Activity Chat keeps live conversation attached to the work that gives it meaning. Instead of opening a general space-wide stream, members enter an activity, read the discussion around its current topic, and respond with the activity’s goals, files, participants, and progress close at hand.
This structure helps both active contributors and people catching up later. Messages carry the immediate exchange, while topic boundaries and summaries preserve what the conversation accomplished.
Conversation Stays With The Activity
Every Activity Chat message belongs to the selected activity and its active published topic. The latest published topic is the active one, so a new message continues the current discussion rather than creating an unclassified update.
The levels above an activity work differently:
Space and subspace Chat do not merge messages from several activities into one live feed. Select a topic update to enter its owning activity, where the message history has one clear project context. Inside the activity, selecting a published topic divider opens its connected summary.
This distinction matters when a space has several workstreams moving at once. Contributors can talk quickly without losing where the discussion belongs, and occasional readers can move through topic updates instead of untangling interleaved conversations. Topics and Summaries explains how topic dividers, summary articles, and publication fit together.
The activity, its topic boundaries, and the live conversation remain visible in one shared workspace.
Before The Feed Is Ready
Activity Chat checks the account, space access, and topic state before it presents the message composer. Depending on the situation, you may see:
Only the space owner or a member with chat-management access sees Add Topic. Creating a topic opens its connected summary as a draft. Messages remain unavailable until that topic is published; while a draft is still active, the composer explains: Publish the draft topic. Then you can type messages.
Members who cannot create a topic can still return after an owner or chat manager publishes one. The published topic then supplies the shared starting point for the feed and composer. For the complete create, summarize, and publish journey, follow Create and Summarize a Topic.
Read From The Present Or Catch Up
Activity Chat opens at the newest part of the conversation. Scroll upward to load older topics and messages in stages rather than waiting for the entire history before you can begin reading.
The feed adds a few quiet orientation cues where they are useful:
Search links preserve this context. A link to a topic takes you to the activity or its connected summary, depending on where you open it. A message result opens a focused slice of the discussion, highlights the matching message, and scrolls it into view. You can then continue reading around it instead of searching through the newest page by hand.
Where a supported activity update is shown in Chat, it appears as a distinct feed item rather than looking like a member’s message. Select it to open the work it refers to; the live conversation still remains scoped to the activity and topic.
Join The Discussion
When the published topic is ready, the composer changes to Type a message. Messages can include text or attachments, and the same composer supports replies, participant mentions, goal references, emoji, and lightweight formatting. Sent messages, edits, deletions, reactions, and other live changes appear in the open activity without a manual refresh.
Activity Chat also protects work in progress. Unsent text is retained separately for each activity during the current app session. You can move to another activity, write a different reply there, and return to recover the earlier text. The saved draft clears after it is sent successfully. This is session continuity, not a permanently saved draft, so finish or copy important text before ending the session.
Use the focused guides when you need the details:
Know Who Is Involved
The Contributors panel lists people who have taken part in Chat for the current area. Contributor groups, role markers, profile details, and skills help you understand who is involved, while an online indicator shows current availability. Selecting a participant opens their profile; additional people actions appear only when your access allows them.
Typing awareness stays lightweight. When another contributor types in this same activity, their name appears briefly above the composer, such as Mara is typing. The signal disappears after a short pause and never becomes part of message history.
Presence and typing are helpful clues, not promises that someone will reply immediately. Participants, Presence, and Unread explains how contributor lists, live state, and unread boundaries work together.
Act On A Message
Common actions stay close to the message, while the message menu holds the less frequent choices. What you see depends on whether you wrote the message and on your space permissions.
Activity Chat does not currently offer message reporting, announcement creation, or a message-level View Later action as ordinary member tools.
The message menu groups the actions available for this seeded message and the current user’s permissions.
Preserve A Valuable Message
A useful contribution does not have to remain buried in the live feed. The space owner or a member allowed to create posts can choose Publish as article from an Activity Chat message. The article editor receives the message content, original author credit, visual media, and links for review before anything is published.
This action starts an article from one message. It does not replace the topic summary, which records the outcome of the broader discussion. Direct Messages also remain outside this flow and cannot be published as articles. Publish a Chat Message walks through the handoff and its permission boundary.
Move From Text To A Meeting
When Meetings are available and the activity has no current meeting, the composer can offer Start meeting. This lets participants move from an exchange of messages to live conversation without losing the activity as their shared context.
Chat supplies the entry point; the meeting owns the live session itself. Return to the activity discussion afterward to record decisions, share follow-up material, or improve the topic summary.
Explore Related Chat Guidance
Start with the broader Chat overview when you want to compare Activity Chat with Direct Messages. Then use the topic, message, participant, file, and publishing guides linked above for the workflow you need.
Common Questions
Can I send a message from a space or subspace Chat view?
No. Those views help you find topic updates from the areas below them. Enter the owning activity and use its active published topic to send live messages.
Why can I see a topic but not type a message?
The topic may still be a draft, or you may not have the required space membership. A draft must be published before it becomes the active message context.
What happens to my unfinished message when I change activities?
Its text stays with the original activity during the current app session and returns when you revisit that activity. It clears after a successful send, and it should not be treated as permanent storage.
Who can create the first topic?
The space owner or a member with chat-management access. Other members can join the discussion after a topic is published.
Who can remove a message?
The message author or the space owner can delete an Activity Chat message. Editing remains limited to the author.
Does publishing a message also publish the topic summary?
No. Publish as article starts article material from one message. The topic’s connected summary remains a separate record of the wider discussion.