Message someone directly or in a group

Direct messages

A direct message is a conversation between two people. It belongs to the two of you, not to a team: it is the same conversation whichever team you have selected, and it is listed under Direct messages in Chat in every team.

To start one on the website, choose + beside Direct messages. Pick someone from the list of people in Personal or the selected team, or type a person's exact handle under Message by handle: as you type, Chat shows who it is and whether your message will be a request. In the app, choose New message in Messages. You can also choose Message on someone's profile card: click or right-click their name or avatar in Chat. People cannot be found by part of a name or by email address.

If you already have a direct message with that person, it opens again.

Message requests

Two people who share a team where both of them can use Team chat can message each other at once. A first message to anyone else arrives as a request, listed under Requests in Chat (and in Messages in the app) rather than with direct messages.

To message someone outside your teams you need a handle of your own, which they will see. If you have none, you choose it when you send the first message; see Your public profile and account details. Until they accept:

• you can send up to 3 messages and no attachments;
• their phone is not notified;
• the app does not show either of you as Active now.

One person can start up to 20 requests a day.

When you receive a request:

• Accept it, or reply, to talk as in any direct message. The sender becomes a guest of your Personal, with this conversation and nothing else, and is listed on Personal's Guests page (Guests on a team). When Personal already has as many guests as your plan allows, Chat says so with a link to Billing, and the request stays waiting.
• Ignore moves it out of sight. The sender is not told; to them it stays a request. Ignored requests are behind a link under Requests that shows how many there are, such as Show 2 ignored, and you can still accept one from there.
• Block blocks the person and ignores the request; see Block or report someone in chat.

When a direct message is read-only

A direct message stays open while you and the other person share a team where both of you can use Team chat. When you no longer share one, because one of you left the team, was removed from it, or can no longer use Team chat there, the conversation becomes read-only for both of you, and says why. Either of you can choose Invite as a guest: the other person is invited to be a guest of your Personal with this conversation, and once they accept, you can both write again. Removing someone from Personal's Guests page makes your conversation with them read-only.

Magpie staff, and the people they write to, can always write to each other.

Who can message you

Who can message you in Account settings, under Privacy, sets who can start a conversation with you. In the app it is in Account settings too.

• Anyone (the default): people outside your teams send a request.
• People in my teams: only current teammates.
• Nobody: no new conversations.

Conversations that already exist stay open whatever you choose. Magpie staff can always start a direct message with you, and it is never a request; blocking a staff member still stops them. When you cannot message someone, Chat says You cannot message and their name, whatever the reason.

Groups

A group is a conversation between three or more people. Like a direct message, it belongs to its people rather than to a team, and it is listed with your direct messages in every team.

To start one, choose + beside Direct messages, then New group. Choose two or more people, from the list or by handle, and choose Start group. In the app, choose New message, then New group. Starting a group with exactly the same people as an existing one opens that group again.

You can add someone you share a team with, where both of you can use Team chat. A group has no request step: to add anyone else, send them a direct message first. Once they accept, they are a guest of your Personal, and you can add them.

Select a group's name above the conversation to open Group details (in the app, Group details in the conversation's menu). Everyone in the group can:

• rename it; a group without a name is named after its people;
• add people by handle;
• leave it, with Leave group. Someone still in it can add you back.

Nobody can remove someone else from a group. Only a message's author can delete it, as in a direct message. Read receipts work in groups and direct messages; see Chat notifications and read receipts.

If a direct message or group does not open or send, Contact support.