# Chat with the customer

Chat lets you write to the person at the remote computer without taking over their screen or calling them. You can chat:

- in a **Support session**, with the customer you are helping;
- in an **Access session**, with the person signed in on the device;
- **before you connect** to an Access device, with its signed-in user, for example to ask "Can I connect now?". The conversation carries on into the session if you then connect.

Chat is started by the technician. The one exception is a Support session, where the customer can open the chat from their banner. The person signed in on an Access device cannot start a chat; they can only answer yours.

## What you need

- **Your plan** must include **Chat**. Secret messages also need **Secret messages**. Both are part of Blink Core and Blink Pro. See [Understand your plan and its limits](/configure/plans-and-limits/).
- **Your role** needs **Chat (support)** to chat in Support sessions and **Chat (access)** to chat with Access devices. The starter **Technician** and **Admin** roles have both, the **Owner** role has them too, and **Viewer** has neither. See [Roles and permissions](/configure/roles/).
- **An Access device** must run an agent version with chat. Older agents show **Update the agent to chat with this device**. See [Keep agents up to date](/install/agent-updates/).

## Chat in a Support session

1. In the viewer toolbar, select **Chat**. The chat panel opens on the right of the viewer.
2. Type your message in **Write a message** and press Enter (Shift+Enter starts a new line).

The chat window opens on the customer's screen when your first message arrives. See [What your customer sees](/use/what-customers-see/#chat-with-your-technician).

When the customer opens the chat themselves from their banner, the panel opens in your viewer by itself, and the conversation shows **The customer opened the chat**.

If the customer's computer is reconnecting, the panel says **Reconnecting to the customer…** and the messages you send wait for it.

## Chat in an Access session

In an Access session the viewer has the same **Chat** button and panel. The panel is headed with the signed-in user's name (or the device's name), and your messages go to the person signed in on the device.

An Access session is otherwise silent: the signed-in user sees no banner. A chat window is the exception. Once you send a message, the user sees it in a chat window on their screen, so they know a technician is there. If a chat is already open when you connect, the user's chat window shows **The technician connected to this computer**.

## Chat before you connect

You can chat with the signed-in user of an Access device without starting a session:

1. In the console, open **Access**.
2. Select the chat button on the device's row, or open the device and select **Chat**.
3. The chat opens in a panel at the bottom right of the console. Under the user's name it shows **Signed in:** and the account signed in on the device.
4. Write your message. It appears in a chat window on the user's screen.

The panel stays open while you move between devices in the console. When the user agrees, select **Connect** in the panel header: the Access session starts and the conversation carries on in the viewer, with your earlier messages.

The chat button is greyed out when nobody can receive the message. Hover over it to see why:

| Message | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **No user signed in** | Nobody is signed in on the device. |
| **Device offline** | The device is not connected right now. |
| **Device revoked** | The device was revoked. |
| **Update the agent to chat with this device** | The device runs an agent without chat. |

When the device's screen is locked, you can still write: the button's tooltip adds **Screen locked: messages show after the unlock**.

A chat before a session closes by itself after an hour without messages, and when a different user signs in on the device, so a new user never sees an earlier user's conversation. Your next message then starts a new chat.

Messages to a device are never queued: when the device goes offline or the user signs out, the panel says the messages cannot be delivered now.

### Replies while the panel is closed

When a device's user answers and you do not have that chat open, a chat icon with a count appears at the top of the console, and the console shows a short notice such as **Reply from FRONT-DESK**. Neither shows the message itself. Select the icon to see **Chat replies**, one row per device, and select a device to open its chat.

## Writing and reading messages

- Messages are plain text, up to 4,000 characters. A counter appears as you get close to the limit.
- The panel shows who wrote each message and when, and lines such as **Cody joined** or **Session ended**.
- **Seen** with a time appears under your last message the customer has read, and *Ann is typing…* shows while they write.
- Every technician in the session sees the same conversation and can write in it.
- If a message cannot be sent, it is marked **Not sent** with the reason, and **Retry** or **Remove**.

The customer sees your name as it is set under [Choose the name customers see](/configure/technician-name/), with your initials in place of a picture.

## Unread messages

- In the viewer, the **Chat** button shows the number of messages you have not read while the panel is closed.
- For chats before a session, see [Replies while the panel is closed](#replies-while-the-panel-is-closed).

The customer gets an unread mark too. See [What your customer sees](/use/what-customers-see/#chat-with-your-technician).

## Secret messages

A secret message is for something that must not stay anywhere, such as a password or a one-time code. Secrets work in both directions: you can send one to the customer, and the customer can send one to you.

A secret:

- **can be viewed once**. After it is revealed, its text shows for 30 seconds and is then gone for good;
- **expires** if nobody opens it in time;
- **is never kept**. It does not appear in the session history, the recording, the session log or the activity log. Only the fact that a secret was sent, viewed or expired is kept, with the times;
- **stays out of the live view**. While a secret is on the customer's screen, you and the recording see a grey block labelled **Secret** in its place.

### Send a secret

1. In the chat panel, select **Secret** under the message box.
2. Type the secret in **Secret (shown once to the customer)**. It is hidden as you type, like a password.
3. Under **Expires after**, keep the default or choose **5 min**, **15 min** or **60 min**. The default is set by your administrator (see [Security settings](/configure/security-settings/#chat)).
4. Select **Send secret**. Press Escape to go back to a normal message.

The panel shows **Secret sent** and when it expires, then **Viewed** with the time once the customer has opened it, or **Expired**.

In a Support session, you can send a secret only after you have confirmed the computer: until then the panel says **Confirm the customer’s computer before sending a secret.** See [Confirm it is the right computer](/use/support-sessions/#confirm-it-is-the-right-computer).

On the customer's screen, the secret arrives as a card with **Reveal** and the time left. Only the customer can reveal it: clicking **Reveal** or **Copy** with your remote mouse does nothing.

### Receive a secret from the customer

A secret from the customer shows as **Secret from** and their name, with the time left.

1. Select **Reveal**. The text shows for 30 seconds.
2. Select **Copy** to copy it to your own computer's clipboard, or **Hide** to close it sooner.

Any technician in the session can reveal it, but only once: the first one to select **Reveal** sees it, and everyone else sees **Viewed by** and that technician's name. The customer's secrets always use the default lifetime from the security settings.

:::caution
Once you copy a secret, it is on your computer's clipboard like anything else you copy. If you paste it into the remote computer with the shared clipboard, it travels as ordinary clipboard text.
:::

If your plan does not include **Secret messages**, the **Secret** toggle is not shown and **Reveal** is greyed out with **Secret messages are not available**.

## After the chat

The conversation is part of the session's history:

- **Sessions**: the session's details show the **Chat** with every message. See [Review session history](/use/session-history/#the-chat-transcript).
- **Recordings**: the session player has a **Chat** tab next to **Events**. See [Play and manage recordings](/use/recordings/#chat).
- **Access**: a device's details list its **Chats**, including those that never led to a session.

A Support session's chat ends with the session. Deleting a Support session deletes its chat too.