Staff Chat

Staff Chat is ORCA's built-in team messaging system - a place for your team to communicate in real time without leaving the platform. It's separate from client-facing records and designed for the quick back-and-forth that keeps work moving.

Opening Staff Chat

Click the chat bubble icon in the top-right of the navigation bar to open the side panel, then select the Staff Chat tab. If there are unread messages, the icon shows a badge with the total unread count across all your channels - clicking it will take you straight to the Staff Chat tab automatically.

Channels

Conversations in Staff Chat are organised into channels. When you first open Staff Chat, you'll be automatically joined to the General channel, which is available to everyone in your account.

Additional channels can be created for teams, projects, or topics, keeping conversations focused without cluttering a single thread.

Sending Messages

Type your message in the composer at the bottom of the panel and press Enter to send. If you need a line break within a message, use Cmd+Enter (Mac) or Ctrl+Enter (Windows/Linux), or Shift+Enter.

@mentions

To notify a specific team member, type @ followed by their name. They'll be alerted to your message even if they're on a different page.

Reading Messages

Messages are grouped by sender and time, with date separators to help you follow the flow of a conversation. If a channel has a long history, you can load older messages using the load more button at the top of the thread.

Unread Count

The nav bar badge shows the total number of unread messages across all channels. Once you open a channel and read the messages, the count clears automatically.

Online Presence

Staff Chat shows which team members are currently active in ORCA, so you know who's available before you send a message.

Managing Channels

Admins can delete channels that are no longer needed. This removes the channel and all its messages, so it's worth being certain before doing so.

Tips

Use channels to stay organised. A general channel works well for the whole team, but dedicated channels for specific projects or departments help keep relevant conversations in one place.

Check the nav badge before a busy period. It's a quick way to see if anything needs your attention before you get stuck in.

@mention when you need a response. General messages are fine for updates, but @mentioning someone makes it clear that a reply is expected.