Internal Chat
Chat is AdmCloud's built-in instant messaging. It lets you talk in real time with your coworkers, through direct or group conversations, with images and file attachments, and automatic translation when both sides speak different languages — all without leaving AdmCloud or relying on outside email or messaging tools.
What is it and what is it for?
Chat organizes conversations into threads. You can start a direct conversation with a single coworker, or a named group conversation to which you can keep adding or removing participants. Messages are delivered instantly to everyone connected and are kept in the conversation's history.
The people you can chat with are the users in your company: relationships with "Allow access" to the system, active and with an email address. Customers and vendors (contacts) with Portal access enabled ("Allow access" on their record) do not appear in Chat — that access only opens the Portal, not the messaging. If your email is a user in several related companies or you work with an accounting firm, you'll see the conversations from all of those companies in one list, each one showing which company the other person belongs to, although you can only start a new conversation with users of the company you're currently signed into.
Chat also shows up as an extra tab inside transaction and other record screens (invoices, quotes, purchase orders, opportunities, items, projects, service requests, fixed assets, job openings, etc.). That tab automatically opens a group conversation linked to that specific document, so you can discuss it with your team without leaving the screen or mixing the topic with other conversations.
How to use it
- Open Chat. Use the message icon on the top bar (it shows a dot when you have unread messages) or go directly to the Chat screen. Your conversation list is on the left; the messages of the selected one are on the right.
- Start a new conversation. Pick the person from the "New conversation" selector and confirm with Start conversation. If you already had a direct conversation with that person, AdmCloud reuses it instead of creating a duplicate.
- Search and filter. Use the conversation list's search box to find one by name, turn on Show only unread to see just the pending ones, or use the message search box inside an open conversation to locate a specific piece of text.
- Write and send. Type your message in the text box (Enter sends it; Shift+Enter adds a line break) and use the emoji button to insert an emoticon. You can also paste an image copied to your clipboard directly into the text box.
- Attach files. Use the paperclip button to upload a file (documents, images, etc.) to the active conversation. AdmCloud checks the file's size before uploading it, so it isn't rejected for exceeding the configured limit.
- Manage a group. In a group conversation you can rename it, add new participants with the "+" button, or remove someone (including yourself, which is the same as leaving the conversation).
- Archive or delete. Archive a conversation so it stops showing up in your list, or delete a message you sent with the "x" icon; you can only delete messages you sent yourself.
If you haven't signed in yet (for example, in a public or pre-login support conversation), Chat still works using data saved in your browser, but several features (automatic translation, AI summary) require you to be signed in with your user.
Main capabilities
- Direct (1-to-1) and named group conversations, with saved history.
- Chat with coworkers in your company, seeing in one list the conversations from every company where you're a user.
- Search conversations by name and search messages inside an open conversation.
- Filter to show only conversations with unread messages, with a message and unread counter.
- Send emojis, images (including images pasted from the clipboard) and file attachments.
- Add or remove participants and rename a group conversation.
- Archive a conversation and delete your own messages.
- Real-time notification (no page reload) when a new message arrives, with an unread indicator on the top bar.
- Chat linked directly to a document (invoice, opportunity, item, project, etc.) from its own screen, with a shortcut ("magnifier") back to that document from the conversation list.
- Automatic translation of the message into each participant's preferred language, when the feature is enabled (see below).
- AI-generated conversation summary, when the feature is enabled (see below).
Key fields
| Field / element | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Conversation name | Only applies to group conversations; identifies the thread in your list and can be changed at any time. |
| Message | The message's required text; an empty message can't be sent. |
| Participants | Users in your company who are part of the conversation and receive its notifications. |
| Company (of the conversation) | Shown below each conversation's name to identify which company the other person belongs to, useful when you work with several companies. |
| Linked document | When the chat was opened from a document's tab, the conversation stays linked to it; from the conversation list you can jump back to that document with the magnifier icon. |
| Chat Language (personal preference) | The language each user prefers to read messages in; set on Preferences and used as the basis for automatic translation. |
| Attached file/image | Extra content on a message; it's uploaded to secure storage and its size is checked before uploading. |
Validations when saving
- Message required: you can't send an empty text message or an image with no content.
- A conversation is required: to send a message, upload a file or an image, a conversation must first be selected or created.
- The user must exist: when adding or removing a participant, or sending a message, both the sender and the user being added must exist in the system.
- Only users from your company: you can only start a direct conversation with, or add to a conversation, users of the company you are signed in to who have access enabled (the same ones shown in the list).
- Participants only: to see the messages of a direct or group conversation, write in it, summarize it, or add and remove participants, you must be a participant of that conversation. In a document's chat, being able to open the document is enough: anyone who can see it can read the conversation, write the first message and add or remove followers.
- You can't start a conversation with yourself: this is blocked if you try to start a direct conversation by selecting yourself.
- Maximum file size: attached files and images can't exceed the upload limit configured for your installation; if you go over it, you're warned before the upload is attempted.
- You can only delete your own messages: the delete option only appears on messages you sent yourself.
Availability, plan and conditions
- For the Chat icon and screen to appear, your company must have the "Chat" feature enabled. If you don't see it on your top bar, contact AdmCloud support to have it turned on.
- Automatic message translation is an additional feature that must be enabled for your company. When it's active, each user picks their Chat Language on Preferences; if the sender and the recipient have different languages, the recipient sees the message automatically translated (marked "Translated:"), without losing the original text.
- The AI conversation summary (robot-icon button) is also an additional feature that must be enabled for your company; it only appears if you're signed in normally (not on a public view) and it takes into account up to the last 100 messages of the selected conversation.
- Chat only includes users in your company (relationships with "Allow access" to the system, active and with an email address). Customers and vendors with Portal access don't have Chat, even though that access also creates a sign-in for them.
- The Chat tab inside a transaction or other record only appears if the "Chat" feature is enabled and the Productivity module is available on your plan.
Tips and common mistakes
Use the Chat inside an invoice, quote or opportunity (instead of the general Chat) when the conversation is about that specific document: that way your whole team finds the discussion's history right on the document, instead of searching for it among your general conversations.
Is the send button disabled? You need to select (or create) a conversation from the list on the left first; the message box only becomes active once a conversation is open.
Archiving a conversation only hides it from your active conversation list; it doesn't delete the messages or affect what the other participants see.