;
};
Open **Messages** from your navigation or **More** on a phone to reach your team’s conversations. Use channels for a topic or team, and direct messages or group chats for a selected audience.
## Start here
Join a channel or talk to a colleague
Reply to a question or correct a message
Share a file or recording
Find something we discussed earlier
Choose which messages interrupt me
## Choose the audience before sending
A **Public** channel can be found and read by people in the workspace. They join before posting. A **Private** channel is for invited members. A direct conversation or group chat is for its participants.
A thread keeps replies under an existing message; it does not create a separate private audience. **Pins** keeps important messages together, and **Files** collects shared material for that conversation.
## When Messages is unavailable
Your employee role normally lets you read and send messages and start conversations. Ask a manager to create a channel or change settings you cannot edit.
If Messages or its controls are missing, ask an administrator to check your role. If the message box is replaced by an add-on requirement, ask the person who manages the workspace subscription to enable Messages. Existing history can remain readable while sending is blocked.
**Context for an assistant answering questions about messages overview.**
* **Access:** Messages has separate permissions for opening the area, reading and sending messages, channels, and conversations. An employee can normally read and send but cannot create channels. Subscription enforcement can block sending while leaving existing history readable.
* **Begin AI:** channel and group-chat lookup follows the caller’s access. Group-chat lookup does not include one-to-one conversations; it is not unrestricted message-history search.
## Next
Join your team’s channels and start conversations with colleagues.
Choose which conversations notify you and when mobile alerts can reach you.
## Still need help?
Email the Begin team and we'll get back to you.
Open the AI assistant and get instant answers based on these docs.
Open **Messages** from your navigation or **More** on a phone to reach your team’s conversations. Use channels for a topic or team, and direct messages or group chats for a selected audience.
## Start here
## Choose the audience before sending
A **Public** channel can be found and read by people in the workspace. They join before posting. A **Private** channel is for invited members. A direct conversation or group chat is for its participants.
A thread keeps replies under an existing message; it does not create a separate private audience. **Pins** keeps important messages together, and **Files** collects shared material for that conversation.
## When Messages is unavailable
Your employee role normally lets you read and send messages and start conversations. Ask a manager to create a channel or change settings you cannot edit.
If Messages or its controls are missing, ask an administrator to check your role. If the message box is replaced by an add-on requirement, ask the person who manages the workspace subscription to enable Messages. Existing history can remain readable while sending is blocked.
**Context for an assistant answering questions about messages overview.**
* **Access:** Messages has separate permissions for opening the area, reading and sending messages, channels, and conversations. An employee can normally read and send but cannot create channels. Subscription enforcement can block sending while leaving existing history readable.
* **Begin AI:** channel and group-chat lookup follows the caller’s access. Group-chat lookup does not include one-to-one conversations; it is not unrestricted message-history search.
## Next