Chats: General Information

Chat Types

The following types of chats are available in the app:

Chat Type	Description
Personal	Chat with a user or a chatbot.
Group chat	For communication between multiple users, where all members can write and see each other.
Channel	Chat for publishing news. Only admins can write and see participants.
Room	Group chat that save correspondence and files from group call or conference.
“Saved Messages”	A chat for messages to yourself. It is enabled in the application settings and restored there after deletion. Any message can be sent to this chat via the context menu.
Thread	Feature for commenting on messages in a group chat or channel.
Global chat	Special chat for mass messaging.
«Общий чат» (“General Chat”), «Общий канал» (“General Channel”)	Lite A special chat and a special channel through which the eXpress Lite corporate server administrator can send notifications to all server users.

Chat Members

By member composition, chats are divided into:

• Personal with contacts from the phone book.
• Personal with corporate contacts.
• Group with contacts from the phone book.
• Group with corporate contacts.
• Mixed chats with members from servers of different organizations.
• Personal chats with chatbots.

How to Determine the Type of Chat via It's Members?

• Look at the icon next to the chat name:

  Icon	Description
  Green globe	A chat with external users on a public server ( RTS ).
  Blue globe	A chat with users of corporate servers ( Lite , CTS , eCTS ) from different organizations.
  Blue-green globe	A mixed chat with corporate and external users ( Lite , CTS , eCTS + RTS ).
  Blue briefcase	A chat with users from the current or trusted corporate server ( Lite , CTS , eCTS ).
  Blue megaphone	A channel with corporate users ( Lite , CTS , eCTS ).
  Blue-green megaphone	A channel with corporate and external users ( Lite , CTS , eCTS + RTS ).
  Blue bot	A personal chat with a corporate chatbot ( Lite , CTS , eCTS ).

• Open Routing in the chat properties.
• Review the list of chat members: they are grouped by servers.

Comparison of Group Chat and Channel

Feature	Group Chat	Channel
Sending Messages	All participants can write in a group chat.	Only administrators can write in a channel. In channels with more than 256 participants, the administrator sees a prompt before sending a message: “Publish the post? Are you sure you want to publish the message?”.
Purpose	Group chats are for communication among all participants.	A channel is for publishing news.
Viewing Participants	In a group chat, any participant can view the chat members and see system messages.	In a channel, only the administrator can see the list of members. Regular channel subscribers cannot see other participants or system messages.
Sender Visibility	All group chat participants see the authors of messages.	For regular participants, the sender of a message in a channel is the channel itself; for administrators, it is the specific user.
Threads	All group chat participants can discuss messages in threads.	By default, comments in the channel are disabled. The administrator enables them.
Confidential Mode	Available if all chat participants are corporate users.	The confidential mode is not available in channels.
Analytics	Not available.	Has view counters. Additional tools are planned.

Other differences are in the sections below.

Can a Chat Be Converted to a Channel?

A group chat cannot be transformed into a channel, or vice versa.

Storage and Deletion of Chats

All your chats are stored on your server. If you close the session or reinstall the app, data won't be lost: log in again, and chats will be loaded from the server to your device.

On Which Server Is My Chat Stored?

Chats are stored on the servers of each participant in the conversation. For example, if a member from a new corporate server is added to a group chat, the chat will be copied to that server.

Is It Possible to Delete Chats?

You can only delete a chat for yourself: it will disappear from the chat list on all your devices, but will remain for the other participants. You can't delete a chat from the server for everyone.

The command in the chat menu depends on its type:

• Delete chat — for a personal chat, a chat with a bot, a global chat, and Saved messages. The personal chat history is cleared and cannot be restored. If the other person writes again, the personal chat will return to the list. The chat with the bot can be found again in the Catalog.
• Leave chat or Leave channel — for a group chat and channel. You stop being a participant, and the chat disappears from the list. You can go back to an open chat or channel via the Catalog.

If the chat administrator removed you from the chat, the chat will disappear from the list on all your devices.

Individual messages can be deleted from the server: "for everyone" or on a timer in privacy mode.

