Communication between employers and staff is important in any organization. Zoho Shifts allows you to communicate with your team effectively. Apart from direct messaging, the admin can create channels for different teams or schedules. They can also create announcement channels where they can restrict the participants from posting on the channel.
The admin can provide access to employees to create channels or send messages to other colleagues. Employees will be notified on their desktop and mobile devices when they receive a message.
From your computer
Enable messaging for your organization
- Go to Settings in the top-right corner.
- Navigate to Organization in the left pane and click Messages.
- Turn the Enable messaging switch on. A confirmation pop up window will appear.
- Click Enable messaging.
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Allow employees to create channels and send direct messages
- Go to Settings in the top-right corner.
- Navigate to Employee in the left pane and click Access Levels.
- Click Edit next to the access level already set by you, say Manager or Employee.
The Edit Access Level window will appear. - Navigate to the Messages section.
- Check the Send direct messages box to allow them to send messages to other employees.
- Check the Manage Channels box for employees to create a channel and add or remove participants.
- Click Save Access Level.
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Create a channel
- Select Messages from the top.
- Click Channels from the left pane.
- Click the + icon next to Channels. The Create Channel window will appear.
- Enter a name and description for the channel in the space provided.
- To create a private channel for announcements, uncheck the Allow everyone to send messages on this channel box.
- Click Save.
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Add participants to channel
- Click 1 participant below the channel name.
- Select Add participant and search participants by name or email address.
- Click on the names of the contacts to add them to the channel.
You can also click on multiple contacts to add them to the channel. - Click Add.
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- Click
to share files.
Click Actions dropdown in the bottom right corner of the chat window to perform the below actions:
Edit channel
- Click Actions dropdown in the bottom right corner of the chat window.
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- Click Edit Channel to rename or change the description of the channel.
- Check or uncheck the Allow everyone to send messages on this channel box to create a channel or private channel.
- Click
next to the Continue button to:
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Archive:
If the channel isn't needed at present, you can Archive and select Unarchive when needed.
Delete:
If you choose to delete the channel the conversation history can not be retrieved.
- Click Delete. A confirmation dialog will appear.
- Select Yes, delete.
Leave channel:
Click Leave channel to exit the channel.
Mute channel:
Click Mute channel and choose the time you want to mute the channel.
Send Direct Messages
- Select Messages from the top.
- Click Contacts from the left pane.
- Enter the name of the employee in the Search Contact space and click on the contact to open the chat window.
- To attach and send files to the contact, click the
. - To mute the chat, select Actions, click Mute chat and choose the time you want to mute.
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From your mobile
With the Shifts mobile app you'll be able to send and receive messages from your team. You will be able to initiate a new chat with a colleague but not create a new channel.
- Tap Messages from the bottom of the screen.
- Tap + at the top-right corner. The Start Chat screen will appear.
- Tap on the contact to initiate a new conversation.
- To send images to an individual chat or channel:
- Tap + in the bottom-right corner of the chat window
- Tap Camera to take a photo and send to your contact.
- Tap Photo Library to select any photo from your device's gallery.