## Overview

Every Internal Chat conversation — a **channel**, a **direct message** or an **announcement** — has
its own **action menu**. It is how you keep your list under control without depending on anyone
else: move aside what you are not using, pin what you follow every day, mute what interrupts too
much, and mark as unread the message you want to answer later.

The actions fall into two groups, and telling them apart is what matters most:

- **Only for you** — mark as read/unread, mute, pin and archive. Nobody else notices, and the
  conversation keeps working normally for the other participants.
- **For everyone** — channel settings, leave and delete. These change the room for the whole team
  and are restricted to whoever has permission.

## Prerequisites

- The **Internal Chat** module enabled for the account.
- An active user (agent) in the account.
- For **settings** and **delete**: being a **channel owner/admin** or an **account administrator**.
  Every other action is available to any participant.

## Step by step

**1. Open the action menu**

Three ways in, all opening the same menu:

1. Hover the conversation in the list and click the **⋮** icon on the right.
2. Or **right-click** anywhere on the conversation row.
3. Or, with the conversation open, use the **⋮** in the header, next to the name.

On phones and tablets the **⋮** is always visible on the row, and the menu opens as a panel at the
bottom of the screen.

**2. Mark as read or unread**

- **Mark as read** shows up when the conversation has new messages: it clears the badge without
  opening it.
- **Mark as unread** brings the badge back to a conversation you already read — the way to leave a
  visual reminder that it still needs an answer.

**3. Mute notifications**

Choose **Mute notifications** and then for how long:

| Option | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **For 8 hours** | Pauses the alerts until the end of the working day; comes back on its own. |
| **For 1 week** | Pauses for seven days; comes back on its own. |
| **Only when I'm mentioned** | You are only alerted when someone uses **@** with your name. |
| **Until I turn it back on** | No alert at all, not even a mention, until you undo it. |

To undo it, open the menu again and pick **Turn notifications back on**. A muted conversation shows
a crossed-out bell next to its name.

**4. Pin to top**

**Pin to top** keeps the conversation at the beginning of **your** section (Channels, Direct
Messages or Announcements), above the rest, no matter when the last message arrived. Pinning does
not move the conversation out of its section and changes nothing for the other participants.

**5. Archive the conversation (only for you)**

**Archive conversation** takes the row out of your active list and puts it under the **Archived**
filter. Nobody else is affected: the other side keeps seeing it and writing normally.

If a new message arrives, the conversation **comes back on its own** — unless you also **muted** it.
Archive + mute together is the "I don't want to see this for a while" mode; archiving alone is just
"done with it for today".

To bring it back by hand: switch the list filter to **Archived**, open the conversation menu and
choose **Move out of the archive**.

**6. Leave channel**

Available on channels and announcements (a direct conversation has no "leave"). You stop receiving
its messages and disappear from the member list; to come back you have to join again — in a private
channel, someone has to add you. If you are the **only owner**, transfer ownership before leaving.

**7. Delete**

Restricted to a **channel owner/admin** or an **account administrator**. It deletes the conversation
and **all of its history for every participant**, with no way back. The menu asks for a confirmation
first.

## Settings & options

- **List filter** — **All chats**, **Unread** and **Archived**, under the filter icon at the top of
  the list. The **Archived** filter shows both the conversations **you** archived and the channels
  archived by an administrator.
- **Row markers** — the **pin** means a pinned conversation; the **crossed-out bell**, a muted one.
- **Last message preview** — each row shows who spoke last and the beginning of the message. Someone
  else's **Private note** never shows up in that preview.
- **Join channel** — on a public channel you are not in yet, the menu offers **Join channel**
  instead of the member actions.

## Use cases

- **A clean inbox**: archive the conversations you settled today. The ones that get a new message
  come back on their own.
- **Answer later**: read it on your phone but you will answer from the computer? **Mark as unread**
  so the thread does not get lost.
- **Project in focus**: **pin** this week's project channel to the top of the Channels section.
- **Long meeting**: **mute for 8 hours** the busiest channel and get everything back automatically
  afterwards.

## Tips, limits & best practices

- **Archiving a conversation ≠ archiving a channel.** Archiving from the menu is **only for you**.
  Archiving the **channel** (in the settings, an administrator action) closes the room for
  **everyone** and makes it read-only. See the channel management article.
- **Muting does not hide**: the conversation stays in the list and the unread badge keeps counting;
  what stops is the alert.
- **Prefer archiving over deleting.** Archiving is reversible and only affects you; deleting wipes
  the history for the whole team.
- **Leaving a private channel is expensive**: without an invite from a member you cannot come back
  on your own.

## Troubleshooting

- **The action is still being processed**: the controls become temporarily unavailable to prevent
  duplicate clicks. The menu closes when the change succeeds; if it fails, the menu stays open and
  shows an alert so you can retry in the same context.
- **I don't see the ⋮ icon on the row**: on a computer it appears on hover; you can also
  **right-click** the row. With the keyboard, use **Tab** to reach the conversation actions button.
- **The conversation I archived came back**: that is the expected behaviour when a new message
  arrives. To keep it archived, **mute** the conversation as well.
- **I can't find an archived conversation**: switch the list filter to **Archived**.
- **I don't see the delete option**: deleting requires being a **channel owner/admin** or an
  **account administrator**.
- **I can't leave a direct message**: a direct conversation has no "leave" — archive it instead.

## See also

- [Notifications, unread and presence in Internal Chat](/hc/ajuda/articles/internal-chat-notificacoes-nao-lidas-presenca-en)
- [Managing channels: archive, restore, delete and link to teams](/hc/ajuda/articles/internal-chat-gerenciar-canais-arquivo-e-equipes-en)
- [Channels, direct messages and announcements](/hc/ajuda/articles/internal-chat-canais-diretas-anuncios-en)