Most shops run their staff conversations on WhatsApp. It works, until a message about a customer's order is buried between family photos and a broadcast, and nobody can tell which order "that one from yesterday" meant.

Chat in Tabs keeps work talk next to the work. Its real advantage is that a message can point straight at the order, product or customer it's about.

Starting a chat

Go to Chat and press New chat. Search for a teammate by name or role and pick them. That opens a direct chat between the two of you.

There's only ever one direct chat per person. If you already have one with them, Tabs opens it.

A new chat doesn't exist for the other person until you send the first message. So nobody sees an empty chat appear from someone who never wrote anything.

Groups

For a conversation among several people, choose New group.

  1. Pick at least two other people.
  2. Give the group a name.

You're added automatically. Groups you might set up: one per store, one for managers, one for deliveries.

You can add more people later. They'll see the whole conversation from the start, so keep that in mind before adding someone to a group that has discussed them.

Open the group's details to see who's in it, the files that have been shared, and the items that have been tagged.

  • Only the person who made the group can rename it.
  • The person who made the group can remove someone from it, if their role also allows moderating chats. The group sees that the person was removed.
  • Anyone can leave a group. It then drops out of their chat list, and someone in the group can add them back.

Sending messages

Type in the box and send. Your message appears straight away and is slightly faded until it's delivered. If it fails, it says so under the message, with a reason, and the message stays put so you can try again.

You can also:

  • Attach files. Up to 5 per message, 20 MB each. Drag them onto the conversation or use the attach button.
  • Reply to a specific message. Double-click it. Your reply shows the message it answers, and clicking that jumps back to the original.
  • React with an emoji. One reaction per person on each message. Click yours again to take it back.
  • Edit or delete a message you sent. A deleted message shows as deleted.
  • Format your text. Select some words and a small toolbar appears.
  • Add an emoji by typing. Type a colon and a couple of letters, like :smi, and pick from the list.
  • Share a link. Paste one and Tabs adds a preview card. Close the card if you'd rather send the link without it.

You can see when someone is typing.

Tagging an order, product or customer

This is the feature to learn first.

Type # in the message box. A picker opens. Search for what you mean and choose it. You can tag:

  • orders
  • products
  • customers
  • stores
  • suppliers
  • transfers
  • people

The tag appears in your message as a chip. Your colleague clicks it and lands on that exact order or customer.

Compare two messages. "The woman who came this morning hasn't paid for the shoes." And: "#ORD-1042 still has a balance, can you call her?" The second can't be misread, and the order is one click away.

You can only tag things your role lets you view. If a tagged item is later deleted, or the person reading can't view it, the tag stays in the message and simply can't be opened.

Keeping up with your chats

Chats with new messages show an unread count, and the Chat link in the menu shows the total.

Each chat has a menu with ways to manage it:

  • Pin to top. Up to 3 chats.
  • Mute notifications.
  • Mark as unread, to come back to it later, or Mark as read.
  • Open in new tab.
  • Copy link.

Search your conversations from the top of the list.

Notifications

To be told about new messages while Tabs isn't in front of you, open Settings, then Notifications, and turn on chat notifications for this device. Your browser will ask for permission the first time.

If your browser is blocking notifications from Tabs, allow them in the browser's site settings, then turn the switch on again.

This is set per device. Turn it on for your shop computer and for your phone separately.

When someone leaves the business

Their messages stay, with their name on them. In a group, they're listed apart from the current members.

A direct chat with someone who has left becomes read only. You can still read the history, but there's nobody to send to.

Who can do what

Chat has several permissions: reading chats, sending messages, starting new chats, adding people to groups, and moderating.

A role can be allowed to read chats without being allowed to send. Someone with that role sees a notice where the message box would be.

One thing catches people out. If a role can't see the list of members, it has nobody to pick when starting a chat. Tabs says so in the New chat window. Fix it by letting that role view members. See members and roles.

Using chat well

  • Tag instead of describing. It's quicker to type and can't be misunderstood.
  • Keep one group per purpose. A deliveries group that only talks deliveries stays useful.
  • Put decisions in writing. "Okay to give Mr Bello credit up to ₦50,000" in chat is a record you can find again.
  • Don't use it for the count. Stock numbers belong in inventory, where they're recorded properly.