# Chat vs Messages
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** chat
**Created:** [November 18, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765 "2024-11-18T17:32:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@martyn\_thomas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/martyn_thomas)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765/1 "2024-11-18T17:32:45Z")
Forgive my silly questions - we’re in the process of upgrading our very old (pre-Chat-as-Core) install to the latest version. We’re trying to figure out if we want to activate Chat.
- What’s the difference/pros-cons between Chat and Messages?
- We have turned off ‘Enable public channels based on categories.’ yet the Chat popup defaults to the ‘Channels’ tab rather than DMs - is there a way to hide the Channels tab?
- Is there a way to migrate Messages into Chats/DMs so communications are all in one place?
- With messages there’s different inboxes/folders based on how i’m being contacted (directly - or because i’m part of a group) - Does Chat have a similar way of showing the difference?
Thanks
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### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765/2 "2024-11-18T21:51:57Z")
> [@martyn\_thomas](#):
>
> What’s the difference/pros-cons between Chat and Messages?
From what I understand from doing some searches here on Meta, chat and messages are unrelated. You can imagine a personal message as a normal topic that’s searchable, albeit ‘private’ and permanent \[1\]. However, a chat is for more ephemeral discussions as in the site settings you can change the retention period of the chats.
A good place to look at other details is in topics like the one below
> [@Now I've got Chat speech\_balloon what do I do with Personal Messages?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/now-ive-got-chat-what-do-i-do-with-personal-messages/238838):
>
> I love [Discourse Chat](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-chat/230881) - it is thoroughly polished and gives a brilliant experience for ephemeral communications within an online forum in ways we could only dream of last year. However, I’m stuck with a bit of a problem. After a few years of nudging folk to use personal messages (PMs) as a never-very-satisfactory alternative to chat, what do I do with them? Group comms are also usually fine as a chat channel. And as you need a category to anchor that anyway, there is an obvious place for persi…
It depends what type of community you have whether you’d benefit from only chat, messages or both.
> [@martyn\_thomas](#):
>
> is there a way to hide the Channels tab?
You can do this with CSS.
* * *
I’m not sure about your third question
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> [@martyn\_thomas](#):
>
> Does Chat have a similar way of showing the difference?
I don’t use chat much myself but I think that under the DMs tab it combines individual chats and group chat notifications - not showing the difference. Someone can correct me here.
* * *
1. unless deleted of course
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### Author:  [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2024, 10:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765/3 "2024-11-18T22:05:29Z")
> [@martyn\_thomas](#):
>
> We have turned off ‘Enable public channels based on categories.’ yet the Chat popup defaults to the ‘Channels’ tab rather than DMs - is there a way to hide the Channels tab?
Completely agree that this is a problem for sites where Channels are much less important.
I’ve reported this as a UX suggestion:
> [@Make the default chat view DMs (rather than Channels)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-the-default-chat-view-dms-rather-than-channels/326100):
>
> In the UI, Channels are given the more promoted position. By this I mean: Channels are above DMs in the sidebar Channels are selected in the Chat box when the bubble top right is clicked (even if the user isn’t a member of any, or if it is disabled) This makes sense for instances where Channels are used quite a bit and their use needs to be encouraged. However, my instances tend to only use them occasionally. As a result, this behaviour just adds friction to the activity my users want …
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### Author:  [@martyn\_thomas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/martyn_thomas)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2024, 11:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765/4 "2024-11-18T23:11:07Z")
Thanks for your help guys
Sounds like the two areas are doing the same thing - allowing members to communicate - in similar but different ways.
Looks like we’ll turn it off for now - and revisit it if/when the two messaging methods are merged.
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### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2024, 1:09am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765/5 "2024-11-19T01:09:49Z")
> [@martyn\_thomas](#):
>
> Looks like we’ll turn it off for now - and revisit it if/when the two messaging methods are merged.
I don’t think they will ever be merged – they serve very different purposes. Chat is ephemeral and is used to have quick discussions with people. PMs are permanent and are therefore used for private discussions that may need to be revisited in the future.
I agree that for many communities, chat simply isn’t necessary and can be turned off. For others (like internal communities) it is important.
> [@martyn\_thomas](#):
>
> Is there a way to migrate Messages into Chats/DMs so communications are all in one place?
No because that wouldn’t make a lot of sense. It makes more sense to go the other way (which is possible).
> [@martyn\_thomas](#):
>
> With messages there’s different inboxes/folders based on how i’m being contacted (directly - or because i’m part of a group) - Does Chat have a similar way of showing the difference?
Yes – you can see that the third one in my list is a group chat.
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### Author:  [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2024, 1:57am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765/7 "2024-11-19T01:57:29Z")
> [@HAWK](#):
>
> PMs are permanent and are therefore used for private discussions that may need to be revisited in the future.
In my opinion, the one key change needed to make this work really well would be for PMs to be treated as Private Topics (rather than _messages_) for those sites who have chat enabled.
This would retain the existing (excellent) functionality, but be cleaner, simpler, and more effective due to removing the big fat silo between PMs and Topics. It would also remove the confusion between DMs and PMs.
How might this look?
1. A dedicated category called `Private Topics` which each user watches by default
2. Populated with all of the PMs/Private Topics a user can see (i.e. basically their current inbox latest + sent combined)
3. Filterable by users/groups
4. These topics appear in the /Latest list and are included in search
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### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2024, 6:37am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765/9 "2024-11-19T06:37:27Z")
> [@ondrej](#):
>
> DMs tab it combines individual chats and group chat notifications - not showing the difference. Someone can correct me here.
Correct. The only difference would be that a private DM shows the avatar of the other user, a group DM will have a number showing the amount of participants.
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### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2024, 6:41am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765/12 "2024-11-19T06:41:14Z")
@nathank I reckon this is worth a new topic. Want me to split it out?
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### Author:  [@Cate\_Soule](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Cate_Soule)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2025, 5:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765/13 "2025-07-28T05:42:56Z")
I think one downside of using Messages is that the email notifications are sent through the user’s own server, which may be subject to rate limits or quota restrictions.
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### Author:  [@roke\_julian\_lockhart](https://meta.discourse.org/u/roke_julian_lockhart)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2026, 10:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-vs-messages/336765/14 "2026-05-31T22:49:52Z")
@HAWK, I’d say so. He’s said it in a few places, and it’s a compelling request.