The Chats feed displays chats to help you maintain awareness of all the communications taking place during a mission. Chat threads are shown in the order they are received, with the most recent displayed at the top. Users can choose to display all mission chats, or only those chats they took part in, by selecting the option at the top of the feed.
Note:
Because chats sometimes contain sketches paired with text and image attachments, they are sometimes referred to as geomessages. These terms can be interchangeable, but the term geomessage is most often used to refer to a sketch that has been paired with text or other information.
Chats
Chat threads are displayed in the panel with the following information:
- Sender—The name of the mission member who sent the chat
- Time—The approximate time the message was sent
- Last Message—The most recent message sent as part of that chat thread
The chat feed allows users to send or reply to chats, which are detailed here. However, viewing sketches and attachments can be done from the feed as well.
View a sketch inside the chat feed
Sketches appear on the mission map, but can also be accessed from the chat feed. To view a sketch from inside the chat feed, complete the following steps:
- Enter the mission analyst view.
- Open the Chats feed.
- Find the chat thread containing the sketch you want to view.
- Locate the chat containing the sketch.
- Click Sent a Sketch.
The map will zoom to the sketch, centering it and zooming to the maximum extent. A pop-up will also appear, displaying the message the sketch was sent with.
View an attachment inside the chat feed
From the mission analyst view, attachments sent with chats can only be accessed from the chat feed. To view an attachment, complete the following steps:
- Enter the mission analyst view.
- Open the Chats feed.
- Find the chat thread containing the attachment you want to view.
- Locate the chat containing the sketch.
- Click Sent an Image. If more than one attachment was sent with the same message, the number of attachments will be shown instead.
The image viewer will open, displaying the attachments. You can view multiple attachments by scrolling through them in the image viewer, and you can download the attachment you are viewing by clicking the download button in the viewer.
Filter messages
The Filter Messages button allows you to organize the Chats feed based on specific members or teams. Selecting a mission member or team from the list displays only the message traffic associated with your filter in the Chats feed and mission map. This helps you to emphasize or isolate specific events of activity that occur in the mission. It also makes it easier to find a specific feed item, especially in missions with heavy feed traffic.
To filter the Chats feed, complete the following steps:
- Browse to the Chats feed.
- Click the Filter Messages button.
The Filter menu appears.
- Select the members or teams you want to filter. Optionally, uncheck the Apply filters to the map option so your filter does not reflect in the mission map.
This is enabled by default.
- Click Apply to apply the filter.
To clear your Chats filter, complete the following:
- Browse to the Chats feed.
- Click the More menu.
- Click Filter Messages.
- Click Clear All.
The Chats feed updates to display all tasks.
Sort chats
The Sort Chats button allows you to sort your messages based on key fields and in a specific sort direction. The Chats feed is sorted by date received with the most recent message on top by default.
To sort the Chats feed, complete the following steps:
- Browse to the Chats feed.
- Click the Sort Messages button.
The Sort menu appears.
- Click a key field in the Sort menu:
- Received
- Sender
- Unread
- Optionally, choose a sort direction.
This will change depending on what key field you choose to sort by.
The Chats feed updates.
Cache messages
If you are the mission owner or mission lead, you have the option of caching sketches to remove them from the Chats feed and mission map for all mission members. To cache sketches, complete the following steps:
- Once you open your mission, browse to the Chats feed.
- Locate the sketch you want to cache and click it in the feed.
The Cache button appears.
- Click the Cache button.
A dialog box appears to confirm that you want to hide this chat from other members of the mission.
- Click Cache. Click Cancel if you do not want to hide the sketch.
Your mission map and feed update by caching the mission activity accordingly.
To view cached messages, complete the following steps:
- Browse to the Chats feed.
- Click the More menu.
- Click View Cached Chats.
- Click Restore Chat.
A dialog box appears asking to confirm your action to restore the message back into the feed.
- Click Restore.
The Chats feed updates with the remaining cached messages.
More menu
The More menu contains the Mark All as Read and Collapse All tools. The Mark All as Read tool removes the unread indicator from all chats in your feed. The Collapse All option allows you to close all chat threads you have opened and display the chat feed in list form again.