), then Edit message or Delete message. On a phone, tap your message, or press and hold it, and choose them from the menu that opens.

• An edit keeps the message's files and cards, and shows (edited) next to it; hover over that to see when. On a phone, the time is in the message's menu. On a computer, press Enter to save or Esc to cancel; on a phone, use Save and Cancel.
• People an edit newly @mentions get a notification. People already mentioned aren't notified again, and their notification shows the new text. Take someone's @mention out and their notification goes too, with any email about it that hasn't been sent yet. In a thread that leaves them no notification of that reply, since a reply that mentions someone sends them the mention instead of the thread's.
• Deleting asks first, then removes the message for everyone, with its files, reactions and notifications. A message with replies stays as Message deleted, until its last reply is deleted too. Its thread can still be read and replied to, but nobody can react to it.
• Emails already sent about a message can't be taken back.
• Owners and admins can delete anyone's message in a channel, and a team's admins can in their team's channels. They can't edit other people's messages. When they delete someone else's, Eklo keeps a record of it.
• You can't edit in an archived channel, or where only admins can post unless you're one of them.
• In a direct message, only the person who sent a message can edit or delete it.

Photos and filesCopy Anchor Link

Use the paperclip next to the message box to attach photos or files. On a computer you can also paste them into the box, or drag them onto it.

• A message can carry up to 10 files, and you can send photos without any text.
• Chat takes photos (JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP and HEIC), PDFs, and Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, up to 25 MB each. It doesn't take videos, audio, SVGs or zip files.
• Photos are made smaller before they're sent, to at most 2560 pixels on the longest side, and the location and camera details are taken out.
• Each file uploads as soon as you add it, with a progress bar. If one doesn't upload, use Retry on it, or the × to take it off.
• A file you take off before sending is deleted, and so is one you attach but never send, after a day.
• To remove a file you've sent, delete its message.
• Anyone who can read the channel or conversation can open its files.
• Every file is checked for viruses and other harmful content before anyone can open it, you included. Until then it shows Still checking this file; that usually takes a few seconds, and it opens by itself once it's done.
• A file the check finds harmful shows This file was removed because it may be harmful, and nobody can open or download it. Whoever sent it, and the church's owners and admins, get a notification. If you think that's a mistake, contact Eklo support.

ReactionsCopy Anchor Link

Hover over a message (or tap it on a phone) and pick an emoji, or click the smiley for more. Click a reaction again to remove yours. You can react to messages in channels, direct messages and threads, replies included.

Direct messagesCopy Anchor Link

To message someone:

1. Click their name anywhere in Eklo: on a message, in Settings → People, on a task or on a team page.
2. In their profile, click Send a message.

The conversation appears under Direct messages. Unread conversations show a count, and the Chat icon in the rail shows your total, together with any mentions you haven't opened.

Direct messages are private to the two people in them. Workspace owners and admins can't read them, and they aren't included in a workspace export.

When live updates stopCopy Anchor Link

New messages, the bell and who's online arrive live. If the connection drops for more than a few seconds, a bar at the top of the page says Reconnecting… new messages may be delayed. Eklo catches up on what you missed as soon as it's back, and again when you come back to a tab or a phone that's been asleep. If it can't reconnect, the bar says Live updates paused; use Reload. While your device is offline, it says so, because messages you send then won't go through.

Share a task to chatCopy Anchor Link

In a task, click Share, pick a channel or someone you've messaged, optionally Add a note, then click Share. The message shows a card with the task's status, project, due date and assignee as they are now, not as they were when you shared it.

People who can't see the project see "A task you can't open" instead, with none of its details, and a task that's been deleted shows as deleted. Shared requests, forms and Library files work the same way.