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This walkthrough helps you share files with the right people, follow the upload through completion, and confirm that recipients can open what you sent. It applies to both [Activity Chat](../activity-chat.md) and [Direct Messages](../direct-messages.md), with an important difference in where the files live.

This walkthrough turns one valuable Activity Chat message—or an idea that has grown beyond a chat message—into a reviewed article. Use it when a contribution deserves a durable life outside the rapid conversation, but does not represent the outcome of the whole topic.

Use this walkthrough to keep important conversations close, quiet noisy discussions, clear unread attention at the right scope, and step away when a conversation should no longer reach you. Most of these choices organize only your own **Messages** view. Blocking and leaving go further because they change who can communicate or participate.

This walkthrough takes an Activity Chat topic from an author-only draft to a focused live discussion and a durable summary. Use it when a group is beginning a distinct question, phase, or decision that should remain understandable after the rapid exchange has ended.

Use this walkthrough when one message needs to answer an earlier point, reach a specific participant, and keep a durable link to the work being discussed. You will prepare the message in the right topic, send it without losing its context, verify the result, and correct it in place if needed. The workflow applies to both [Activity Chat](../activity-chat.md) and [Direct Messages](../direct-messages.md). Their audiences differ, but their reply, mention, goal-reference, formatting, and editing tool

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

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