Chat
| The content of this website is last updated to F2 version 11. cBrain are working hard on supplying you with the newest documentation of F2. |
Chat is used for informal coordination and communication related to work tasks or knowledge sharing. The chat function is used for chatting with other F2 users in the same authority about a particular record.
The chat function in F2 is particularly effective because the chat is always related to a specific record. The subject of the chat, i.e. the record, is automatically shared, which allows for easy orientation for the chat recipients.
Users can access all records from which they have chatted via the main window search list, “My chatted records”. Read more about this list and its contents in Standard lists.
Only chat participants can see the contents of a chat, but via the “Participants” tab anyone with access to a given record is able to see which users are added as chat participants.
Chat advantages
Chats have a number of advantages to sending internal emails, for example:
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A chat can only be seen by the users who are added as chat recipients.
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A chat can be deleted from a record.
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A chat makes it possible to edit a record without sending it.
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Several chats with several users can be created and opened on the record simultaneously.
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A chat can be used as a to-do list for the chat creator, since it is only visible to other users if they have been added. This way a user can have one or more to-do lists on a record that are only visible to themself.
Create a new chat from the main window ribbon
A chat can be created directly from the main window. Select a record in the main window and click on New chat. A new chat is then created without the record being opened.
Create new chat from the record window ribbon
A chat can be created from the record window ribbon. Click on the menu item New chat to create a chat linked to the open record.
When a new chat is created, either from the main window or from the record window, the chat window opens.
The chat window
In the chat window it is possible to add participants to a conversation (1) and exchange messages (2). If there is more than one chat on a record, a list of chats is shown at the left side of the window (3).
A new chat or note can also be created from the chat window by clicking New chat or New note (4).
Add chat participants
Chat participants can be added via the “Add chat participant” field in three ways:
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By writing the name of a user. As a name is entered in the “Add chat participant field”, F2 suggests relevant F2 users in a drop-down menu.
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By clicking the participant icon
in the right side of the field. Read more about the dialogue here. -
By pressing the down arrow key to select a predefined participant group. Read more here.
| Suggestions in the “Add participants” field can be configured so they are more relevant to the individual user. The configuration is performed in cooperation with cBrain. |
When a chat participant is added, their name is shown in the participant list to the right in the chat window. Added participants can add additional users to the conversation. If a user profile has a picture, it is displayed in the chat participant list.
A warning message is shown in the chat window if the user is the only participant in a chat.
Add predefined participants group
By pressing the down arrow key while focus is in the “Add chat participant” field, predefined participant groups become available. The groups are comprised of users who are involved on a record in the following ways:
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Senders and recipients corresponding to the Chat to all function.
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Responsible user or unit and supplementary case managers.
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Approvers who have approved the record.
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The user’s secretariat if one exists. The secretariat is defined as users with “On behalf of” rights that allow them to manage approvals for a user such as a minister.
View chat participants' status
A chat participant is able to see whether other chat participants are online, offline, or “Out of office”. Hover the cursor over a chat participant who is “Out of office” to see their return date if they have entered any.
Remove participant from chat
To remove a participant from the chat, click the “remove” icon 
next to their name. Only the creator of the chat can remove themselves from the participant list. All other participants can remove themselves as well as any other participant with the exception of the chat creator.
Write a chat message
To write a message, click the compose box in the lower part of the window.
Spell check highlights unknown words with a red dashed line in the chat window’s text field before sending. You can also add images in GIF format to your chat. Copy the link to the GIF into the chat window’s text field and click on the Send icon. The URL should end with .GIF.
Send the message by clicking the “send chat” icon 
or pressing Ctrl+Enter. Previous messages from all users are displayed above the compose box.
Unsent chat messages are kept when the user cycles between chats or notes. If the user attempts to close the window while there are unsent messages, a warning dialogue appears. The chat window also remembers when the user adds participants to an unsaved chat.
When a chat is sent to one or more participants, its record appears as unread in their inboxes in F2. Read more about the receiving a chat.
When a participant has read the latest message in the conversation, the “read” icon 
appears next to their name. The icon disappears again if the participant marks the chat as unread using chat window functions.
A chat participant’s profile picture or initials are shown below their last read message. Hover the cursor over a chat participant’s profile picture to see a tooltip with the time the message was read. Older messages display the date instead of the time. The profile picture remains even if the participant marks the chat as unread.
Chat overview
The left side of the chat window displays the list of chats and notes in which the user is involved. Both the chat titles and their participants are displayed. The number of participants is shown in brackets.
