Fast and effective communication is critical, especially for hybrid workspace. Most businesses rely on a cloud chat solution to consistently drive success and productivity. With the ability to send screenshots, documents and files with one click, as well as initiate video and phone calls, chat is a powerful collaboration tool for organizations of all sizes. But even a more streamlined solution like chat may not be enough as your company grows.
Zoom has brought together the best chat apps and your favorite Zoom Chat pro tips to help you do more in a changing and evolving world.
1.) Stay Organized
Chat is an effective way to communicate with individuals and teams in your organization. But if you don't keep your conversations organized, it can be difficult to find and follow important conversations or channels you interact with frequently.
What can we do to keep these important conversations at your fingertips?
- Star your favorite chats and channels to keep them at the top of their section.
- Delete unnecessary information frequently , delete old chats and channels that are no longer useful to you. If you have a channel, feel free to delete it when the project is complete or if it is no longer relevant to you.
- Avoid lots of group chats , created anonymous group chats can be difficult to find later. For projects that require constant communication, create chat channels with a short title and description so the purpose is clear and the channel is easy to find.
Pro tip from Zoom : “I regularly clean my 'starred' channels and chats to make sure there are conversations I think will be important to me, I disable notifications on chat-enabled channels”. – Heidi E.
2.) Use Search And Shortcuts
A good search tool is your best friend in chat channels where there is a constant flow of information such as files, people coming via chat. Take advantage of the search functionality using CTRL+F to easily find chats, files, channels and people. You can also narrow your search to only mentions of you, or just search for your bookmarked chats and files. This helps filter information from other chats so you can find what you're looking for.
Pro tip from Zoom: “ I like the 'CTRL+F' abbreviation to find the conversation thread, the message, and the documents I'm looking for”. – Farsad H.
3.) Create Boundaries
Chatting from your mobile device certainly has its pros and cons. You can communicate with your colleagues from almost anywhere, anytime. However, the constant stream of messages can disrupt your day or affect your personal life.
Fortunately, you can use the chat features to your advantage and restore your work-life balance:
- Don't feel compelled to respond right away : You can disable your notifications or set your status to Do Not Disturb to let other users know that you're not available. This feature helps you get the time and space you need to focus.
- Manage your notifications : Customize your notifications so that you can distinguish only urgent and important messages, or mute chat channels that you think are not important to you, to avoid distractions while working or taking breaks. Pro tip from Zoom: “I turn off notifications and enable notifications only for channels and chats that are important to me. So I just generate the message traffic that I need to deal with.” —Dan H.
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4.) Leverage Integrations
Besides chat, use app integrations to minimize the amount of switching between your favorite apps and increase productivity. For example, with a calendar integration for Zoom, the status automation shows you as unavailable when you join a meeting request or event that comes to you via the calendar.
You can also take advantage of apps like Jira Notifications to automatically receive and send notifications for specific projects you follow in the Jira app.
Pro tip from Zoom: Zoom with Google Calendar integration is perfect for getting things done and taking time for yourself. When I need an hour to focus on a project or completing a task, I set an event on my Google Calendar and my Zoom Chat account is automatically inactive, preventing interruptions from my focus.” –John M.
5.) Have Fun!
It helps you add some fun to your workday, facilitate open and free exchange of ideas, and strengthen team chemistry. Start channels for interests like cooking, music, local get-togethers, reading or playing games to build this cohesive cohesive workspace community and have some fun with your co-workers.
You can use chat features like emojis and GIFs to make your daily conversations fun and express yourself better. You can even upload your own emoji in Zoom Chat by clicking the emoji icon, then the heart icon, then Edit-Upload Emoji.
Pro tip from Zoom: “Never underestimate the power of a really good GIF to bring a team together! Upload your favorite GIFs to your 'Saved Emojis' in Zoom Chat! Hover over the GIF you like, click the three dots to its right, then click 'Add Emoji' to save it. The GIFs will be stored in the heart icon so you can easily access them.” – Rhonda H.
Bonus Zoom Professional Tips
A few more useful chat tips from the Zoom team: - Screenshot note : “The built-in screenshot note is a game changer for me. I like to annotate a screenshot and send it via Zoom Chat without uploading anything.” —David B.
- Notify me : “A quick tip is to select 'Notify me when available' about people I need to talk to.” —Dan J.
- Message pinning : “If you're on a projectchat and you're on dates, POCs, etc. It is a very easy thing to implement for these projects.” —Killian M.