Chatting with Users

Effective communication and sharing information is essential in all business organizations. The Chat module helps you to communicate with all the Zoho CRM users within your organization. It also provides a common platform for instant messaging. With the Chat functionality you can perform the following:

• Manage Groups - Group Zoho CRM users based on different criteria and share information with the group.
• Create & Store Chat Topics - Create Chat topics to get user's attention on a specific subject and resume the completed chat sessions.
• Start Individual Chat - Chat with colleagues to share information and get instant answers to your questions.
• Share Files - Share any number of files while chatting with users.
• Add Participants - Users added in your CRM account are automatically added as participants in the Chat module.
• Archive Chat History - Offline users can later read the transcripts from the Chat history section.
• Make Internal Announcements: Broadcast organization-wide announcements like changes in your CRM implementation, big deals, induction of new sales persons, etc.

Availability

Benefits

• You can instantly find your questions answered through group or individual chat.
• Share important files while chatting with colleagues without switching to Email or other document sharing programs.

Activate Chat for Users

By default, the Chat module is available only to the users with Administrator privilege. The Administrator can review the Chat functionality and then give access for this module to other users.

To activate the Chat module for users

1. Click Setup > Users & Permissions > Profiles.
2. In the Profiles page, click Edit corresponding to the profile to which you want to give access for the Chat module.
3. In the Profile Details page, select the check box for the Chat module.
4. Click Save.
   

Chat with Users

With the Chat module, you can chat with colleagues to share information and get instant answers to your questions. The Participants section displays the list of all active and confirmed Zoho CRM Users with whom you can chat.

To chat with individual members

1. Click the Chat module.
2. In the Chat Home page, under the Participants section, the system displays a list of all the users.
3. Click on a user from the list.
4. In the chat popup window, enter your chat message.

Chat with Groups

Grouping Zoho CRM users based on different criteria helps you to easily chat with groups instead of adding users individually. In this section you can create chat groups and even add topics to the selected group. For instance, you can create a group with the members of the sales team. Then, you can create a chat topic named Sales Report, to share the monthly sales report information with the team.

Access Permission:

• By default, users with Administrator privilege can create groups.
• Other users with the Manage Groups permission enabled can create groups.

To create chat groups

1. Click the Chat module.
2. In the Chat Home page, under the Groups section, the system displays a list of all the chat groups.
3. Click the New Group link.
   
4. In the New Group page, do the following:
   • Enter the Group Name.
   • Enter the Group Description.
   • Select the Group Source Type from the drop-down list.
   • Select the users from the Available list and click the arrows to move them to the Selected list or Available list.
   • Click Save.

Create Topics

Creating chat topics will help you to easily bring focus on a subject and also to resume the completed chat sessions. You can always keep the chat transcriptions organized under a common topic for easy reference. The Topics section displays all the chat topics to which you are a participant. On selecting a topic you can view the chat history with the list of attachments sent during the chat.

To create chat topics

1. Click the Chat module.
2. In the Chat Home page, under the Topics section, the chat topics are listed.
3. Click the New Topic link.
   
4. In the New Topic popup window, do the following:
   • Enter the Topic Name.
     By default, the Add all users check box is selected.
   • Clear the check box to select the chat members individually.
     The system displays all the users under Chat Members list.
   • Select the users and click the arrows to add or exclude the users from the Participants list.
   • Click Create.

Group Chat (based on a topic)

With the group chat option, you can chat with a group of users or teams on a particular topic, view chat history for a topic, and add or delete participants to the topic, whenever required.

To start a group chat

1. Click the Chat module.
2. In the Chat Home page, under the Topics section, the system displays a list of chat topics.
3. Click the required chat topic.
4. In the [Topic Name] page,enter the text message in the space provided.
5. Click Send.

Rename a Topic

This option helps you to rename chat topics created by you. You can rename chat topics provided you have the Customize Zoho CRM permission enabled. See Also Rename Tabs

To rename the chat topic

1. Click the Chat module.
2. In the Chat Home page, under the Topics section, click the required topic.
3. In the [Topic Name] page, click the Rename link.
   
4. Modify the name of the topic, and then click Update.

Delete a Topic

This option helps you to delete unwanted or old chat topics. You can delete only those topics that are created by you. Only the user with Administrator privilege can delete the topics created by others.

To delete the chat

1. Click the Chat module.
2. In the Chat Home page, under the Topics section, click the required topic.
3. In the [Topic Name] page, click the Delete link.
   

View Recent Chat Topics

This option helps you to view the recently created or used chat topics.

To view recent chat topics

1. Click the Chat module.
2. In the Chat Home page, under the Topics section, click the required topic.
3. In the [Topic Name] page, click the Recent Chat link.
   The system displays the recently used or created chat topics.

Add Participants to Chat Topics

This option helps you to add existing Zoho CRM users as participants to the selected chat topic.

To add participants to the chat topic

1. Click the Chat module.
2. In the Chat Home page, under the Topics section, click the required topic.
3. Click the Add link.
   
4. In the popup window, select the user, and then click Add.

Share Files

This option helps you to share files while chatting with users. You can share any number of files through Zoho CRM chat but the size of each file should not exceed 2MB.

To share files

1. Click the Chat module.
2. In the Chat Home page, under the Topics section, click the required topic.
3. In the [Topic Name] page, click Send File.
   
4. Click Browse to select the file, and then click Send.

Download Attachments

This option helps you to download attachments that are shared during a chat session.

To download attachments

1. Click the Chat module.
2. In the Chat Home page, under the Topics section, click the required topic.
3. In the [Topic Name] page, click the required attachment to open or save the file.