Most chats in TutorCruncher are Job chats. You do not create them - every Job gets one automatically, and the people in it are kept in step with the people on the Job. For an overview of Messages as a whole, read here.
When a Job's chat is created
A Job's chat is created the moment the first Tutor or Student is added to it at Activity > Jobs > select the Job.
Two things have to be true for it to happen: Messages enabled must be on for the Branch at System > Settings > Communication Settings > Messages, and Enable messages on this job must be on for that Job at Activity > Jobs > select the Job > Actions > Edit. Read more about both settings here.
Note: a Job can only ever have one chat. It takes its name from the Job, and that name cannot be changed on the chat itself - rename the Job at Activity > Jobs > select the Job > Actions > Edit instead.
Who is in a Job's chat
The participant list is worked out from the Job, not chosen by hand. It holds:
every Tutor assigned to the Job;
every paying Client of the Students on the Job;
the Students themselves, but only if Add students to this Job's conversation is ticked at Activity > Jobs > select the Job > Actions > Edit.
Administrators are not added to Job chats. They can still open any chat and post in it - see the section on Administrators below.
Note: if two Students on the same Job share a paying Client, that Client appears once, not twice.
What happens when the Job changes
The chat follows the Job. Working at Activity > Jobs > select the Job:
Adding a Tutor or a Student to the Job adds them to the chat.
Removing a Tutor from the Job removes them from the chat.
Removing a Student removes them, and their paying Client stays until none of their Students is left on the Job.
Each of those changes adds a short note to the conversation saying who joined or left. Somebody who joins part-way through can read the whole conversation from the beginning. They join with everything already marked as read, so they do not arrive to a wall of unread messages and are not emailed about anything said before they joined. Nobody else's read receipts are affected.
Finding a Job's chat
Administrators have two routes. At Activity > Jobs > select the Job there is a Messages tab that opens the chat directly. There is also a Messages card on the Job's Activity tab.
Tutors, Clients and Students reach the same chat from their own Messages menu item, or from the Messages card on the Job.
The Messages tab on a Job.
Starting a Job's chat by hand
If a Job was staffed while Messages was switched off, or Enable messages on this job was unticked at the time, it will not have a chat even though it now qualifies for one.
The Messages tab at Activity > Jobs > select the Job is how you fix that. On a Job with no chat the tab asks you to confirm first, then creates the chat and fills in the participant list from the Job. If Enable messages on this job is off, confirming turns it on at the same time. Once the chat exists, the tab simply opens it.
Note: the tab is only shown to Administrators with permission to edit Operations while the Job has no chat. It is absent on a Finished or Gone Cold Job, and when Messages is off for the Branch.
To do this for all of your existing Jobs in one go rather than one at a time, use the Enable Messages on existing active Jobs button at System > Settings > Communication Settings > Messages, described here.
Starting a Job's chat from its Messages tab.
When a Job's chat locks
A Job's chat locks itself as soon as the Job stops being In Progress - when you mark it Finished, or it goes cold. TutorCruncher warns you that this will happen when you change the status. The history stays readable for everyone who could see it, but nobody can post, and the reason is shown where the message box was.
Setting the Job back to In Progress at Activity > Jobs > select the Job unlocks the chat again. Nothing is lost while it is locked, and no chat is ever deleted.
Note: an Administrator can also lock or archive a Job's chat by hand, using the Status dropdown in its Details panel. A lock set that way outranks the Job's status, so setting the Job back to In Progress will not reopen it - an Administrator has to set the Status back to Open. Read more about locking and archiving here.
Administrators and Job chats
Any Administrator with permission to view Operations can open any Job chat on the Branch from Communications > Messages, whether or not they are in it, and can post in it. Their messages are labelled as coming from an Administrator, and they do not become a participant by posting.
Opening a chat is not recorded against it, but creating a chat, adding and removing participants, and locking, unlocking, archiving and unarchiving one all appear in the Activity Log at System > Activity Log.
To be told about new messages in a Job chat, open it from Communications > Messages and tick Email me about new messages in the Details panel. Until you do, you will get no emails and no unread dot for that chat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I add somebody to a Job's chat by hand?
No. The participant list of a Job chat comes from the Job itself, so the way to add somebody is to add them to the Job at Activity > Jobs > select the Job. If you need a conversation with a different mix of people, start an Administrator chat instead - read how here.
Can a Job have two chats?
No, one Job has exactly one chat, for its whole life. If you want a side conversation about the same Job with only some of the people on it, start an Administrator chat.
My Students cannot see the Job's chat. Why?
Students are only included when Add students to this Job's conversation is ticked at Activity > Jobs > select the Job > Actions > Edit. It is off by default. Ticking it adds the Job's Students to the existing chat.
Can I have a chat for a single Lesson?
No. Chats attach to Jobs, not to individual Lessons. A Job's chat covers every Lesson on that Job.
What happens to the chat if I delete the Job?
The chat and its history remain, and stay visible at Communications > Messages. While the Job sits in the trash the chat is locked, so nobody can post in it. Recovering the Job from System > Trash puts the chat back exactly as it was. Chats are never deleted.