Currently it seems the chat icon always shows. I’d expect it to not show if a user doesn’t have access to channels or personal messages.
AI-generated summary
The chat icon is displayed in the header for users who don’t have access to chat channels or personal messages. nolo reported this issue, and JammyDodger was able to replicate it by setting up a specific combination of permissions: chat allowed groups set to TL1, direct message enabled groups set to TL2, and no channels available for the TL2 group. This results in the chat bubble displaying, but no chats being accessible. Although nolo didn’t consider it a bug, JammyDodger has categorized it as a UX issue to be improved, and it’s been added to the list of potential changes.
I’ve just given this a quick run-through on my test site and I’m not seeing this?
Busting down my test user to TL0 while chat allowed groups is TL1 makes the chat bubble and sidebar chat UI disappear.
Oh, hang on. Do you mean something like this @nolo:
- Create TL1 test user
- Set
chat allowed groupsto TL1 - Set
direct message enabled groupsto TL2 - Create category for TL2
- Create public chat channel in TL2 category (and no others)
Chat bubble displays, but no chats are accessible:
4 Likes
Oh wow, how did you figure that out!? 
Yes, I also just realized that is exactly the combination: chat is generally enabled for the group, but not on personal messages. Then, there are no channels for that group and when they open chat the modal is empty.
I guess can’t call this a bug though? A weird combination of pushing buttons…
edit: thought a combination that might come up more commonly could be:
- chat allowed for everyone
- direct messages only for staff
- no channel for a specific group
2 Likes
I took it to be adjudicated and it came back as… 
… Contribute > UX - but still something that we want to improve on. 
I’m not sure on the priority/timeline just yet, but it’s been absorbed into the mix. 
2 Likes