Conversations in Rocket.Chat are organized into channels. Channels are chat rooms with many useful features. You’ll use channels to hold most of your conversations with other users. They can be organized around anything — teams, projects, or even locations — and you can create as many as you need.
There are three kinds of channels: public channels, private groups, and direct (1-on-1) messages.
Public channels
Public channels (also called channels for short) are for conversations that are open to all users of Rocket Chat, including those from the external community who may have accounts. Public channels channel can be joined by anyone who has an account, so please be aware that any discussions in these channels are open. Currently, we have the following public channels:
- #general - a general channel for the SNOMED CT community
- #announcements - a read-only channel for any announcements that may get post there
- #snomed-fhir - an open channel for collaboration on the work involving SNOMED CT and HL7 FHIR
#snomed-software-dev - a channel for any discussions around software development in and around SNOMED CT
New users can join any public channel and read all the information previously shared by other users.
By default only administrators can create public channels. If you require a public channel creating please raise a JIRA Service Request through DevOps Support.
Private groups
Private groups are closed channels. They are visible only to their members. Use private groups for subjects that are sensitive, confidential, or limited to a specific group of users.
By default only SNOMED International Staff can create new private groups.
Private groups can be joined by invitation only. By default, only administrators, room owners, and moderators can invite others to private rooms.
Direct Messages
Direct Messages (DMs) are private, 1-on-1 conversation between team members. You can think of a DM as a private group with only two members.
By default only SNOMED International Staff can initiate Direct Messages.
In DMs you can also make the conversations 'Off The Record' (OTR), which will ensure that the messages are encrypted.
You can use OTR only in direct chat (1-on-1) and also both sides must be online. When you want to start OTR conversation, click on the key symbol on the right side and then START OTR. After your request is confirmed by other side, all your subsequent messages are encrypted.
In Channel Functionality
Once you are in a channel, on the right side of page you will see the toolbar, and please click on the buttons to see what they do, from information about the channel, searching all messages and users in the channel. However, some useful buttons to be aware of are the following:
| Set your own notifications you would like (or not like) to see from this channel. | |
| See messages that have been 'pinned' with useful links or information visible to all users in the channel. | |
| See messages which you have starred. These are only the messages you have starred 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. | |
| Start a video call for the whole channel, or if you are ni a 1-1 chat, with the other person. This does not open a chat window for other users and they have to click the 'Join Call' button that will appear in the channel. |
Channel Operations
Favorite Channels
To help you organize and prioritize your communications, we recommend you favorite (or star) channels, private groups, and DMs. Starring helps you to avoid noise and to focus on what’s important to you. To favorite a channel, click on the star icon in the upper left hand corner of the message area (next to the room name):
Then the star becomes yellow:
and that channel appears under the list of Favorites in the left-hand pane:
Joining channels
Find existing channels by clicking on the 
button on the left-hand pane. Then click on a channel to preview its contents. If you want to join it, click on the 
button.
Hiding and leaving channels
There are two notions of leaving a channel:
- To hide a channel is to remain a member of the channel but to remove it from your list of channels on the left-hand pane.
- To leave a channel is to remove it from your list of channels and to leave the channel (i.e., no longer be a member of the channel).
To leave a channel, enter the command /leave in the message window. Alternatively, hover your mouse over the channel in the list of channels on the left-hand side and click on the 
button. On the mobile app, pull from the left-hand side to see the list of open channels, hold down on the channel to bring up the buttons, and click on the button.
To hide a channel, hover your mouse over the channel in the list of channels on the left-hand side and click on the 
button. On the mobile app, pull from the left-hand side to see the list of open channels, hold down on the channel to bring up the buttons, and click on the button.