Messages

Type in the message box at the bottom of the conversation and press Enter to send. Press Shift+Enter for a new line. A message can be up to 4,000 characters.

Line breaks are kept and web addresses (http and https) become links that open in a new tab. You can format text as bold, _italic_, ~~strikethrough~~ or code: select text and use Formatting in the composer, or press Ctrl+B or Ctrl+I. Pop-ups and notifications show the plain text.

• Start lines with - or * for a bulleted list, or with 1. for a numbered list. Press Shift+Enter between items.
• Put a line with three backticks (```) before and after some text for a code block. Its lines show in a fixed-width font, exactly as you typed them.

If you open another conversation before sending, what you typed stays in the box, with the message you were replying to, and the conversation shows Draft in the list. Drafts are kept in this browser until you send the message or empty the box, and are removed when you sign out.

A message shows "Sending…" until it is delivered. If it fails, it shows Not sent with Retry and Discard. Retrying never posts the message twice. You can send up to 60 messages, edits or deletes a minute; past that, wait a moment.

Choose Emoji in the composer to open the picker. Search by name, move with the arrow keys and press Enter to insert. Your recently used emoji are at the top, and Skin tone sets the tone for emoji that have one.

You can also type a colon and at least two letters, such as :smi, to get up to eight suggestions. Finishing a full code like :thumbsup: turns it into the emoji.

Type @ at the start of a word to list people in the conversation, then pick one with the arrow keys and Enter or Tab. The name becomes a tinted @Name chip. Delete the @ to turn it back into plain text.

The person you mention gets a notification even if they muted the conversation, unless they chose Mute @mentions too. Messages that mention you are marked with an accent bar. You can mention up to 20 people in one message, and only people in the conversation. There is no @everyone.

Hover over a message and choose Reply. The composer shows "Replying to …" with a preview; press Esc or Cancel reply to stop. The reply is posted as a normal message with a short quote of the original above it.

Choosing the quote jumps to the original message. If it was deleted, the quote says "Original message was deleted". There are no separate threads.

1. 1Open More actions on the message and choose Forward….
2. 2Pick a chat from Recent chats, or type a name to find one.

A copy of the words is posted in that chat from you, marked "Forwarded from" with the name of the person who wrote it. Mentions become plain text, so nobody there is notified. Files and photos stay in the original conversation and aren't forwarded; a message with only files can't be forwarded.

• You can forward to chats in the same workspace that you can write in. A direct message with someone who blocked you, or whom you blocked, isn't possible.
• Messages can't be forwarded into or out of a conversation with another organization.
• People who blocked the original author see the copy collapsed, like the author's own messages.

Hover over a message and choose React for six quick reactions, or More reactions for the full picker. Choose a reaction again, or select its chip under the message, to take yours back.

Hovering over a chip shows who reacted, for example "You, Elena and 3 others reacted with 👍". A message can have up to 20 different reactions.

Hover over or focus a message to show its toolbar: React, Reply, Edit (your own recent messages) and More actions. Right-click a message, or long-press it on a touch screen, for the same actions with a row of quick reactions.

You can edit your own message for 15 minutes after sending it. Choose Edit, change the text, then press Enter to save or Esc to cancel. Edited messages show "(edited)"; hover over it to see when.

To fix the message you just sent, press ↑ (Up arrow) in the empty message box. Your last message opens for editing, if it is still within the 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes the edit is refused with "Messages can be edited for 15 minutes after they are sent." Nobody can edit someone else's message, admins included. If you add a mention while editing, only the newly mentioned person is notified.

Open More actions and choose Delete, then confirm. The message is removed for everyone and replaced by "This message was deleted". Its files, reactions and pins go with it. This can't be undone.

You can delete your own messages at any time. Workspace owners and admins can delete anyone's message in conversations they are in.

Under your own messages you see whether they were read. In a direct message it says Sent, then Seen (hover for the time). In a group it says Read by 2 of 4 or Read by everyone; select it to see who has read it and who hasn't yet.

Your newest message always shows its receipt; older ones show it when you hover. Receipts are not shown in meeting chats.

To stop sending read receipts, open your account menu, choose Settings, then Privacy, and turn off Send read receipts. It works both ways: you then also stop seeing when others have read your messages.

Pinned messages sit in a bar above the conversation. Select the bar to jump to the message, or {n} pinned to see them all. A conversation can have up to 25 pins.

• In a direct message, either person can pin any message.
• In a group, the group's owner and workspace owners and admins can pin any message; everyone else can pin their own.
• In a meeting chat, the call's hosts can pin during the call.
• Whoever pinned a message, or anyone allowed to pin any message, can unpin it.

In groups, the owner or a workspace admin can choose Pin as announcement. Members then see an Acknowledge button in the pinned bar, and the person who pinned it sees who has acknowledged it and who they are waiting for.

To block someone, open Details in your direct message with them (or the ⋮ menu next to their name in a group) and choose Block. They can no longer message you one to one, call you, or add you to groups in this workspace, and they are not told.

Their messages in groups you share are collapsed to "Message from a blocked person" with Show. Your direct message stays readable, but neither of you can send, edit, react or pin in it until you unblock them; you can still delete your own messages and unpin. Unblock people from the conversation or from Settings → Privacy → Blocked people.