Chat during a meeting

Room chat

Every room has a text chat. Messages stay in the room, so people who join later can read the history.

Open the chat

1. Click the Chat button at the bottom right of the room. It shares one button group with Live captions (CC), to its left.
2. A number on the button shows how many new messages you have not seen.
3. To close the chat, click the X (Close), click the Chat button again, or press Escape. On the canvas, clicking outside the panel also closes it. In conversation mode on a computer, the chat opens as a column beside the camera grid and only closes with the X, the Chat button, or Escape.

Send a message

1. Type in the box that says Type your message here.
2. Press Enter to send. Press Shift+Enter for a new line.

Links in messages become clickable and open in a new tab.

Dictate a message

1. Click the microphone button in the message box (Dictate a message). If your room microphone is muted, Pactto unmutes it.
2. Speak. Your words appear in the box (the box shows Listening… speak now).
3. Click Stop dictation, check the text, then send it. Dictated text is never sent automatically.

React to a message

1. Hover over a message and click the emoji button to its right (Add reaction). You can also choose Add reaction in the message's three-dot menu.
2. Pick an emoji from the quick set, or click More emoji for the full list.

Reactions appear as small pills on the bottom right corner of the message, each with its emoji and a count once two or more people use it. Up to three pills show. When more emoji are used, a fourth pill such as +2 says how many more there are.

• Each person has one reaction per message. Picking another emoji swaps yours.
• Click a pill to react with that emoji, or click your own pill again to remove your reaction.
• Hover over a pill to see who reacted, with an All tab and one tab per emoji.
• Anyone in the room can react, including viewers and guests, and you can react to your own messages.
• If a reaction fails to save, it goes back and you see Couldn't save the reaction. Try again.

Copy, edit, or delete a message

1. Click the three-dot button in the top right corner of the message (Message options).
2. Choose:
   • Add reaction to react with an emoji (see above).
   • Copy message to copy the text. Available on every message.
   • Edit message to change your own message. Press Enter (or click outside the box) to save, or Escape to cancel. Edited messages show (edited).
   • Delete message to remove it for everyone. Only the room owner sees this option, and it works on any message. Confirm with Yes, delete message. This cannot be undone.

If the chat connection drops

The chat has its own connection. When it drops, the canvas, cameras, and audio keep working.

• The chat panel shows Reconnecting to chat… at the top while Pactto reconnects. It keeps retrying on its own and tries again right away when your internet or the browser tab comes back.
• A message you send while the chat is reconnecting waits and goes out when the connection is back.
• If it cannot be sent, you see Your message wasn't sent. Check your connection and try again. and the text goes back into the message box so you can send it again.
• Messages others sent while you were disconnected appear after the chat reconnects, and count as unread.
• If earlier messages fail to load when you join, you see Couldn't load the chat history. You can still send and receive new messages.
• Failed to join chat means the chat could not connect. Pactto keeps trying, and the message appears only once.

An edit or deletion someone made while your chat was disconnected may only show after you reload the room.

Good to know

• When you open the chat with unread messages, it scrolls to an Unread messages marker.
• If you are reading older messages and new ones arrive, click New messages to jump to the latest.
• Messages show the sender's avatar, name, and time, grouped by day (Today, Yesterday, or the date).
• The chat, the AI assistant, and live captions panels open one at a time. Opening one closes the others.
• Consecutive messages from the same person are grouped under one name.