Chat in Messenger
Talk with the people you work with — one-on-one or with the whole team — without leaving the app.
Applies to Web · Mac · iPhone app · only with people you work with
Messenger is where you have quick conversations with colleagues inside CommonNote. Handoff memos also land in the two people’s Messenger conversation, and Open handed-off task on the message takes you straight to that line in the note. For topic-based conversations with several people, use channels and group conversations.
Who you can message
Messenger works only with people you work with: members of your teams, people you share a note or notebook with, and people you’ve already exchanged messages with. If there’s no one yet, the list says so and suggests creating a team or sharing a note. Create a team or share a note first.
Start a conversation
- Click the speech-bubble Messenger icon in the top bar. A number on the icon shows unread messages.
- Pick someone under Teams (a conversation with the whole team) or Personal (one-on-one). Use Search name, username, or note… to find them.
- Type in the Message… field and press Enter to send. Press Shift+Enter for a new line. While you’re composing Korean characters, Enter doesn’t send.
Messenger opens on the right side of the screen. Drag its left edge to resize it (double-click for the default width). Each message can hold up to 2,000 characters.
Read receipts and notifications
- In a one-on-one conversation, your message shows Read once the other person has read it, or “Not read yet” until then.
- In a team conversation, you see how many people haven’t read it yet, such as “3 people have not read this yet”.
- New messages also arrive in the notification bell and as push notifications if you’ve turned them on. See Get notifications.
Search a conversation
Click the magnifier (Search conversation) in the conversation header to search by Search message text, Sender (All, Me or Others), Start date and End date. Search text can be up to 200 characters. Click Go to message on a result to see it with the surrounding conversation, and Latest messages to come back. To see older messages, use Load older messages at the top.
Organize contacts
Hover over a contact to reveal a star and a pencil button. Everything you change here is visible only to you; the other person isn’t told.
- Star (Favorites): favorite contacts move to the top of the list.
- Pencil (Edit icon, alias & note): set a Private icon (an emoji or single character), a Private alias and a Private note (team, role and so on), then click Save.
- Archive / Restore in the same editor: hide contacts you rarely use. See them again with Show archived contacts in the list.
- Reset in the same editor: clears the icon, alias, note, favorite and archive settings.
Edit or delete messages, and leave a conversation
Hover over a message and click ⋯ (Message options):
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Edit | Your own messages only. While editing, Enter adds a new line and ⌘Enter (Windows Ctrl+Enter) saves. Edited messages are marked Edited. |
| Delete for me | Removes it only from your view; everyone else still sees it. |
| Delete for everyone | Deletes your message for everyone. This can’t be undone, and “This message was deleted” is left in its place. In a team conversation, team owners and admins can remove other people’s messages with Delete (admin). |
| Report, Block this user | Other people’s messages only. See Report and block. |
File messages can’t be edited, and handoff messages can’t be edited or deleted for everyone.
To clear a conversation from your view, open Conversation menu in the header → Leave conversation (clear my history) → Leave and clear history. The other person keeps their history, and the conversation reappears when a new message arrives. Leaving a team conversation doesn’t remove you from the team.