# 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:** 1
**Showing post:** 1

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### Author: ![martyn\_thomas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/martyn_thomas/32/344874_2.png) [@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")

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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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