Starting a Conversation

From the panel that displays the list of conversations, you can start a new conversation.

1. In the panel that displays the list of conversations, click the New icon.
   
2. From the pop-up menu that appears, select New Chat.

   

   The Start a Chat panel appears.

   

   This screen displays a link to your department and links to any favorites that you have specified. If your department is not visible, your administrator has configured your system to not display your department on this screen.

   Note: In this panel, if you type a context in the Add Context field or click Patient to specify a patient context, you create a group chat, not a 1-on-1 conversation with another person. See Starting a Group Chat for details on how to create a group chat.
3. In the Start a Chat panel, do one of the following to select the contact with which you want to have a conversation.

   

   	In the Search field, type text consisting of some or all of the contact's name. All contacts matching this search text are displayed. Click the entry for the contact with which you want to start a conversation.
   	If the contact is a member of a group, click the group to display the contacts that are members of the group, then click the member to start the conversation. If the group contains subgroups, click a subgroup name to display its members.
   	If the contact is defined as a favorite, click the link for that contact to start the conversation. (See About Favorites for more information on Favorites.)

   The color dot at the top right of the contact's profile picture or initials indicates the contact's availability:

   

   • Green: the contact is online.
   • Gray: the contact is offline.
   • Red: the contact is online but is unavailable. See Setting Presence and Availability for more information on presence and availability.
4. When you have selected a message participant, the chat screen appears.

   

   In the Chat screen, you can start the conversation. See Adding a Message for information on how to do this.