Team chat (Beta): Communicate with your colleagues

Team chat in TaxDome allow firm members to collaborate on client-related matters privately, create internal channels for various topics, and exchange messages securely within the web portal.

Work in progress! The team chat functionality is being enhanced with new features and currently available for Beta users. Docs on using the team chat are being prepared.

Team chat, explained

Team members can privately collaborate in TaxDome using different functionalities:

• Internal messages in client chats: While communicating with clients in chat threads, team members can exchange internal messages that remain invisible to clients. This is useful for quick, client-related discussions. For example, a team member can ask a colleague to review a document before sending it.
• (New) Team chat: The team chat feature allows firm members to have private discussions on a separate page within the web portal. This is ideal for more complex and extensive conversations, such as confirming details before reaching out to a client or discussing non-client-related topics. 

Available features for team chat:

• Up to 500 channels can be created within one firm.
• You can create public and private channels.
• Each team member can create new channels and comment on the existing ones if they are their participants.
• Text formatting for messages in team chat is the same as in client chats.

Coming soon! Upcoming features will allow you to create direct messages with individual team members and allow you to see channel user statuses.  

Create channels

By default, the  #general channel is already created for each firm. You can use it for firm-wide announcements or delete it. You can also create your own chats that are visible to all team members. 

To create a new channel:

1. Navigate to Team chat from the sidebar menu.

2. Click  Add channel and select Create new.

3. In the channel creation sidebar, fill in the following fields:

1. Channel name: Name the channel briefly to reflect the main idea and confirm creation. The name should be unique: two or more channels cannot have the same name. 

2. Description: Describe a channel so its purpose is visible to anyone joining it.

3. Visibility: Select Public or Private. If you create a public channel, anyone can join it from the channel list. If you create a private channel, only invited team members, firm owners and admins can see and join it. If team members leave a private channel, they won’t see its messages anymore, and they'll need to be invited to rejoin. You won't be able to change the channel visibility after you create it.

4. Participants: Select team members to invite to the channel right away. You'll also be able to do it any time later.

4. Click Create channel.

Your channels are displayed in alphabetical order: A → Z. 

Edit channels

To edit any channel details, except for Visibility, click three dots at the top right and select Edit channel.

Send messages to channels

Messages in the channel are displayed in chronological order, from oldest to newest.

To send a message:

1. Navigate to  Team chat from the sidebar menu.

2. Select the needed channel from the list. 

3. Write a message using the text formatting toolbar and @mentions if you want to notify a specific team member, then click the send button or Cmd/Ctrl + Enter.  

How do I know that I've got a new message?

Channels with new messages are highlighted in bold, and if the current logged-in firm member has not read them, a counter of unread messages with @mentions next to the channel name is displayed . 

If someone mentions you in the team chat channels, you will receive a notification corresponding to your preferences, either in Inbox+, your email, or both.

Join & leave channels

The Team chat page will always display a list of channels where you participate. Sometimes, you may be invited to channels by other team members, and sometimes, you can decide to join them from the channel list.

To join a public channel:

1. Click  Add channel > Browse all channels. Team members see only the channels they’re allowed to access, but firm admins and owners may see more channels based on their permissions.

2. Select a channel from the list and click Join next to its name.

To let your team member join a private channel:

1. Click three dots at the top right and select Edit channel.

2. Add your team member's name to the Participants field and click Save.

To leave any channel, you can use either of these ways:

• Click  Add channel > Browse all channels. Select a channel from the list, click Leave next to its name and confirm.
• Click three dots at the top right and select Leave channel.

Note! If you leave a private channel, you must again be invited to rejoin.

Edit messages

Click three dots at the top-right corner of a message to edit the message. Note that you can edit only messages you have written. 

Delete messages

Click three dots at the top-right corner of a message to delete the message. Note that you can delete only messages you have written. Deletion is permanent, meaning the message cannot be restored. 

Note! If the message contains a mention, deleting the message deletes the associated Inbox+ notification.

Delete channels

To delete a channel: 

1. Select the channel you want to delete.

2. Click three dots next to the channel name and confirm deletion.