Sending messages in Rocket Chat is self-explanatory: type a message in the message box and press ⏎ (Enter) or the Send Button (
).
If you want to send multiple lines of text, press ⇧ ⏎ (shift + enter) to move to the next line.
There are some built in commands within a chat message that you can see by typing the / character in the message and a list of the available commands, with instructions, will be displayed.
Notifying other users
To get someone’s attention in a channel, type @ followed by their username, for example @john. (They’ll see a red badge on the channel and be notified via email or their mobile device if they’re not online)
You can also notify everyone who is online in a channel by typing @here. You can also notify everyone (online or offline) in a channel by typing @all, but avoid using @all too often because it notifies everyone. Although @all is useful for important announcements, it can be distracting if abused, so it is recommended to use @here.
Deleting Messages
You can delete a message by clicking the gear icon (
) in your message and then clicking the trash icon in the menu popover. A confirmation will be displayed before the message is deleted.
Composing Messages
Cursor movement while composing a message
As you compose a message, you can move the cursor using the arrow keys. When you hit the Up Arrow or Down Arrowkeys, the cursor moves to the location determined by the wrapping of the text:
Move the cursor to the beginning or end of a message
Holding Alt or Command while hitting an arrow key moves to the beginning or end of the message:
Editing messages
To edit a message, click on the gear icon next to the message, and then click on the pencil icon. Alternatively, in the message input box, hit the Up Arrow.
The administrator of a Rocket.Chat team sets the permissions for who can edit messages. (See edit-message in the list of permissions.) By default, only administrators, moderators, and admins can edit messages.
Switching messages
If the cursor is at the beginning of a message, hitting the Up Arrow switches to editing the previous message that you wrote:
Similarly, if the cursor is at the end of a message, hitting the Down Arrow switches to editing the next message that you wrote.
Drafts of edits
Rocket.Chat saves a draft of your edits to messages. That way, you can return to the draft of an edit after switching to another message and back. Hitting ESCAPE discards a draft of an edit.
Pinning Messages
Pin the most important messages of the channel for everybody to see. Pinning a message to a channel causes the message to be easily accessible via the right icon menu. This allows for important information to be pinned to a channel, so people can easily see important information.
Starring Messages
Star your favorite messages for yourself. Starring a message is similar to pinning a message, however starred messages are personal and only you can see the messages you have starred. Starred messages are per chat room and are not global, each room has its own list of messages you have starred in that channel.
Emoji!
To insert emoji in a message, hit the emoji button to the right of the text input to view an emoji picker. You can also type your desired emoji by wrapping its name with :; for example, :heart: produces .
Emoji Reactions
You can also react to a message with an emoji.
- On the desktop application: hover over a message, click on the gear icon (), click on the smiling face icon
and choose an emoji.
- On the mobile application: press and hold your finger on a message to bring up a menu, press
Reactions, and choose an emoji.
Then an emoji appears below the message:
To remove an emoji reaction, click on the emoji below the message. To reiterate an existing emoji reaction that someone else posted, click on that emoji to add to that emoji’s counter.