An unnamed chat will use the initials of the participants as its title. The full names of the participants are displayed in a tooltip. If there are only two participants on a chat, the other user’s name is used as the title.
The list of chat participants is sorted after the latest chat message, i.e. the latest user to enter a message is the first one listed.
The functions of the chat window
The chat window’s functions are found in the drop-down menu in its top right corner.
The functions are described below.
| Function | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|
“Name chat” |
Opens a dialogue that lets the user name the conversation. This may be useful if there are several conversations on the record. The chat title is shown in the format “[Record title] - [Chat title]”. If the chat has not been named, the participants' names are displayed instead of a chat title. If there are more than two participants, only their initials are shown. |
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“Mark as unread” |
Mark the latest message as unread. When you select this function, the chat window will close and the unread chat icon |
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“Deactivate notifications” |
Disables notifications for a given chat for 1, 8 or 24 hours, or until the user reactivates them. 
Figure 14. Options for deactivating notifications
Records with chats for which the user has deactivated notifications do not appear in the user’s inbox if a new message is added within the selected period of time. |
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“Copy text” |
Copies the entire conversation. |
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“Open record” |
Opens the record to which the chat is linked. |
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“Delete chat” |
Deletes the chat. Can only be done by the creator. F2 asks for confirmation when a user deletes a chat. |
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“Leave chat” |
Leave the chat.
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Receiving a chat
When a chat participant receives a message, the record to which the chat is linked appears in their inbox. The record title is shown in bold, and if the “Message icon” column is displayed in the result list, a chat icon with a blue circle is visible. This icon indicates a chat with an unread message. The blue circle disappears when all new chats have been opened and read. If the “Message icon” column is not displayed in the result list, it can be added.
The chat message can be read by hovering the cursor over the chat icon as shown below.
If the main window preview is enabled, the chat icon is displayed above the record document. Click on the chat icon to view an excerpt of the chat content. If there are several chats on the same record, these are displayed below each other as shown in the example below.
The chat can be marked as read from the preview. The chat preview is also available in the record window.
In the record window chats are located above the document area near the upper right corner.
Hover the cursor over a chat to display a tooltip showing the entire content of the latest message. This is useful for particularly long messages. The tooltip is displayed for ten minutes.
Regardless of the user’s current unit, it is always possible to check all chats in which they are a participant. Switching job roles is not required to read chat messages addressed to the user.
The read/unread indication is applied to the user across all of the units in which they have a job role.
The chat recipient’s record access rights
When a record is shared through a chat, it is subject to the basic principles for user access rights to records. Unless the chat recipient already has a higher access right to the record, they are granted the access right one level lower than the chat creator.
This means that if a user with full write access to a record sends it to another user via a chat, the chat recipient receives write access to its documents. The access rights for chat recipients are listed in the following table.
| Chat sender’s access right | Chat recipient’s access right |
|---|---|
Full write access |
Write access to documents |
Write access to documents |
Read access |
Read access |
Read access |
| A user’s access right to a record will never be reduced via a chat. |
Chat recipients gain access to the shared record depending on the access level on the record and the access right of the chat sender.
Example 1: Henry in HR creates a record which is automatically assigned the access level “Involved”. Henry sends a chat to his colleague, Hugo, on the record. Because Hugo becomes involved through a chat, his access right to this record is governed by the above table: Hugo gains write access to the record’s documents.
Example 2: Now Henry expands the record’s access level to “Unit”, in this case HR. He adds his HR colleague, Hilda, as a chat recipient. If Hilda were only a chat recipient, she would have gained write access to the record’s documents, but since Henry has changed the record’s access level to “Unit”, Hilda already has full write access to the record. In this case, Hilda’s access right to the record is not affected by her being a chat recipient - only the highest level of access granted a user applies.
Example 3: Henry expands the access level again, this time to “All”, before sending a chat to Ann in Administration. The new access level grants all users in the authority read access to the record. Ann, being a chat recipient, is also granted write access to its documents. Hilda and Hugo are unaffected by the new access level and retain full write access.
| Access levels may change when a user is placed in a new unit or if a new user becomes responsible for the record. |
Chat to all
The “New chat to all” function can be used on emails to create a chat to all involved participants.
Instead of manually entering participants from the “From”, “To”, and “Xbc” fields in a new chat, click on New chat to all.
F2 then creates a chat in which all participants on the email are added as chat recipients.
Click on New chat to all to add the following participants to the chat:
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Sender of the email
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Recipient(s) of the email
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Cc recipient(s) of the email
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Xbc recipient(s) of the email.
This function is available from both the main window and the record window ribbon.
| Only internal F2 participants, and not external participants, are added to the chat. |