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DocsMessaging Overview
Real-time team messaging built into your CRM
What is Messaging?
A built-in communication hub for your sales team, integrated directly with your CRM data.
The Messaging feature provides real-time team communication without leaving your CRM. Instead of switching between separate chat apps and your CRM, you can discuss deals, share records, and collaborate on accounts all in one place. Every conversation lives alongside the customer data it relates to, so context is never lost.
Conversation Types
Four types of conversations to fit different communication needs.
- Direct Messages (DMs) — Private one-on-one conversations between two team members. Ideal for quick questions, feedback, or private discussions.
- Group Chats — Multi-person conversations with a defined set of members. Use these for project teams, account teams, or ad-hoc collaboration.
- Channels — Named, topic-based conversations that any team member can join. Great for departments, announcements, or ongoing discussions like #sales-updates or #support-escalations.
- Deal Rooms — Special channels automatically tied to an opportunity record. They display live deal metadata and log activity back to the deal timeline.
Deal Rooms are unique
Deal Rooms are the only conversation type that maintains a live connection to a CRM record. Messages sent in a Deal Room automatically appear on the opportunity's activity timeline, and the deal's metadata is always visible in the conversation header.
Getting Started
How to access messaging and create your first conversation.
1
Open Messaging
Click the Messages item in the left sidebar, or press G+M from anywhere in the app to navigate directly to the messaging hub.
2
Browse existing conversations
The left panel lists all your conversations grouped by type: DMs, Groups, and Channels. Starred conversations appear at the top for quick access.
3
Start a new conversation
Click the compose button at the top of the conversation list. Choose whether to start a Direct Message, create a Group Chat, or create a Channel. For DMs, select a team member. For Groups and Channels, give it a name and add members.
4
Send your first message
Type your message in the composer at the bottom and press Enter to send. Use Shift+Enter to add a new line without sending.
Key Capabilities
An overview of the tools available within conversations.
- Rich text formatting — Format messages with bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, bullet lists, and blockquotes using a toolbar or markdown shortcuts.
- @Mentions — Tag teammates with
@nameautocomplete; mentioned users receive a notification linking back to the conversation. - Threads — Reply to a specific message to keep side discussions organized without cluttering the main conversation.
- Reactions — React to messages with emoji to acknowledge, agree, or respond quickly without typing a full reply.
- Inline editing — Edit your own messages in place with Enter to save and Escape to cancel.
- Copy message text — Copy any message to your clipboard as plain text from the hover toolbar or mobile action sheet.
- File sharing — Attach and share files directly within conversations. Supported types include images, PDFs, documents, and spreadsheets.
- Entity linking — Share CRM records (companies, contacts, deals) as rich entity cards that other team members can click to open.
- Search — Search across all your conversations to find past messages.
- Pinned messages — Pin important messages so they are easy to find later. View all pinned messages in a dedicated panel.
- Bookmarks — Tag messages as Decision, Action Item, Blocker, or Follow Up to track important moments in a conversation.
- Load older messages — Scroll up or use the Load older button to page through conversation history.
Real-Time Features
Live indicators that keep your team in sync.
Messaging is fully real-time. You will see updates as they happen without needing to refresh the page:
- Typing indicators — See when another person is composing a message in the current conversation.
- Presence indicators — A green dot appears on the avatar of each online teammate in the conversation list. When viewing a Direct Message, the header subtitle reads Online (with a green dot) or Offline based on the other person's status.
- Conversation viewers — The header shows avatars of other teammates who are actively viewing the same conversation, so you know when a discussion is being watched live.
- Live message updates — New messages, edits, deletions, pins, and reactions appear instantly for all participants.
How presence works
Presence is tracked through a shared real-time channel for your organization. You appear as Online whenever you have the CRM open in at least one browser tab. Closing all tabs marks you as Offline within a few seconds.
Keyboard navigation
Press G+M from any page to jump to Messaging. Once inside a conversation, press Enter to focus the message composer and start typing immediately.