How to reply and start a thread

Replies and threads are two tools in What is chat? that people reach for interchangeably. A reply answers one message and stays in the channel. A thread takes a whole tangent out of the channel into its own named conversation.

When do you want each?

Use a reply when your message answers a specific earlier one and the exchange is short. The reply stays in the channel, so everybody sees it in flow.

Use a thread when a topic will take twenty messages and would otherwise bury the channel. Thread messages stay out of the main timeline entirely.

A good rule of thumb: if two people are about to have a ten-minute exchange that the other eight people in the channel do not need, that is a thread.

How do you reply?

Hover a message, or tap it on a touchscreen, and click Reply (the blue arrow) in the toolbar that appears.

A "Replying to Priya" line shows above the message box, with an × to cancel. Send, and your reply carries a small preview of the original above it.

Click that preview to jump back to the original. If the original is far back, scroll up first so older messages load, then click.

The person you replied to is notified, as long as they can still see the channel and have not muted it.

How do you start a thread?

Two ways, and they suit different moments.

From a message: hover it and click Create thread (the violet speech bubble). In New thread, the message shows under "Creating a thread from". Type a Thread name and press Create thread.

The message is then pinned at the top of the thread under "Thread started from".

About something new: click New thread above the message box. Type a Thread name, optionally a First message, and press Create thread.

Name threads properly. The name is what everybody else sees in the channel's Threads strip, and "Re: that thing" helps nobody.

Where do threads appear?

In two places:

• A Threads strip at the top of the channel, with a reply count on each.
• As a "3 replies →" link on the message that started one.

A thread has its own page with a link back to its channel at the top. It has the same message box, tagging and attachments as a channel.

The Threads strip lists the newest active threads first, so a channel that has run for a year still shows a readable list.

How do you finish with a thread?

Archive it from the channel's Threads strip: hover the thread's row and click the archive icon. It leaves the strip straight away.

Archive a thread only once the conversation is finished, because it leaves the list as soon as you click and does not come back to it. Archiving hides the thread; it deletes nothing that was said in it.

What surprises people about threads?

Thread messages never appear in the channel timeline. That is the whole point, and it means a link to a thread message opens the thread page rather than the channel.

Reading a thread does not mark its channel read. They are counted separately, so a channel can still show unread messages after you have read its busiest thread.

Which message buttons work in a thread?

Reply and Create outreach on any message, plus Edit and Delete on your own. To make a task or record a decision, use a message in the channel itself. See How to turn a conversation into work.

Does a thread have its own notification setting?

No. A thread follows its channel's setting. Set that from the bell in the channel header, per How to mute or follow a channel.