What is team chat?
Team chat lets your firm discuss client work, share updates, and coordinate tasks without switching to email, Slack, or text messages. Every conversation stays connected to the client or topic it belongs to.
There are two types of conversations:
- Client discussions — a private internal thread tied to each client, visible on the client's detail page under the Discussion tab
- Channels — shared team-wide spaces for general coordination, announcements, or topic-specific chat
Getting started
Client discussions
Navigate to any client's detail page and open the Discussion tab. Type your message and press Enter or click the send button.
Your team members who have access to that client will see the message. You can:
- Reply to messages — click the reply icon on any message to start a thread
- React with emoji — hover over a message and click the reaction button
- Edit your messages — click the menu on your own message and choose Edit
- @mention teammates — type
@followed by a name to notify someone - Pin important messages — owners and admins can pin key messages so they stay visible at the top
Channels
Open the Team Chat page from the sidebar. The general channel is created automatically for every workspace. Owners and admins can create additional channels for specific topics like "Tax Season" or "New Clients."
Channel messages are flat (no threads) for quick, casual conversation.
Messages bar
The messages bar is a sticky bar at the bottom of your dashboard — similar to LinkedIn's messaging bar. It shows your most recent conversations as avatars with online status dots and unread count badges.
- Click any avatar to open a chat window directly above the bar — up to three windows can be open at once
- Team channel indicator gives quick access to your team channels
- Collapse the bar by clicking the chevron to shrink it to a slim strip, or expand it to see full avatars
- Toggle visibility from Settings → Notifications → Chat Preferences if you prefer a clean workspace
The messages bar is hidden automatically on the Settings and Bin pages.
Modernized Team Chat page
The full Team Chat page features a Slack-inspired sidebar with collapsible sections:
- Channels are prefixed with
#and can be expanded or collapsed independently - Client Discussions are grouped separately and show the client name
- Hover actions on messages reveal a glass-effect toolbar for quick reply, react, pin, or delete
- Pinned message count appears in the channel header bar
- Thread indicators in client discussions show visual connector lines for reply chains
Permissions
| Action | Owner | Admin | Member | Viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Read channel messages | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Send messages | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Edit own messages | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Delete own messages | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Delete any message | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Pin/unpin messages | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Create/edit/delete channels | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Access client discussions | All | All | Assigned only | Assigned only |
Tips
- Use client discussions for anything related to a specific client — it stays connected to their file
- Use channels for cross-cutting topics, announcements, or casual team chat
- Pin action items or decisions so they do not get lost in the conversation
- The messages bar gives you quick access to any conversation without navigating away from your current page
- Collapse the messages bar when you need to focus, and expand it when you are ready to catch up