ANTE User Manual

Shared Group Chats

A shared group is a conversation in Messages that includes people from several companies. Developers use them to work side by side with client staff — for example a rollout, a parallel run, or a go-live — in one place instead of scattered emails. Ordinary channels and direct messages never cross company lines; shared groups are the one exception, and only developers can create them.

A shared group as a client member sees it. The header lists the companies in the group, and each message shows the sender's company after their name.

Who Can Do What

ActionDeveloper memberClient member
Create a shared groupYesNo
Read and write messages, react, reply in threadsYesYes
See who is in the group and which company they are fromYesYes
Add peopleYesNo
Remove other peopleYesNo
Rename the groupYesNo
Leave the groupYes (unless last developer)Yes

A shared group is members-only: someone who has not been added cannot open it, even if they work for the same company as a member. Everyone in the group sees each other's real name and company — nothing is hidden.

Common Tasks

Creating a Shared Group

  1. Open Messages and click + next to Channels
    The Create a channel dialog opens.
  2. Enter a Channel name
    For example "Q4 rollout". The name is required.
  3. Turn on Include people from other companies
    This switch only appears if you are a developer. Once it is on, the Public / Private choice disappears — a shared group is always members-only.
  4. Search and tick people
    Under Add people, search for the people to include and tick each one (see Finding People From Other Companies). Your own company's people are included in the search too.
  5. Click Create channel
    The group opens and appears under Channels for everyone you added.
With the switch on, the people search covers every company and each result shows the person's company and email.

Finding People From Other Companies

The search box matches a person's name, email, username, or company name. Each result shows the person's company and email under their name, so two people with the same name at different companies are easy to tell apart. Typing several words narrows the list — every word has to match something about the person (for example a surname plus part of the company name). The list shows up to 50 people at a time, so type more to narrow it down.

Your selections stay ticked while you change the search, so you can pick people from several searches.

Adding People Later

  1. Open the group and click the people icon in the header
    The Members panel opens.
  2. Click Add people
    Search the same way as when creating the group. People already in the group are not listed.
  3. Tick people and click Add
    The button shows how many you picked, for example Add (2), and stays disabled until you pick someone. A line such as "Sarah Chen added Diana Brooks" is posted in the conversation.
Developers only

Add people and the remove buttons only appear for developer members. If you are a client member you see the roster but no management controls.

Seeing Who Is in the Group

Click the people icon in the conversation header to open Members. People are grouped by company, with the companies in alphabetical order, and you are marked (you). The conversation header itself lists the companies taking part; when there are too many to fit, it shows a summary such as "3 companies · 6 members".

The Members panel as a developer sees it. Client members see the same list without Add people or the remove icons.

Removing Someone

  1. Open Members and click the remove icon beside the person
    The icon's tooltip reads Remove.
  2. Confirm
    Click Remove in the Remove member confirmation ("Remove Diana Brooks from this group?"). A line such as "Sarah Chen removed Diana Brooks" is posted in the conversation.

The person is taken out of the group at once. They see the notice You were removed from a group. and the group disappears from their list.

Renaming the Group

Developer members see a pencil icon in the conversation header. Click it, enter the new name, and click Save.

Leaving a Group

  1. Open Members
    Click the people icon in the conversation header.
  2. Click Leave group
    It is at the bottom of the panel. Confirm the message Leave "name"? You will no longer see its messages.

The group disappears from your list and a line "… left the group" is posted for the others. You cannot rejoin by yourself — a developer has to add you again.

The last developer cannot leave

A shared group must always keep at least one developer so that it can still be managed. If you are the only developer left, leaving (or removing the last developer) is refused with an error. Add another developer first.

Shared Groups on ANTE Mobile

Shared groups you belong to show up under Channels in the Messages tab. Open one to read and write; every message shows the sender's company, and the header lists the companies in the group. To leave, tap the Leave group button (the exit icon in the top-right corner) and confirm. Creating a group and adding or removing people is only available on the desktop.

A shared group on ANTE Mobile, with the Leave group button at the top right.

Tips

  • Name groups after the piece of work ("Q4 rollout") so client members recognise it in their list.
  • Add a second developer to important groups so one person leaving never blocks changes.
  • Check the Members panel before posting sensitive details — everyone listed there can read the conversation, whichever company they are from.
  • Messages — Channels, direct messages, threads, and the Ante AI companion
  • Messages FAQ — Quick answers to common questions
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