Overview
Harmonize Chat allows Teachers and Students to communicate in real-time. Both instructors and students can:
- Chat with other users in any of their courses that have Harmonize installed.
- Create private or group conversations.
- Block / Unblock a user.
- Mute / Unmute a conversation.
- Set their status as online, Away, Busy or Offline.
- Mark individual messages as unread.
- Mark all conversations as read.
- Delete their own messages.
- Disable / Enable Chat.
- View saved conversations.
Accessing Harmonize Chat
From the Harmonize Navigation Menu
- Select the Chat icon located in the Harmonize navigation menu.
- Click New Chat to open a new chat in a new tab.
- Click on any Chat Message to open the chat thread in a new tab.
- Click on the Settings gear icon to view Chat settings.
From the User Profile
- In Harmonize Discussion, clicking on anyone's name or profile picture will display a profile popup.
- Click on the Chat button in the profile popup to start a private conversation with that user.
From the Harmonize Communication Center
- Click the Chat card to open Harmonize Chat in a new tab.
Chat Settings
Clicking settings from your profile or the chat icon opens up Chat Settings.
- Open Chat: click the Open Chat button to open Chat in a new window
- Turn On Chat Notifications: Enable notifications of chat activity on your device. See the full support article on Harmonize Chat Desktop Notifications for more details.
- Disable Chat: Disabling chat removes chat from your profile. Other users will no longer be able to chat with you and you will not be able to chat with others.
- Enable Chat: You can select Enable Chat to turn chat back on and create new conversations or view previous conversations.
Creating a New Conversation
On the Chat window, click New Chat button to create a new conversation. You can add recipients to your new conversation two different ways:
- Select Recipients from the right hand side using the dropdown to filter users by your classes.
- Start typing a user's name in the To field at the top and select the user from the list.
- Type your message at the bottom and click Send or press Enter to start a conversation.
- NOTE: Once a conversation is begun, you will no longer be able to add or remove recipients from the conversation. You can, however, create as many conversations with different recipients as you need.
- NOTE: Once a conversation is begun, you will no longer be able to add or remove recipients from the conversation. You can, however, create as many conversations with different recipients as you need.
Types of Messages
There are several types of messages you can send in a conversation.
- Simple text messages.
- URL links.
- Document files for downloading.
- Images and Videos that can be displayed and played in the conversation view.
@ Mentions in Chat
You have the ability to @ mention members of your chat thread.
- Begin by typing the @ character in the chat thread. Select the member of chat thread you'd like to @ mention from the drop down menu that appears.
- Type your chat message and click Send.
- Your new chat message will appear in the thread and @mentioned member will receive a notification.
- Click the name of the @ mentioned classmate to see their profile.
NOTE: @ mentioning classmates that leave a chat will re-add them to the chat thread.
Setting Your Presence
All Harmonize users have a presence, noted by the circle indicator on their profile picture and listed on their profile popup. Your presence can be set, regardless if you have Harmonize Chat installed.
- By default, when you are logged into Harmonize, your presence will be set to Online.
- Clicking on your profile image in the top header of Harmonize, you can change your status to be Online, Busy, Away or Show as Offline.
- You can still chat with recipients that are away, busy or offline.
Blocking Contacts
- You can block or unblock recipients from a conversation by selecting the menu option next to one of the user's messages and clicking Block Contact.
- Blocked users can still send messages.
- Private Conversations: you will not see any messages from the blocked user.
- Group Conversations: other recipients in the conversation will see the messages, but you will simply see A message has been sent from this blocked contact.
- Use the same menu option to unblock the recipient.
Mute a Conversation
If you no longer want to be notified about new messages in a conversation, you can mute the conversations.
- Select the conversation you want to mute, click on the menu button in the upper right corner of the conversation view and select Mute.
- The conversation will show a bell icon with a slash through it to note it has been mute.
- Muted conversations will move down to the bottom of your conversation list on the left.
- Others in the group will not be informed that you have muted the conversation.
- To Unmute, select the menu option again and click Unmute.
Leaving a Chat Conversation
You have the ability to leave any individual or group chat. To do so:
- Click the menu icon next to your Profile picture in the top right corner of the Chat window.
- Choose Leave from the drop down menu.
- The Leave Conversation confirmation prompt will appear. Please note:
- This chat will no longer appear in your conversation list.
- You will no longer receive any notifications about this chat.
- Chat message history is preserved.
- You may rejoin the chat in the future.
- Click Leave.
- You are now removed from the chat. Your messages will remain in the chat thread, but you will show as unavailable to the remainder of the chat participants.
Rejoining a Chat Conversation
- Start a new chat by either clicking New Chat link from the Chat icon in the Harmonize Navigation Menu:
- Or by clicking the New Chat button in Harmonize Chat:
- In the To field, add member(s) of the chat thread you wish to rejoin.
- Type your chat message and click Send.
- You have successfully rejoined the chat. All messages in the thread are now viewable.
NOTE: @ mentioning classmates that leave a chat will re-add them to the chat thread. See @ mentions for more information.
Deleting Chat Messages
You can delete any message that you have sent in any of your conversations.
- Find the message you want to delete, click the menu button next to the message and click Delete.
- You will need to confirm that you want to delete the message to complete the action. NOTE: Deleted messages cannot be retrieved.
- Deleted messages are removed from every recipient's view of the conversation.
Mark Messages as Unread
- If you want to mark a message as unread, click on the menu button next to a message and click Mark as Unread.
- The conversation will be updated to show the unread message count in the conversation list on the left side of the page.
- Marking a message as unread will also mark any messages below it as unread as well.
Chat Conversation Options
Clicking the menu button above the conversations list displays 3 options:
- Mark All as Read: marks all messages in all conversations as read.
- View Blocked Contacts: displays a list of all contacts you have blocked and offers an option to unblock individual users.
- Settings: opens up your Chat Settings.
Chat Notifications
In the Harmonize Communication Center
New messages that have not been read are represented by a red badge icon on the Chat card in the Harmonize Communication Center.
- Click Open Chat to read these messages.
In the Harmonize Navigation Menu
New messages that have not been read are represented by a red badge icon on the Chat icon in the Harmonize Navigation Menu.
- Click the Chat icon to see a preview of these messages.
- Click any chat notification to open the chat thread in a new tab.
- Click View All in Chat to open Harmonize Chat in a tab.
Email Notifications
You have the option to receive email notifications when new chat messages are received. This setting can be updated at any time by visiting the Notification Settings section of your Harmonize Profile. Please see the following articles for more information.