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Access chat

  1. From the Collaborate panel, go to the Chat tab panel.
  2. Spacebar or select Chat tab to open.
    Tip: Chat tab panel opens by default the first time you open the Collaborate panel.
  3. Find the Chat heading with heading keyboard shortcuts, the Tab key, or visually.
  4. Continue to navigate the panel to find the following features:
    • Find someone to chat with autocomplete edit field
    • Everyone button
    • Moderators button (Moderators only)

Turn chat permission on or off

Turn chat permissions on:

  1. From the Collaborate panel, go to the My Settings tab panel. Spacebar or select My Settings tab panel to open.
  2. Find the My Settings heading with heading keyboard short cuts, the Tab key, or visually.
  3. Go to the Session Settings tab. Spacebar or select Sessions Settings tab to open the panel.
  4. Go to the the Post chat messages checkbox. Spacebar or select to activate.
  5. To force attendees to chat privately with moderators only, go to the Participants can chat privately only with moderators checkbox. Spacebar or select to activate.
  6. To let attendees have one-on-one moderated chats, go to the Moderators supervise all private chats checkbox. Spacebar or select to activate.
  7. Go to the Save button. Spacebar or select to activate.

To turn off the chat permissions, go to the Post chat messages checkbox and make sure it isn’t checked.


Private chat

Chat privately with anybody else in your session.

  1. Go to the Find someone to chat with autocomplete edit field.
  2. Start to enter the name of an attendee into the field.
    Note: If no attendee is found, you’ll receive the message 0 results for “name”.
  3. Tab or Down arrow to select the name of the attendee in the autocomplete list or select [attendee name] button. A section with the attendee name as a heading opens, and focus is placed in the “Type a message and press Enter or Return to chat” edit field with the placeholder text Say something.

Chat with everyone

  1. Go to the Everyone button. If there are messages, there is a number before the button and the text is rendered as # of messages, Latest message from [name] [message text].
  2. Spacebar or select Everyone button.
  3. A section with the heading Everyone opens. Focus is placed in the “Type a message and press Enter or Return to chat” edit field with the placeholder text Say something.

Chat with other moderators

This is on available to moderators.

  1. Go to the Moderators button. If there are messages, there is a number before the button and the text is rendered as “# of messages, Latest message from [name] [message text].
  2. Spacebar or select Moderators button.
  3. A section with the heading Moderators opens. Focus is placed in the “Type a message and press Enter or Return to chat” edit field with the placeholder text Say something.

Send a chat message

  1. If focus is not automatically placed in the “Type a message and press Enter or Return to chat” edit field with the placeholder text Say something, go to the edit field.
  2. Enter a chat message. You may add emoji symbols using emoji keyboard shortcuts.
  3. Press Enter to send the message.

Send an emoji

Go to the Select emoticon button and press Spacebar or select the button to open the emoji picker.

Note: The emoji picker opens with focus in the Search for emojis edit field.

Navigate the picker to find the following features:

  • Categories: Use the Right and Left arrow buttons to move between categories.
    • Frequently Used
    • Smileys & People
    • Animals & Nature
    • Food & Drink
    • Activities
    • Travel & Places
    • Objects
    • Symbols
    • Flags
  • Search for emojis edit field
  • Select Skin tone button: Use the Down and Up arrow keys to move between skin tones.
  • Emojis: Use the arrow keys to move between emojis. Spacebar or select to use an emoji.

After you select an emoji, your focus returns to the “Type a message and press Enter or Return to chat” edit field with the placeholder text Say something. Press Enter to send the emoji.


Emoji keyboard shortcuts

Collaborate uses common emoji keyboard shortcuts. This table lists the most often used. If you can’t find the emoji you are looking for, use the Search for emoji edit field to find what you want.

Emoji Keyboard shortcuts
Smile with mouth closed

:)
:-)
:slight_smile:
Smile with mouth open

:D
:-D
:smiley:
Stuck out tongue

:p
:-)
:stuck_out_tongue:
Slight frown

:(
:-(
:disappointed:
Wink

;)
:-)
:wink:
Open mouth in surprise

:O
:-O
:open_mouth:
Confused

:/
:-/
:confused:
Cry

:'(
:'-(
:cry:
Angry

:@
:-@
:angry:
Face with sunglasses

B)
B-)
:sunglasses:
Blush

:$
:-$
:blush:
Heart

<3
:heart:
Thumbs up

:y:
:+1:
:thumbsup:
Thumbs down

:n:
:-1:
:thumbsdown:
Clap

:clap:
Wave

:wave:

Chat history

Use the keyboard controls at the top of the Chat panel to move between messages. The keyboard controls are only available after messages have been posted in Chat and are only available with keyboard navigation.

Chat history in Chrome, Firefox, JAWS, and NVDA

  1. From the “Type a message and press Enter or Return to chat” edit field with the placeholder text Say something, Shift+Tab to open the chat navigation. Focus is placed on the Last chat message button.
  2. Shift+Tab to go to the following buttons: 
    • Next chat message button
    • Previous chat message button
    • First chat message button
  3. Tab to go from First chat message button back to the Last chat message button.
  4. Spacebar on a chat message button to go to the related message. Keyboard focus remains on the Next and Previous buttons until the first chat message or last chat message in the thread is reached. Keyboard focus then moves to Previous chat message button if the last chat message was rendered or Next chat message if the first chat message was rendered.
  5. Tab to leave the chat message buttons and return to the “Type a message and press Enter or Return to chat” edit field with the placeholder text Say something.

Chat history in Safari on a Mac

VoiceOver screen reader must be enabled to navigate the chat messages as the Tab key doesn’t typically work in the Safari browser.

  1. From the “Type a message and press Enter or Return to chat” edit field with the placeholder text Say something, Shift+Tab to open the chat navigation. Focus is placed on the Last chat message button.
  2. Use the VO key + Right Arrow to go to the following buttons: 
    • Next chat message button
    • Previous chat message button
    • First chat message button
  3. Use the VO key + Left Arrow to go from First chat message button back to the Last chat message button.
  4. Spacebar on a chat message button to go to the related message. Keyboard focus remains on the Next and Previous buttons until the first chat message or last chat message in the thread is reached. Keyboard focus then moves to Previous chat message button if the last chat message was rendered or Next chat message if the first chat message was rendered.
  5. Tab to leave the Chat message buttons and return to the “Type a message and press Enter or Return to chat” edit field with the placeholder text Say something.

Navigate the Chat panel with voice commands

Dragon Naturally Speaking users can use the voice commands for standard navigation. For example, use “Scroll Down” and “Scroll Up” to see all the messages in the Chat panel.