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Topics turn a flowing conversation into sections people can understand later. Each divider gives readers a clear place to begin, while Activity Chat adds a connected summary for the decisions and useful findings that should outlast the live exchange.

Chat offers several quiet signals that help you answer two different questions: **who belongs in this conversation context**, and **what has changed since you last looked**. Participant lists explain the people around the discussion, while presence, typing, and unread cues help you decide where to focus next. These signals do not change messages or grant access. They reflect the current Activity Chat area or Direct Message conversation, and they stay separate from the conversation itself.

Messages in Visual Space are designed for quick conversation without throwing away the context people need later. The same core experience works in [Activity Chat](activity-chat.md) and [Direct Messages](direct-messages.md): write a short update, shape it with lightweight formatting, point to a person or goal, and reply without leaving the main conversation. This page explains that shared message experience. Files and engagement stay close to messages too, but they have their own guidance so the

Search gives you one place to discover accessible communities, people, conversations, and shared work across Visual Space. Enter a phrase once, then explore matching spaces, posts and articles, goals, events, Docs, messages, or profiles without first guessing which module owns them.

Chat helps members keep live conversation connected to shared work, preserve useful outcomes, and continue privately when a one-to-one or group discussion is the better fit. Use this guide to understand the two conversation spaces or follow a complete workflow for topics, messages, files, Direct Messages, and custom emoji.

Files and links let a conversation carry the material people need to understand the work, not just describe it. Chat keeps those items easy to recognize with draft previews, upload feedback, media galleries, file cards, and expandable link details. Where you share an attachment matters. **Activity Chat is part of shared activity work**, while a [Direct Message](direct-messages.md) is private to its current conversation participants. That distinction determines where the uploaded item belongs and

Emoji make a short message feel human without turning every response into another paragraph. In [Chat](chat.md), you can place emoji in a message, react to something another person said, or use an Award to give a valuable shared-chat contribution extra recognition. These choices serve different purposes. Emoji inside a message help express your own thought. Reactions acknowledge a specific message in Activity Chat or Direct Messages. Awards are quick item-level appreciation reserved for shared A

Direct Messages give you a private conversation space with one person or a group. They use the familiar [Chat](chat.md) message experience, but the conversation belongs to its participants rather than to a space activity. Open **Messages** to see your conversations, choose who you want to talk with, and continue the discussion through topics, messages, files, or a meeting. Direct Messages are private to the people in the conversation. They are not published to a space, and Visual Space does not

Chat keeps conversation close to the work and people it belongs with. Members can discuss an activity in shared space context, preserve what matters in a topic summary, or move to a private one-to-one or group conversation without learning a different message experience. The result is more than a stream of short updates. Live discussion can point to goals, carry useful files, become an article, or lead into a meeting, while topics give the conversation a structure that people can understand afte

This walkthrough adds a custom emoji to your space, checks that people can use it in Chat, and removes it when it no longer belongs in the catalog. It is useful when your space wants a recognizable symbol, shared joke, or project-specific reaction for live conversation.