Chat securely with colleagues and groups

Need to align something with a colleague, ask someone from another organisation a question or confer with a whole team? With Chat you can exchange messages securely within Databeamer.

You can chat directly with someone, or hold a conversation within a group. There are several ways to open your conversations, depending on what you want to do.

Sending a direct message #

Do you want to send one person a message? Open Chat in the menu on the left of your personal space. There you can view your direct conversations and start a conversation with another person.

Chatting with someone for the first time and cannot find that person? Then you can search and add someone through Contacts. While doing so, you can check the available identity details, such as organisation memberships and groups you share.

Not sure you have the right person? Check the details and, if needed, confirm the identity through another channel before you share confidential information.

Chatting within a group #

Do you want to exchange messages with several people working on the same project, team or topic? Then open the group concerned and choose Chat in that group's menu.

This works much like a group channel in WhatsApp or Signal: the conversations are kept together in the context of the group. That way you do not have to keep sending separate messages to different colleagues to agree on something together.

Who has access to the group chat depends on the group's membership and access rights.

Opening your conversations quickly #

At the top right of Databeamer you also find the chat icon. It opens the floating chat window Chats.

Here you see your direct conversations and group conversations together, across different groups. Handy when you want to open a conversation quickly or see where you chatted earlier, without first navigating to a specific group.

What does the recipient see? #

Your message appears in the conversation. If notifications are enabled, the recipient can also get a notification that you sent a message. That notification says who sent the message, not its content.

Sharing a file #

At the moment you cannot send files in Chat yet. If you want to share a file securely, use a transfer. For a longer message with attachments you can use Secure Mail.

Sending files from Chat is on the development roadmap.

Security detailsWhat is this?

Chat messages are encrypted. Only people with access to the conversation concerned can read the messages. In a group conversation, access is determined by the group's rights.

Keep in mind that removing someone's access does not undo what they have already read or saved.