Limitations on the Number of Participants in a Group Chat or Channel

Displaying Members

In chats with more than 256 participants, only admins are visible in the list of members. Search for the remaining participants using the search field.

Participant Limit

The participant limit depends on whether end-to-end encryption is enabled in the chat or channel. To remove this limitation, the chat administrator must disable End-to-end encryption in the chat properties or contact the corporate server administrator. You can restore end-to-end encryption only if the chat has no more than 128 participants.

In chats and channels with end-to-end encryption disabled, the technical limit is about 8,000 participants: it is determined by performance. In the future, the limit will increase.

The Confidential mode is unavailable in chats with over 256 members.

Catalog, Open and Closed Group Chats and Channels

In the Catalog section above the chat list, there are open group chats, channels, and corporate bots. They are available to all users of the corporate server. More info here.

Global Chats

These are special chats for mass messaging. They are visible to all users of a specific server. There are three types of global chats:

Global chat	Description
Global Chat of eXpress	It's called “eXpress”. Contains news about new eXpress version releases. In the future, it will include confirmation codes and contact Support. Located on RTS and is available to all users registered on any server within the federation. CTS ETS eCTS The corporate administrator can disable the federated eXpress chat in the global chat settings on a server.
ETS Global Chat of a corporate branded app	Named as specified by the administrator. It can contain company news and notifications about new versions of the organization's branded application. In the future, it will include confirmation codes and contact Support. Located on ETS and available to all users whose corporate eCTS server is connected to ETS .
CTS eCTS Global Chat on a corporate server of eXpress of a branded app	Named as specified by the administrator. Contains information for all users of a particular corporate server CTS / eCTS .

Why Don’t I Receive Notifications for Messages in the Global Chat?

Notifications are not sent for posts in the global chat — only a counter for new messages appears.

Why Can't I Message the Global Chat?

Posts in the global chat are published by the server administrator, and users only read them. That is why the input field is blocked with the message Only an admin can send messages in this chat.

If the input field is active, only you will see the sent message: other participants will not receive it. This happens in earlier versions of the application or if your organization's server administrator has allowed users to write to the global chat.

How Do I Leave the Global Chat?

You can't leave the global chat: it's the server's service chat for general notifications.

When Will the Global Chat Appear After Being Enabled?

Immediately. As soon as the server administrator enables the global chat, it will appear in the general chat list for the users it is intended for.

Why Isn't the Corporate Global Chat Visible in the Catalog?

The global chat is considered a closed chat, so it is not displayed in the corporate chat catalog. At the same time, all users of the server see it.

Who Will See the Global Chat?

Which global chats can users of different servers see:

Users	Whish global chats are visible
Public server users RTS Lite	The federated eXpress global chat on RTS
CTS Corporate users of eXpress	May see two global chats if the administrator has configured them: the federated eXpress global chat from RTS corporate global chat from CTS
ETS Corporate users of a branded app	May see three global chats if configured by the administrator: the federated eXpress global chat from RTS corporate global chat from the central ETS server corporate global chat from eCTS

Do All Global Chats Have the Same Messages?

No, you cannot. Global chats on different servers do not have a shared history, and their messages may differ.

Will Everyone See a Message Sent Directly to the Global Chat?

No, you cannot. Messages sent directly to the global chat, without the bot, are only visible to the sender. This feature is reserved for the future: a bot is being developed to support users who write in the global chat.

Why Is the Input Field Blocked in the Global Chat?

The server administrator can prohibit users from writing to the global chat. In that case, instead of the input field, the message Only an admin can send messages in this chat is displayed, and you cannot forward a message or send a file to this chat.

The restriction is enabled by default. After the server update, users can write to the global chat only if your organization's server administrator has enabled Allow users to post to the Global Chat in the Global Chat section.

How to Send Messages to the Global Chat for Everyone?

Only admins of a special bot for the global chat can post messages to the global chat. They are assigned in the corporate server admin panel. See how to create a post in a global chat.

What Features Are Not Supported by Global Chat?

Reactions and threads are not supported by the global chat.