Setting up project chat

Turn Project Chat on for a project and manage its channels: adding, renaming, archiving, and bringing archived channels back.

Project Chat is in beta and is being rolled out gradually, so it is not yet available to every organization. If you would like to use it, write to [e-mail] to join the beta. Once your organization has it, chat is still off by default on every project — this page shows how to turn it on for a project.

Chat is off for new projects. A project owner, or an organization admin or owner, turns it on per project and manages the channels the team talks in.

Once chat is on, everyone with access to the project gets a Chat entry in the project sidebar. For how the team uses it, see Project chat.

Turning chat on for a project

1. Open the project from the Projects page.

2. Go to Settings > Chat.

3. Turn on Enable chat for this project.

The first time you do this, Cogram creates a #general channel for you. A Channels section appears below the toggle so you can add more.

Settings > Chat: the chat toggle, the project's channels, and an archived channel

If the toggle is not editable, you are not a project owner and not an organization admin or owner. The page says so.

There is a shortcut from the chat pane itself: if you can manage channels, a Manage channels link at the bottom of the channel list takes you to this page.

Adding a channel

1. In Settings > Chat, select Add channel.

2. Type the name. The # is added for you.

3. Select Create.

Give each channel a job, so people know where to post: #site-updates, #curtain-wall, #rfi-tracking.

Channel naming rules

• Lowercase letters, digits, and single hyphens, for example site-updates.

• Up to 80 characters.

• Unique within the project. Archived channels still hold their names, so you cannot reuse one until it is renamed.

A leading #, stray spaces, and capital letters are cleaned up as you type rather than rejected. Anything that still breaks the rules is flagged under the box before you can create the channel.

Renaming a channel

1. In Settings > Chat, select the rename button on the channel's row.

2. Edit the name and select Save.

Renaming is safe at any time. Links to messages in that channel, including the ones in mention notifications, keep working.

Archiving a channel

Archiving retires a channel without losing anything.

1. In Settings > Chat, select the archive button on the channel's row.

2. Confirm with Archive channel.

An archived channel leaves the chat pane and is excluded from search. Its messages and files are kept.

A project with chat always keeps at least one active channel. The archive button on the last remaining channel is disabled; add another channel first if you want to retire it.

Channels cannot be deleted. Archive is the way to take one out of use.

Bringing an archived channel back

Archived channels are listed in their own Archived channels section at the bottom of the page, each marked Archived. Select Unarchive on the row. The channel returns to the chat pane with all of its history, and is searchable again.

Turning chat off

Turning off Enable chat for this project hides the Chat entry from the project sidebar. Nothing is deleted: channels, messages, and files are kept, and turning chat back on restores the project's chat exactly as it was.

Who can do what

Task	Project Owner	Organization admin or owner	Member	Viewer
Turn chat on or off for the project	✓	✓
Add, rename, archive, or unarchive channels	✓	✓
Delete anyone's message	✓	✓
Post, react, attach files	✓	✓	✓
Read the conversation and search it	✓	✓	✓	✓

See Project roles for the wider picture of what each project role can do.

On a project shared with another organization, these controls stay with the host project: its owners and the admins of its organization. Guests take part in chat according to the project role they were granted, but cannot turn chat on or off or manage channels, whatever their role in their own organization.

Troubleshooting

There is no Chat page in project settings

• Likely cause: Project Chat is not yet available to your organization.

• Fix: contact Cogram support. See Getting help.

The Enable chat toggle is visible but you cannot change it

• Likely cause: you are a project Member, not an Owner, and not an organization admin or owner.

• Fix: ask a project owner or your organization admin to turn chat on.

You cannot archive a channel

• Likely cause: it is the project's only active channel.

• Fix: add another channel, then archive this one.

A channel name is rejected as already taken, but you cannot see it

• Likely cause: an archived channel already has that name.

• Fix: rename the archived channel, or pick a different name.

Next steps

• Project chat: how the team uses channels, mentions, files, and search

• Project roles: Owner, Member, and Viewer

• Organization notification settings: defaults and locks for mention emails