How to switch chat off for a group

Chat is switched on group by group, and switched off the same way. You might do this because a course has finished, because a group has run its course, or because a conversation needs pausing. It is a normal, reversible thing to do.

Switching it off now

1. In your web office, open the group in the group tree.
2. Go to Group Settings and open the Chat section.
3. Untick Direct Messages, Group Messages, or both, depending on what you want to stop.
4. Press Save.

Setting it to stop on a date

If you know when a group will finish, set the end date rather than relying on someone remembering.

1. In the Chat section, find For how long? under whichever option you are setting.
2. Choose Until and set the date and time.
3. Press Save. Chat will stop by itself at that point.

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Good to know

• Switching chat off does not delete anything. Chat history is never deleted, and switching chat back on returns people to their conversations. See How to turn on chat for a group.
• Members will simply find they can no longer send. It is worth telling a group beforehand rather than letting them work it out.
• If the problem is noise rather than the group itself, you may not need to switch chat off at all. Members can mute a conversation themselves, and you can set quiet hours or make the group announcement-only. Any of those is usually better.
• If the problem is one person’s conduct, that is a pastoral matter rather than a settings one. Switching off a whole group’s chat to deal with one individual is worth thinking twice about, and removing that person from the group is the more precise tool. See Who can message whom?