The Chats feed displays chats in various ways to help you maintain awareness of all the communications taking place during a mission. Chat threads are displayed in the order in which they are received, with the most recent displayed at the top. You can also click Mark All As Read to clear any unread messages and Collapse All to collapse any open messages.
Note:
Because chats sometimes contain sketches paired with text and image attachments, they are sometimes referred to as geomessages. These terms can be interchangeable, but the term geomessage is most often used to refer to a sketch that has been paired with text or other information.
Chats
Chat threads are displayed in the panel with the following information:
- Sender - The name of the mission member who sent the chat
- Time - The approximate time the message was sent
- Last Message - The most recent message sent as part of that chat thread
Use the following tools to interact with chats in the panel:
- Reply - Opens the Reply To Conversation dialog box in the actions panel.
- Members - Opens a dialog box displaying the creator of the message and its recipients.
- Teams - Opens a dialog box displaying the teams to which the chat was sent. If the chat was not sent to any specific teams, this icon is unavailable.
- Zoom To - For sketches in a thread, this tool zooms the mission map to the sketch and displays a dialog box containing information sent with it.
- Attachment viewer - Displays attachments sent in threads. Click the attachment to open the Attachment dialog box where you can view the images.
- Expand/Collapse - Displays all of the messages that have been sent as part of the chat. These messages are displayed with sender, date, and time. At the bottom of this dialog box is a link to the Reply tool.
Filter messages
The Filter Messages button allows you to organize the Chats feed based on specific members or teams. Selecting a mission member or team from the list displays only the message traffic associated with your filter in the Chats feed and mission map. This helps you to emphasize or isolate specific events of activity that occur in the mission. It also makes it easier to find a specific feed item, especially in missions with heavy feed traffic.
To filter the Chats feed, complete the following steps:
- Browse to the Chats feed.
- Click the Filter Messages button.
The Define Chats Filter menu appears.
- Select the members or teams you want to filter. Optionally, you can uncheck the Apply filters to the map option so your filter does not reflect in the mission map.
This is enabled by default.
- Click Apply to apply the filter.
To clear your Chats filter, complete the following:
- Browse to the Chats feed.
- Click the More menu.
- Click Filter Messages.
- Click Clear All.
The Chats feed updates to display all tasks.
Sort chats
The Sort Chats button allows you to sort your messages based on key fields and in a specific sort direction. The Chats feed is sorted by date received with the most recent message on top by default.
To sort the Chats feed, complete the following steps:
- Browse to the Chats feed.
- Click the Sort Messages button.
The Sort menu appears.
- Click a key field in the Sort menu:
- Received
- Sender
- Unread
- Optionally, choose a sort direction.
This will change depending on what key field you choose to sort by.
The Chats feed updates.
Cache messages
If you are the mission owner or mission lead, you have the option of caching sketches to remove them from the Chats feed and mission map for all mission members. To cache sketches, complete the following steps:
- Once you open your mission, browse to the Chats feed.
- Locate the sketch you want to cache and click it in the feed.
The Cache icon appears.
- Click the Cache icon.
A dialog box appears to confirm that you want to hide this chat from other members of the mission.
- Click Cache. Click Cancel if you do not want to hide the sketch.
Your mission map and feed update by caching the mission activity accordingly.
To view cached messages, complete the following steps:
- Browse to the Chats feed.
- Click the More menu.
- Click View Cached Chats.
- Click Restore Chat.
A dialog appears asking to confirm your action to restore the message back into the feed.
- Click Restore.
The Chats feed updates with the remaining cached messages.
More menu
The More menu allows you to view only messages you are involved in, view your feed as a list, and view cached messages. The default behavior of the Chats feed is to display all messages in the mission. Clicking View My Messages displays only the chat threads that you are participating in. View Cached Messages shows hidden sketches from the map and feed.