# How Discuss reaches you

The three kinds of conversation and the threads inside a channel, who sees each one, how a message reaches you in Discuss or by e-mail, what Discuss does not do, and who may do what.

**Discuss** is the chat of the firm, on the home screen of every internal user. This page explains what happens behind the screens, so that what reaches you, and what does not, makes sense.

## Three kinds of conversation {#conversations}

| Kind | Who is in it | Who can find it | How it starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Channel | Its members, who join, are invited, or come from its groups | Every user of its **Authorized Group** | **Create Channel** in the search of the sidebar, or **New** in the **Channels** menu |
| Group chat | The people chosen when it starts, and those invited later | Its members only | **Create Chat** with several people, then **Create Group Chat** |
| Direct message | Exactly two people | The two of them only | **Create Chat** with one person, then **Open Chat** |

A channel has a name and a description and is meant to last: a team, a topic, a desk. A group chat and a direct message are private to the people in them and never show in the **Channels** menu. **Invite People** in a direct message does not add a third person to it: the button reads **Create Group Chat** and starts a new group chat, while the direct message stays between two.

## Threads inside a channel {#threads}

A long exchange about one message can move to a thread: **Expand**, then **Create Thread**, on that message. The thread is a small channel attached to its parent, with the parent's **Authorized Group**; **Threads** in the header of the channel lists them, and the **Channels** menu shows them as cards too.

## Who sees a channel {#visibility}

- A channel with an **Authorized Group** is seen only by the users of that group. A new channel takes **Role / User**, every internal user.
- A channel without a group can also be seen by portal users.
- **Auto Subscribe Groups** make every user of the groups a member, at once and whenever a user is added to one of the groups later. **Auto Subscribe Departments** add the employees of the departments when the channel is saved and when a new employee is created in one of them. The channel lists offer no **Leave** on a channel with auto subscribe groups.
- An administrator sees every channel in the **Channels** menu, whatever its group, and alone can delete one.

## How a message reaches you {#reach}

What calls for your attention, with a counter, a sound or a notification of the browser, depends on the kind of conversation and on your settings:

- **Direct messages and group chats** always do, unless you muted them.
- **Channels** follow the bell of each channel, or your default: **Mentions Only** unless you changed it. **All Messages** makes every message count, **Nothing** keeps the channel silent, and a mute silences it for a while. See [Choose your notifications and mute a channel](choose-your-notifications).
- **A mention** (@ and your name, or a role you hold) is the one message that leaves the conversation: it reaches your **Inbox** when your **Notification** preference is **In Jaah**, or your mailbox when it is **By Emails**.
- **The messages written on a record** reach its followers and the people they are addressed to by the same road, Inbox or mailbox, like the message about case CA/2026/0003 in the demo. Internal notes reach only the people they mention. The chatter itself is explained in [Follow a record with the chatter](/docs/essentials/follow-a-record-with-the-chatter).

Ordinary messages of channels, group chats and direct messages are never sent by e-mail. A message you mark as read in the Inbox moves to **History**. The **Messages** icon of the top bar repeats the same counters on every screen; a conversation opened from there shows in a small window at the bottom right, which can be folded or closed.

## Your own words, kept or reused {#kept}

- **Starred messages** are personal; **Pinned Messages** are shared by the members of a channel ([Find, pin and star messages](find-pin-and-star-messages)).
- **Canned responses** belong to their author and are shared through their **Authorized Groups**.
- **Roles** group users so that one mention reaches them all ([Create a channel and invite people](create-a-channel-and-invite-people#roles)).

## The Bot {#bot}

On a user's first visit, the Bot can open a direct chat with a short guide: send an emoji, type a command after **/**, mention the Bot, send a file, call a canned response with **::**. Typing "start the tour" in that chat plays it again. The demo users have it switched off.

## What Discuss does not do {#limits}

- It does not keep a deleted message: deleting empties it, and the line reads "This message has been removed".
- It prints nothing: Discuss has no report.
- Calls and meetings (**Start Call**, **Start Video Call**, **New Meeting**) use the camera and microphone of the browser; they are not covered by these pages.
- Its background jobs are listed in [Discuss automations](discuss-automations), its options in [Discuss settings](discuss-settings).

## Who may do what {#access}

| Role | Can |
|---|---|
| Every internal user | Create channels, chats and group chats; invite colleagues into the channels they belong to; join and leave the channels they may see; edit and delete their own messages; create their own canned responses and mention roles. |
| **Administrator** | All of the above, plus see every channel, delete channels, edit and delete any message, manage the shared canned responses, and create and change roles. |

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/discuss/how-discuss-reaches-you
- Updated: 2026-10-27
- Version: Discuss 19.0.1.19