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 and Direct Messages: 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 essentials of composing, replying, mentioning, and editing remain easy to find.
Start In The Right Topic
The composer becomes available only when the conversation has a topic ready for messages.
A message can contain text, attachments, or both. Sending it adds the message to the current topic rather than starting a new subject by itself. If the discussion has genuinely moved to a different outcome, create or select the appropriate topic before continuing. The broader Chat overview explains how shared and private topics differ.
Add Structure Without Slowing Down
Ordinary text is enough for most updates. When a message needs more shape, Chat recognizes a focused set of familiar formatting:
The markers become readable formatting in the posted message. Plain URLs remain openable, and simple text remains simple; you do not need to format every message to make it useful.
Formatting should support the conversation rather than turn each update into a document. Use a list when several points need scanning, a quote when the source wording matters, and code styling when punctuation or an exact value must stay distinct. When the explanation has outgrown a message, the article handoff described below gives it more room.
Reply Without Splitting The Conversation
Choose Reply when a message would be unclear without the statement it answers. Reply mode identifies the original author above the composer and can be cancelled before you send.
After sending, the reply appears at the current position in the same feed. A compact preview shows the original author and a shortened line from the parent message immediately above it. Replies do not create a separate thread. Readers can follow the response in chronological order while still seeing what prompted it.
This is especially useful when several points are moving at once. A reply can bring an earlier question back into view without copying its text, opening a second conversation, or changing the current topic. Keep the response self-contained enough to make sense alongside the preview; the preview is intentionally compact and does not reproduce a long or richly formatted parent message.
Replying also directs attention to the person who wrote the parent message. That reply signal is separate from an @ mention, so Chat can distinguish “I answered you” from “I named you in this message.” If the same person is both mentioned and replied to, Chat avoids sending them two pings for one message.
Mention The People Who Need The Update
Type @ followed by part of a participant's handle to open suggestions. Activity Chat searches participants in the current shared chat context, while Direct Messages search only the people in the selected conversation. A mention does not provide access to someone outside that audience.
The picker supports a compact keyboard flow:
The composer keeps a readable @handle, and the posted mention stays associated with the selected person even if their profile name later changes. Select from the suggestions when you want that reliable connection; typing a name as ordinary text does not necessarily create a mention.
Reply mode remains active while the mention picker identifies the participant being added to the unsent draft.
Mention pings and reply pings are separate attention signals. In Direct Messages, a participant who mutes the conversation keeps it in Messages, but its unread indicator and message pings are suppressed for that participant. Muting changes personal attention only; it does not remove the conversation or prevent new messages from arriving.
Point To A Goal That Can Keep Changing
A selected goal reference gives the conversation a durable route back to the work. Place the cursor after a space or at the beginning of the message, then use the shortcut that fits what you know:
Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to move through spaces or goals. Press Enter or Tab to accept the highlighted choice, or Escape to close the picker. When several joined spaces use the same key, the picker asks you to choose the space before it resolves the goal.
Selecting the result matters. It replaces the shortcut with a readable goal reference that opens the intended goal and can follow that goal when its visible label or location changes. Unselected /VS-42 text is only text and does not gain that durable behavior.
Goal access still applies to every reader. If the goal has been deleted, cannot be resolved, or is no longer available to someone, the message shows the same non-clickable label: Goal unavailable. It does not reveal the former title or location. Follow Share a Goal in Chat for the complete search, selection, and verification flow.
Revise Your Own Message In Place
Authors can choose Edit on their own messages. The current content returns to the composer, including supported references, and saving keeps the message in its original feed position. An (edited) cue tells readers that the content changed.
Editing returns the existing message to the desktop composer with an explicit indicator and cancel control.
There is also a faster route for a recent correction. When the composer is empty and has no attachments, and you are not already replying or editing, press the Up Arrow key to load your latest editable message. This works in both Activity Chat and Direct Messages when sending is currently available.
Press Escape to leave edit mode without saving the change. If mention suggestions are open during editing, Escape closes them and exits the edit so the composer does not remain in an unintended state. You can also cancel from the editing indicator above the field.
Deletion works differently. In shared Activity Chat, a message author or the space owner can choose Delete. Direct Messages do not offer a message-level Delete action, so use editing when you need to correct your own private message.
Work Within The Message Limit
A message can contain up to 3000 characters. The composer shows how far an oversized draft exceeds that limit and does not send it as a message until it is shortened.
Eligible people in shared Activity Chat can choose Publish as article instead. The article editor receives the message material for review and development, and opening that handoff from an oversized draft does not clear the text from Chat. This option is limited to the space owner and members allowed to create posts. It is not available in Direct Messages, where the conversation remains private to its participants. Publish a Chat Message explains the permission boundary and review flow.
Activity Chat also retains unsent text separately for each activity during the current app session. Moving to another activity and returning can restore that activity's draft, and a successful send clears it. This is not permanent draft storage. Do not rely on an unfinished message surviving the end of the session. Direct Messages do not make the same draft-recovery promise.
Stay With A Live Conversation
New messages, edits, replies, and other supported changes appear for people viewing the conversation without a manual refresh. A short-lived typing line can show that another participant is composing in the same activity or selected Direct Message. It is an awareness cue, not part of message history and not a promise that a response will be sent.
When you return later, search can take you back to more than the conversation's newest message. A message result opens the relevant conversation and focuses the matching message in its surrounding topic, so you can read what came before and after it. In a Direct Message, the result is available only while you still have participant access.
Messages can also carry files and link previews; see Files, Links, and Previews for supported inputs, limits, and upload feedback. Reactions provide quick responses in both chat forms, while shared Activity Chat can also use Awards for quick item-level appreciation. Emoji, Reactions, and Awards covers those engagement choices without overloading the message workflow.
Put The Tools Together
The most useful message often combines only two or three of these tools: a clear sentence, a reply for context, an @ mention for the person who needs to see it, or a goal reference for the work that should outlast the conversation. Compose, Reply, and Reference walks through that connected outcome from an empty composer to a verified posted message.
Common Questions
Why can't I see Type a message?
Activity Chat needs an active published topic, and Direct Messages need an active conversation topic. You may also need to sign in, join the space, or select a conversation before the composer becomes available.
Does Reply open a separate thread?
No. The reply stays in the same chronological feed and shows a compact preview of the parent message above it.
Who appears after I type @?
Activity Chat searches participants in the current shared chat context. A Direct Message searches participants in the selected conversation.
Will mentioning and replying to the same person ping them twice?
No. Mention and reply signals remain distinct, but the same recipient is not double-pinged for one message.
What happens to pings in a muted Direct Message?
That participant's conversation remains available, but its unread indicator and message pings are suppressed until they unmute it.
Why is a goal shown as Goal unavailable?
The goal may have been deleted, failed to resolve, or become inaccessible to you. Chat uses one safe Goal unavailable label and does not expose its former details.
Can anyone edit or delete my message?
Only the author can edit it. In shared Activity Chat, the author or space owner can delete it. Direct Messages do not offer message deletion.
Can I send more than 3000 characters?
Not as one chat message. Shorten the draft, or use Publish as article when you have the required shared Activity Chat permission. Direct Messages do not offer that article handoff.