Create a Chat Channel

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At a glance

Creating a chat channel gives your team a role-scoped conversation that auto-populates with every team member who has a specific permission in a specific area (for example, all Shift Leaders on FOH, or all Trainers across BOH). You press the plus-edit icon, pick New Channel, select the permission level and area, name the channel, and press Create. Shift Leader permission or higher is required. Direct messages use the same plus-edit icon but follow a different flow (you pick specific team members instead of a role-and-area filter).

Before you start

1. You need Shift Leader permission or higher to create a channel. Team Leader and below can participate in channels but cannot create them.
2. Decide the channel's purpose before you create it. Channels are defined by permission-level-plus-area; pick the combination that matches who should be in the conversation. Common patterns: all Trainers on FOH, all Shift Leaders across the store, all Team Members on BOH.
3. Pick a clear, short channel name that describes what the channel is for. Channels are shared across your store and should read well in the channel list.
4. Estimated time: under a minute.

Steps

To create a channel:

1. Open the Chat screen from the left navigation menu.
2. Press the plus-edit icon in the Chat view.
3. Select New Channel from the options.
4. Choose both the permission level and the area for the channel. Selecting only one of the two will not complete the filter; you need both to define the channel's auto-populated membership.
5. Name the channel. Use a short descriptor that reads clearly in the channel list (for example, "FOH Trainers" or "BOH Shift Leaders").
6. Press Create. The channel appears in your Chat view and every team member who matches the permission-and-area filter is automatically added. If any of those team members have not signed in and accepted chat yet, they will be added as soon as they do.
7. Send a welcome message to orient the channel to its purpose so members know why it exists when they first open it.

To create a direct message instead:

1. Press the plus-edit icon in the Chat view.
2. Select Direct Message.
3. Add the team members you want to include. Unlike channels, DMs do not auto-populate from roles; you pick specific individuals.
4. Name the DM so it is easy to find later in your Chat list.
5. Press Create.

Video

Video coming soon.

Common gotchas

I am a Team Leader and the New Channel option is not available.

Channel creation requires Shift Leader or higher. Team Leaders can participate in channels created by others but cannot create their own. If your store needs Team Leaders to create channels, an Operator can adjust the permission under Permissions settings; otherwise, ask a Shift Leader or Manager to create the channel for you.

I created the channel but none of the team members I expected are in it.

Confirm both parts of the filter are correct. A channel defined as "Team Leader on FOH" only includes team members with Team Leader permission AND an FOH area assignment. If your target team members are Team Leaders but assigned to BOH, they will not appear. From the channel's three-dot menu, you have two separate options to check: Manage Roles and Areas (to adjust the permission-and-area filter that auto-populates membership) and Manage Members (to view or manually adjust who is currently in the channel).

A team member was in the channel yesterday but is no longer a member today.

This usually means the team member's permission or area changed. Channels follow roles automatically; if the team member was demoted or moved to a different area, they are no longer part of the channel's filter. Check their profile for their current permission and area. If the change was unintended, correct it on the profile and the team member will be re-added to the channel automatically.

I want the channel to include team members from multiple areas.

Channels take exactly one permission level and one area. If you need a channel that spans areas (for example, all Shift Leaders regardless of FOH or BOH assignment), that is not directly supported; create one channel per area, or consider a DM with explicit membership. If this is a frequent need, submit the use case as a feature request.

I created a DM and added someone who is not showing up in the conversation.

New team members do not appear in chat until they have signed in for the first time and pressed Accept on chat. If the DM member has not activated chat yet, they will appear once they do.

I created an announcement channel and do not want team members to be able to post in it.

Use the Freeze action from the channel's three-dot menu. In a frozen channel, only Shift Leader and higher can post; everyone else can read but not respond. Unfreeze when you want two-way conversation again.

I want to delete a channel I created by mistake.

The channel's three-dot menu has a Delete action that removes the channel after a confirmation dialog. Members lose access to the history once the channel is deleted; if the conversation might be useful later, consider renaming and repurposing it instead.

Related articles

1. Understand Chat Channels and Direct Messages (Reference)
2. Configure Notification Settings (How-To Guides), for the global Silence Chat Notifications toggle
3. Understand Permission Levels (Reference)

Still stuck

If you cannot create a channel, the permission-and-area options are not appearing correctly, or a newly created channel does not auto-populate, submit a support ticket with your store number, the channel name you attempted, the permission-and-area filter you selected, and a screenshot of the Chat create flow. Support typically responds within one business day.

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Pre-publish checklist

19 17ac95d3-e725-463c-8fab-6bda6e07ac67 complete Seven sections filled.

20 dd6838d7-bd1c-4121-a716-79d630d9e2b6 complete Multi-path How-To pattern: primary channel creation flow plus secondary DM flow.

21 cd452a79-2ead-49a4-8321-4c7dc9696703 complete Final step is a confirmation step (send a welcome message to confirm the channel is live).

22 9a37102c-063a-4d0c-b318-3282f98ed78f complete No em dashes, no hedge words.

23 d68a26e5-7330-4352-a233-4afaff9cf5ea complete Permission-based role references; Shift Leader+ requirement documented.

24 028b4971-684d-4836-b7f3-755c37d6eb50 complete Permission-plus-area both-required rule documented.

25 8a861b0d-ce0e-4873-a6d5-57fff3edf7d9 complete v2 2026-05-05: Three-dot menu corrected. "Manage Members/Role and Areas" split into two separate entries: "Manage Roles and Areas" and "Manage Members". Source: F-72.

26 6366c4d7-cc95-4223-910e-e8abdd2cbbe4 incomplete UI verified against Production.

27 4cbee76b-664c-475b-a89d-85059a0e568f incomplete Screenshots to be inserted (plus-edit icon, New Channel vs Direct Message selector, permission-and-area dropdown, name field, Create button, three-dot menu showing two separate Manage entries).

28 0a88909e-2e92-4f12-9a69-3c657061c1d4 incomplete Reviewed by Jared and Kevin.