Start a New Chat

Pick the people you want to talk to and start a direct or group conversation.

This screen lists everyone you can message, grouped under your own Agency and any Mutual Aid Agencies you are connected to. Tap people to select them, then create the conversation. Choosing one other person starts a direct chat; choosing two or more creates a group, where you are asked to give it a name and a color. The same screen is reused to change the members of a group you already have.

Overview

Control	What it does
Screen title	Reads New Chat normally, or Invite Users when you reach it from the calendar.
Search field	Filters everyone in every section by first and last name as you type.
Agency section	Your own organization's members, sorted by first name.
Mutual Aid Agencies section	Members from each connected partner agency, each agency under its own name.
Section header	Shows the agency name with an arrow. Tap to expand or collapse.
Person row	Initials badge, name, agency name, a color dot, and a checkbox.
Checkbox	A filled checkmark means selected; an empty square means not selected.
Action button	Reads Create for a new chat, Update when editing members, Done when invited from the calendar.
Back button	Leaves without creating a chat or saving member changes.

Reading a person's row

Element	What it tells you
Initials badge	Initials taken from the person's name, or from their company name if they have one.
Name	The person's full name, or the company name for an organizational contact.
Agency label	Which agency the person belongs to — your own or the partner agency.
Color dot	The person's directory color, so the same person looks the same everywhere.
Checkbox	Whether they are in your selection right now.

note

Your own entry is hidden from this list when you are building a chat, because you are always included automatically. It does appear when the screen is used to invite people to a calendar event.

Getting Here

1. Open the Messages module from Home.
2. On the Chat list, tap the + button and choose Create new chat.
3. The people picker appears with your Agency section already expanded.

You also reach this screen from a group's details when you want to change who is in it — see Group Chat Details.

Select People

1. Scroll the Agency and Mutual Aid Agencies lists, or type a name into the Search field.
2. Tap a section header to collapse an agency you are not interested in, and tap it again to expand it. The arrow flips to show the state.
3. Tap a person's row to select them; the checkbox fills in. Tap the row again to clear it.
4. You can mix people from your own agency and from more than one partner agency in the same conversation.

tip

Search looks at first and last name together and ignores capital letters, so typing part of a surname is usually the fastest way to find someone in a large directory.

Create the Conversation

What happens when you tap Create depends on how many people you picked.

People selected	Result
None	Nothing happens. Select at least one person first.
Exactly one	A direct chat is created and opens straight away, with the other person's name as the chat name.
One, and a chat already exists	The existing conversation opens instead of a duplicate being created.
Two or more	A popup asks for a group name and color, then the group is created and opens.

1. Select your people.
2. Tap Create.
3. For a group, type a name and choose a color in the popup, then confirm. The group opens with the message field ready.

tip

You are added to every conversation you create, so there is no need to select yourself. A group therefore ends up with one more member than you picked.

Edit Group Members

When you arrive here from a group's details, the current members are already checked and the action button reads Update.

1. Tap extra people to add them; their checkbox fills in.
2. Tap current members to remove them; their checkbox clears.
3. Tap Update to save.

Only the difference is sent: people you added are added, and people you unchecked are removed. Members who were already there and stayed are left untouched.

caution

A group must keep more than two members in total. If your selection leaves too few, the app shows "Minimum 2 members required for a group" and nothing is saved — adjust the selection and tap Update again.

Empty and Loading States

Situation	What you see
No Mutual Aid partners	The Mutual Aid Agencies section is not shown at all.
A collapsed section	The header stays visible with a right-pointing arrow and no rows beneath it.
A search with no matches	The sections stay, but with no rows under them. Clear the field to bring everyone back.
Saving	A brief loading indicator while the conversation or the membership change is sent.

How This Connects

• Where the people come from. This list is your agency directory plus the directories of each Mutual Aid partner your agency is connected to. Names, initials, colors, and agency labels are all directory values, so the way someone appears here matches the way they appear in the Directory module and on a phone call screen.
• What updates it. The directory is refreshed by the app's normal sync. Someone who joined your agency today appears here once that sync has run, and someone who left stops appearing.
• Shared with other screens. A chat you create here shows up immediately on the Messages List and opens in Chat View. Its name and color are the same ones you can change later from the list's long-press Edit or from Group Chat Details.
• Chats and incidents. A conversation created here is a standalone thread in the Messages module. Conversations that belong to an incident are created from that incident's Comms tab instead, so that the thread stays tied to the incident and follows its state.
• Offline behavior. The people list is stored on your device and works offline, so you can browse and select. Creating the conversation and saving member changes both need a connection — without one, the request is not sent and no chat appears. Reconnect and try again.

Troubleshooting

If this happens	What to do
Someone you expect is not listed	Check the section is expanded, then clear the search field. If they are still missing, their directory record has not synced yet.
You cannot find yourself	That is expected. You are added automatically when the conversation is created.
Tapping Create does nothing	No one is selected. Select at least one person.
"Minimum 2 members required for a group"	Your edit would leave the group too small. Add someone back before tapping Update.
A duplicate chat did not get created	Intentional — the app opens the existing one-on-one conversation instead of making a second one.
The new chat never appears	The create request needs a connection. Reconnect and repeat the selection.

Related Pages

• Messages List
• Chat View
• Group Chat Details
• Rename a Chat

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