How to add a conversation channel

Channels are added from the Conversations area, so you’ll need to be in the Conversations tab to create one.

Why you’d add a channel

A channel gives you a dedicated place to talk about a specific topic, rather than everything running together in one general chat.

A marketing channel, a channel for general business strategy, one per department such as sales or operations, or a temporary channel for a specific project or event you’re planning, are all reasonable examples. Add as many as actually make sense for how your team talks to each other, rather than creating one for every possible topic.

This is separate from team channels, which are created automatically whenever you build a team, and from entity channels, which appear when conversations are enabled on a specific record such as a job. Both of those are covered elsewhere. This article is specifically about the channels you add yourself.

Creating a channel

Next to the Channels label, click the plus icon. This opens Create a Channel.

Give it a name, then choose its type, Public or Private.

A public channel means any user in the conversations area can join in and discuss it. A private channel means only the people you specifically add are in there.

Whichever type you choose, these are always internal channels for your own team. Public here does not mean visible to the public. Neither type is ever seen by customers, regardless of which one you pick.

Click Create, and the channel is ready to use straight away.

Managing a channel afterward

Click the three dots next to any channel to manage it.

Add User lets you bring other people into the channel so they can take part. Edit lets you rename it. Delete soft deletes and archives the channel, so it’s no longer available to discuss in.

Telling channels apart at a glance

A private channel shows a padlock icon instead of the usual chat bubble, so you can tell which is which without opening it.