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Discuss
=======

Overview
========

Odoo Discuss is an easy to use messaging app for teams that brings all
your organization's communication into one place and seamlessly
integrates with the Odoo platform. Discuss lets you send and receive
messages from wherever you are in Odoo as well as manage your messages
and notifications easily from within the app. Discuss allows you to
create **channels** for team chats, conversations about projects,
meeting coordination, and more in one simple and searchable
interface.

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Communicating with Your Team Using Channels
===========================================

You can use **channels** to organize discussions between individual
teams, departments, projects, or any other group that requires regular
communication. By having conversations that everyone in the channel can
see, it's easy to keep the whole team in the loop with the latest
developments.

Creating a Channel
------------------

In Discuss there are two types of channels - **public** and
**private**.

A **public channel** can only be created by an administrator with
write privileges and can be seen by everyone in the organization. By
contrast, a **private channel** can be created by any user and by
default is only visible to users who have been invited to this
channel.

.. note::
    A public channel is best used when many employees need to
    access information (such as interdepartmental communication or
    company announcements), whereas a private channel should be used
    whenever information should be limited to specific users/employees
    (such as department specific or sensitive information).

Configuring a Channel
---------------------

You can configure a channel's name, description, access rights,
automatic subscription, and emailing from
:menuselection:`#channel-name --> Settings`. 
Changing channel access rights allows
you to control which groups can view each channel. You can make a
channel visible by all users, invited users, or users within a
selected user group. Note that allowing "Everyone" to follow a
private channel will let other users view and join it as they would
a public channel.

.. image:: media/discuss02.png
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How To Set Up a Mailing List
----------------------------

A channel can be configured to behave as a mailing list. From within
:menuselection:`#channel-name --> Settings`, define the email you would like to use.
Users can then post to the channel and choose to receive
notifications using the defined email address. An envelope icon will
appear next to the channel name in the list to indicate that a
channel will send messages by email.

Locating a Channel
------------------

If you do not see a channel on your dashboard, you can search the
list of **public channels** to locate the correct channel or create
a new channel by clicking the plus icon.

.. image:: media/discuss03.png
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You can also click the **CHANNELS** heading to browse a list of all
public channels. This allows the user to manually **join** and
**leave** public channels from a single screen.

.. note::
    It is always wise to search for a channel before creating a new
    one to ensure that duplicate entries are not created for the same topic.

Monitoring Your Messages Using the Inbox
========================================

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Use the **inbox** to monitor updates and progress on everything you do
in Odoo. Notifications from everything you follow and conversations in
which you are mentioned appear in your inbox.

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Marking an item with a check sets the message to **read** and removes it
from your inbox. If you would like to save an item for future reference
or action, mark it with a star to add it to the **Starred** box. You can
star any message or notification in Discuss or any of the item-specific
chatters throughout Odoo to keep tabs on it here.

Sending Emails
--------------

You can **send emails** from the inbox of Odoo Discuss. In addition
to the usual email features, you can select a template that you have
already created, or create one on the fly and save it for later use.

Grabbing Attention with Direct Messages and Mentions
====================================================

You can **mention** a user in a channel or chatter by typing
**@user-name**. Mentioning a user in the chatter will set them as a
follower of the item (if they are not already) and send a message to
their inbox. The item containing the mention will also be bolded in the
list view. Mentioning a user in a channel will send a message to their
inbox. You cannot mention a user in a channel who is not subscribed to
the channel. Typing **#channel-name** will provide a link to the
mentioned channel in either a chatter or another channel.

Direct Messaging a User
-----------------------

**Direct messages** are private messages viewable only by the sender
and recipient. You can send direct messages to other users from
within the Discuss module by creating a new conversation or
selecting an existing one from the sidebar. Direct messages can be
sent from anywhere in Odoo using the speech bubble icon in the top
bar. The online status of other users is displayed to the left of
their name. A **green dot** indicates that a user is Online, an
**orange dot** that they are Idle, and a **grey dot** that they are
offline.

Desktop Notifications from Discuss
----------------------------------

You can choose to see **desktop notifications** when you receive a
new direct message. The notification shows you the sender and a
brief preview of the message contents. These can be configured or
disabled by clicking on the gear icon in the corner of the
notification..

.. image:: media/discuss06.png
    :align: center

Tracking Important Topics, Projects, and Conversations
======================================================

You can keep track of virtually any object in Odoo, such as a Task or
Quotation, by **following** it. An item can be followed from the item
view, just above the chatter.

.. image:: media/discuss07.png
    :align: center

You can choose which types of events to follow, with the depending on
the type of item. The example below shows the options available when
following a **task** in the **Projects** **Module**.

.. image:: media/discuss08.png
    :align: center

You can invite other users and add channels as followers. Adding a
channel as a follower will send messages posted in the chatter to the
channel with a link back to the original document.

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Using Filters to Navigate within Discuss
========================================

The topbar search provides access to the same comprehensive search
function present in the rest of Odoo. You can apply multiple **filter
criteria** and **save filters** for later use. The search function
accepts wildcards by using the underscore character "\ **\_**\ " to
represent a **single character wildcard.**
