Channels and direct messages
A channel is a conversation for a topic, a team or a project, for example #dyspozytornia for the dispatchers. A direct message is a conversation with one person, a small group, or only yourself. Channel names are your data: Quanty shows them exactly as you typed them, in every language.
Before you start
- Members and admins create channels. Viewers write in channels and direct messages but cannot create channels: "Viewers can write in channels and direct messages, but cannot create channels. Ask an administrator or a member."
- Changing a channel's settings is for its owners and the organization's administrators.
Kinds of conversation
| Kind | Who sees it |
|---|---|
| Public channel | "Anyone in the organization can find it and join." Before joining you can open it as a preview and read along. |
| Private channel | "Only invited people can see it." The organization's administrators can open it too. |
| Direct message | Only the two of you. |
| Group conversation | Only the people in it (you and up to 8 others). |
| Notes to self | "Only you can see this conversation. Keep notes, links and files here." |
Every organization starts with #general: "Everyone in the organization is in this channel. It cannot be archived or left." It is always public. Administrators can rename it like any other channel.
Create a channel
- In the list, click + next to Channels (Add a channel), then New channel.
- Fill in the dialog and click Create channel. You become the channel's owner.
| Field | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Name | "Lowercase letters, digits, hyphens and underscores. Spaces become hyphens." Up to 80 characters. The dialog shows "The channel will be called" and the result. | dyspozytornia |
| Who can see it | Public channel or Private channel. With private: "Administrators of your organization can see private channels and their messages." | Public channel |
| Description (optional) | "What is this channel for?" | Zlecenia na dziś i zmiany tras |
| Invite people (optional) | "Type a name or an email address" and tick people. | Piotr Spedytor |
A name that already exists is refused: "A channel with this name already exists."
Browse and join channels
Browse channels ("Search channels by name, topic or description") lists the channels you can join, with Join, Preview or Open (Joined). Show archived channels adds the archived ones. As an administrator: "As an administrator you also see private channels. Opening one does not add you to it."
A previewed channel says "You are previewing this channel. Join it to write here and to be notified about new messages." with Join channel.
The channel header
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Star | Add to starred: the channel moves to Starred in the list. |
| Faces | People: the members (see People and owners). |
| Sparkle | Ask AI (see AI assistant). |
| Phone, camera | Start an audio or a video call (see Calls and recordings). |
| Details (ⓘ) | Topic, description, Created, Created by, Edit name, topic and description and the link. |
| ⋯ | Search in this conversation, Pinned messages (with their number), Files and media, Notifications in this conversation, Add people, Channel settings and Leave channel. |
Channel settings
Channel settings (in ⋯, or Edit name, topic and description in Details), for owners and administrators:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | The channel's name, with the same rules as when creating. |
| Topic | "A short line shown under the channel's name." Up to 250 characters. |
| Description | What the channel is for, up to 2,000 characters. |
| Picture | Upload a picture ("A PNG, JPG or WebP picture up to 5 MB, or an emoji on a colour. Everyone sees it next to the channel name."), with Zoom, or Emoji with a Colour. |
| Privacy | Public or Private. Making it private: "People who are not members will stop seeing it." "The general channel is always public." |
| Who can add people | Everyone in the channel ("Any member can add people from the organization.") or Only owners and admins ("Members ask an owner or an administrator."). |
Every change is noted in the conversation, for example "Kasia Próbna made this channel private" or "Kasia Próbna set the topic: Bieżące zlecenia".
People and owners
The faces in the header open People: "Search 12 people", grouped into Channel owners, Administrators and Members.
- Add people: pick people from the organization. In a private channel: "They will see the whole history of this private channel."
- Show profile shows a person's card with Message and their status.
- Make owner / Remove as owner: an owner changes the channel's settings and people. "A channel needs at least one owner."
- Remove from channel takes someone out.
Leave or archive
- Leave channel: in a public channel, "You will stop getting its messages. You can join again at any time."; in a private channel, "To come back, someone in the channel will have to add you again." Nobody can leave #general.
- Archive channel (owners and administrators): "Nobody will be able to write in it. Its messages stay readable, and the channel can be restored later." The channel then says "This channel is archived. You can read it, but no one can write here." and cannot hold calls. Restore channel: "People will be able to write in it again."
Direct messages
- Click New message (the pen at the top of the list).
- "Choose one person, or up to 8 people for a group conversation."
- Click Open conversation (or Start group conversation).
- Add people in a direct message's menu makes it a group conversation with the people you pick.
- Close conversation removes it from your list without deleting anything; it comes back with the next message. Find a conversation or a person still finds it, marked Closed conversations.
- Notes to self is your own conversation for notes, links and files.
Good to know
- Names are data. A channel called
zlecenia-plstayszlecenia-plfor a colleague using Quanty in German. - Viewers in channels. Viewers read, write, react and send files; they cannot create channels, use Ask AI, bring in AI with @Quanty or an agent, or record calls. A Viewer's @Quanty gets no answer.
- The history of a private channel. People added later see everything that was written before.
Related pages
- Chat: the list, notifications, status and who sees what.
- Writing messages: mentions, threads, files, pins and search.
- Calls and recordings: calls in a channel or a direct message.