Egenverk Babbla · Documentation
The chat
The chat is on every admin page for users with chat access. It makes no external requests.
Open the chat
- The admin bar icon opens a drawer that slides over the page without moving it. The icon shows the number of unread messages and, in a badge of its own, unread mentions (
@N). - The floating bubble in the corner opens a compact chat window.
- Full page: choose Open as full page in the chat's More menu (⋯).
The site's default for the bubble is set in the Behaviour card on the Settings tab: Floating bubble (on by default) and Bubble size: Small (40 px), Normal (56 px, the default) or Large (72 px). Each user can choose Hide bubble, Show bubble and a size from the bubble's own menu, and their choice stands until they change it, even if the site default changes. With the bubble hidden, the admin bar icon is the way in.
In the same menu the user picks a Theme: System, Light or Dark, and whether the chat shows as a drawer or a chat window.
Conversations
| Type | Who sees it |
|---|---|
| General | Everyone with chat access |
| Room for everyone with chat access | Everyone with chat access, including those who get access later |
| Room for selected people | Only the members |
| Direct message | The two people writing |
| Your assistant conversation | Only you |
Anyone with chat access can create a room with New room. The name may be 1–60 characters, and under Who can see this room? you choose Everyone with chat access or Selected people. The room's creator and Babbla administrators can rename it, archive it and manage its members under Room info. A member can choose Leave room. An archived room accepts no new messages, but its history stays readable, and it can be brought back with Restore room.
Someone invited to a room can read its whole history, including what was written before the invitation. An administrator who is not a member of a private room can manage its member list but cannot read its messages, and cannot invite others.
A message may be at most 4,000 characters. Each user can send 30 messages a minute.
Mentions
Type @ or use Mention a colleague or assistant to mention someone. A mentioned colleague gets an unread-mention badge. A mention never invites anyone into a room. In a direct message only the other participant can be mentioned.
If you mention a colleague in your assistant conversation, Babbla offers a New private group with that colleague and the assistant. Only the message you write and an assistant answer you explicitly choose are shared. Your earlier conversation stays private.
Important messages
Start a message with ! and a space in a direct message or a private room, and it becomes an important message. It is marked Important in the conversation and counts in the recipients' mention badge. If the site has a separate notification plugin that shows pop-up notices in wp-admin, the message is shown there until the recipient dismisses it; otherwise only the badge shows.
In a room for everyone and in the assistant conversation the message is sent as ordinary text, keeping its !. In a room for everyone the chat shows "Alerts only work in direct messages and private rooms." while you type.
Link to an order
Type # and at least three digits of an order number. Babbla offers up to eight matching orders with number, status, date and customer name. Pick one and the number becomes a link that opens the order in wp-admin. Digits you do not pick stay plain text.
The list is offered only to users who may edit orders. A colleague without that right sees the number as text.
Attach files
Drag a file or a screenshot into the conversation, paste a screenshot into the message box, or use the paperclip, Attach a file, next to @.
- Up to 5 files per message, at most 10 MB each and never more than the server's upload limit.
- Allowed files: png, jpg, gif, webp, pdf, txt, csv, xlsx, xls, docx, doc, pptx, odt, ods and zip.
- Images larger than 10,000 px on a side or 40 megapixels are refused.
- At most 30 uploads per ten minutes per user.
A file uploads as soon as you attach it, and Send waits until the upload is done. A file that failed to upload stays in the row until you remove it. Images show as thumbnails, other files as a card you can download. Files live as long as their message. A file you attached but never sent is deleted after 24 hours.
The More menu
The More menu (⋯) in the chat header has Room info, switching between drawer and chat window, Copy link to conversation, Open as full page and Clear conversation.
Clear conversation is offered only for your own assistant conversation. After you confirm with Delete the messages, the messages and their files are deleted for good. It cannot run while the assistant is answering. Direct messages and rooms cannot be cleared, since they hold what colleagues wrote.
Drafts and new messages
A draft, selected mentions and your place in the conversation carry over when you move to another admin page. New messages from colleagues appear within a couple of seconds. The chat reads a small signal file and asks WordPress only when something has changed, so an open chat puts little load on the server.