ANTE User Manual

Messages

Messages is ANTE's built-in chat. Use it to talk to colleagues in channels and direct messages, reply in threads, react to messages, ask the Ante AI companion for help, and raise support tickets — all without leaving the page you are working on.

Messages opens full screen. The conversation list is on the left; the open conversation is on the right. Red badges show unread messages.

How to Open Messages

Click the message icon in the top header bar (its tooltip reads Messages). A red badge on the icon shows how many unread messages you have in total. Messages opens full screen on top of your page; close it with the × at the top of the conversation list and you return to exactly where you were.

On your phone, use the Messages tab in the bottom bar of ANTE Mobile — see Using Messages on ANTE Mobile.

The Conversation List

The left-hand list groups everything you can open:

SectionWhat is in it
AntePinned at the top — your private chat with the Ante AI companion. See Asking Ante.
ChannelsGroup conversations you belong to. A # icon marks a public channel and a padlock marks a private one. Shared groups that include people from other companies also appear here — see Shared Group Chats.
Direct MessagesOne-to-one conversations. Each shows the person's picture with a green dot when they are online.
My TicketsThe support tickets you raised. See Support Tickets.

People who handle support tickets also see Assigned to Me, Ongoing Tickets, and Support Queue sections. A red number beside a conversation is its unread count (it shows 99+ above 99), and the name turns bold until you open it.

Who You Can Message

Channels and direct messages only include people from your own company. When you search for someone to add or message, you only see colleagues from your company. Conversations that include people from several client companies are a separate feature, Shared Group Chats, and can only be created by developers.

Common Tasks

Starting a Direct Message

  1. Open Messages
    Click the message icon in the top header bar.
  2. Click + next to Direct Messages
    Its tooltip reads New direct message. The New message dialog opens.
  3. Find the person
    Type part of their name or email in the To box, then click their name. The conversation opens straight away — if you already had a direct message with them, you are taken back to it.

Creating a Channel

  1. Click + next to Channels
    Its tooltip reads New channel. The Create a channel dialog opens.
  2. Name the channel
    Enter a Channel name (required, for example "marketing").
  3. Choose Public or Private
    Public channels show a # icon; Private channels show a padlock. Pick Private for a conversation that should stay among the people you add.
  4. Add people
    Search under Add people and tick the colleagues to include. You are added automatically.
  5. Click Create channel
    The button stays disabled until the channel has a name. The new channel opens and appears in everyone's list.
The Create a channel dialog. The switch for including people from other companies only appears for developers — see Shared Group Chats.
Renaming a channel

The person who created a channel sees a pencil icon in the conversation header. Click it to open Rename channel, enter the new name (up to 120 characters), and click Save.

Sending a Message

Type in the box at the bottom of a conversation and press Enter to send; press Shift + Enter to start a new line. A message can have text, attachments, or both, but not neither. The toolbar above the box offers:

  • Bold, Italic, Bullet list, Numbered list, and Code formatting.
  • The paperclip (Attach files) to add files — each up to 10 MB. You can also paste an image straight from your clipboard. Web-page, script, and similar file types are not allowed, and you see a message naming the file that was refused.
  • The smiley to insert an emoji.

While someone else is typing, a line under the conversation says so (for example "Anna Schmidt is typing…").

Reacting, Editing, and Deleting

Hover over a message to see its action icons. Everyone can React, Reply (starts a thread), and Copy link. On messages you wrote you can also Edit and Delete.

  • React offers six quick emojis: 👍 ❤️ 😄 🎉 👀 ✅. Reactions show as small chips under the message with a count; click a chip to add or remove your own reaction.
  • Edit turns the message into a text box. Press Enter or click Save to keep the change, or Esc to cancel.
  • Delete removes your message; the conversation shows Message deleted in its place.

Replying in a Thread

  1. Click Reply on a message
    Hover over the message and click the reply arrow. A Thread panel opens on the right with the original message at the top.
  2. Write your reply
    Type in the box at the bottom of the Thread panel and press Enter. Replies appear under a Replies divider, and the panel header counts them.
  3. Come back to it later
    Under the original message you will see a link such as 2 replies. Click it to reopen the thread. Close the panel with the × in its corner.
A thread keeps side discussions out of the main conversation. The Ante chat does not use threads.

Click the link icon in the conversation header (tooltip: Copy link to this conversation) to copy its address, or use Copy link on a single message to point at that message. Whoever opens the link is taken to the conversation if they are allowed to see it. Otherwise they see You don't have access to this conversation., or This conversation no longer exists. if it was deleted.

Unread Messages

Unread messages are flagged in three places: the red total on the header's message icon, a red count beside each conversation in the list, and a bold conversation name. Opening a conversation marks it read, and new messages that arrive while you are looking at it are marked read automatically.

Asking Ante, the AI Companion

Ante is pinned at the top of your list. It is a private chat between you and ANTE's AI companion — nobody else can see it, and there are no threads in it. Ante can look up things such as your tasks, find colleagues, and pull payroll or accounting figures, always limited to what you are allowed to see. It also answers "how do I…" questions from this manual.

  • Type a question in plain words, for example "How many open tasks do I have?".
  • While Ante works, it shows Ante is thinking… and a short list of what it is doing (for example looking up tasks), each with a progress mark. The list stays on the answer so you can see what Ante did.
  • When Ante needs a detail from you, it offers tappable suggested replies — click one, or type your own answer instead.
  • Hover over an Ante answer and choose Turn into a concern to start a support ticket from it.

The AI assistants built into individual screens (Roles, Users, and so on) are a separate feature — see AI Assistant.

Support Tickets

Support tickets live in Messages too. Click the lifebuoy icon (Raise a concern) at the top of the conversation list or in any conversation header to file one, and follow it under My Tickets. Each ticket is a conversation with its own reference number such as TKT-000123. The full ticket guide is on the mobile page Filing a Concern and in the Help Center FAQ; the steps are the same on desktop.

Using Messages on ANTE Mobile

Tap Messages in the bottom bar of ANTE Mobile to see the same conversation list: Ante at the top, then Channels, Direct Messages, and My Tickets, with a preview of the latest message and an unread badge on each row. Tap a conversation to open it full screen; the arrow in the top-left takes you back.

  • The lifebuoy button at the top raises a support concern. The pencil button starts a New conversation: choose Direct message or Channel (public or private, with people from your company), then search and tap people.
  • Messages, reactions, edits, deletes, and threads work as on the desktop. On the phone you can send text only — the toolbar, attachments, and emoji picker are desktop features.
  • Shared group chats that include you appear under Channels. You can read and write in them and leave them, but creating a group and adding or removing people is done on the desktop.
The Messages tab on ANTE Mobile.

Tips

  • Use a thread for side discussions so the main channel stays easy to follow.
  • Pick Private when you create a channel that should stay among the people you add.
  • Copy a message's link instead of pasting its text when you want someone to see the original conversation around it.
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Shared Group Chats