Access common chat channel actions from the sidebar context menu

We’ve now made it easier to access common actions for chat channels on desktop with a sidebar context menu. This works for both public and direct message channels:

From here, you will be able to do the following actions:

  • Change the notification level for the channel, including muting or unmuting
  • Go directly to the channel settings
  • Star or unstar the channel (see the recent announcement if you missed it)
  • Leave the channel

Previously, the only way to do access these actions (except for starring) was to visit the channel settings page, or the channel index in the case of leaving a channel:

This method still works, but the new sidebar context menu will make these settings more discoverable and accessible.

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Love the new interface! Looks great!

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Hi @martin
I noticed that the behavior changed for chat groups (not channels).
Before this update users could click on the small cross (“X”) to the right of the chat group name. That would close the group in the sidebar. But if the users searched for their group, they could find it again.

Now, clicking on the context menu and selecting the “x leave channel” makes the user actually leave the chat group unable to find it ever again.

On our side it leads to some problems and confusion. Users having lots of chat groups in their sidebar which they can’t close otherwise they will never find them again. Or accidentally leaving them.
Is this meant to be that way?

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Oh interesting, I thought the behaviours were equivalent. I will look into this and do a bug fix :eyes:

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@Magie a fix for this has been merged now:

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Hi @martin
Thank you so much for the update. It works. :bouquet:
Just wondering about the translation. Now both seem to have “leave channel”. Are they both using js.chat.channel_settings.leave_channel?
I think differentiating would be useful. So one can be “close” and the other can be “leave channel”.

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He has already worked on changing that:

Once that’s merged, there will be a separate “Close channel” text for DMs.

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Is there a reason why removing a DM chat from the sidebar opens another chat channel?

I understand that if you do that while the channel is open, a redirect to another channel is necessary. But in case there is not, it’s a little unexpected.

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Yes this behavior is awkward in drawer mode, it was probably made before we had the drawer.

Was drawer mode made that recently? I don’t think this happened before the new menu was added. The x in the sidebar didn’t do that

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Ok maybe it’s a regression then, I don’t think the behavior of trying to load another channel when closing one in full page is new, but maybe we had a protection against this in drawer mode and lost it.

Actually, I find it even more confusing when I have used full-screen mode before. I understand why redirecting is important while the chat channel is open, but I had no chat on my screen. So why do I need chat after removing one from my sidebar?

Yes that seems like a bug somewhere in this new behavior, didn’t have time to dig this but we will next week.