Send and manage messages

Write and send messages, react to them, mention people, and edit, delete, copy or report messages. Unless noted, everything here also works for replies in threads.

Most message actions start with a long-press on the message. In the web app, hold down the mouse button (or your finger on a touch screen). In the desktop app, hover over a message for its toolbar, or right-click it or click its ⋯ button for the full menu.

Write a message

Type in the message box and select Send. Next to the message box:

Add attachment (+) adds photos, videos and files (see Photos, videos and files). In the main conversation, it can also start a poll or ladder game.
Emoji opens the emoji picker, with search, your recent emoji and skin tones.
Voice input lets you dictate a message.
Polish with AI appears once you’ve typed something. See Writing help.
Clear message clears what you’ve typed.

On iPhone, Android and the web app, two emoji shortcuts work as you type:

Type : followed by part of an emoji name, such as :smile, to choose from up to 5 matching emoji.
Emoticons such as :), ;), :D, <3 and :( turn into emoji when you type a space after them or send the message.

In the web app and the desktop app, press Enter to send and Shift+Enter to start a new line. The desktop toolbar has Attachments (photos, polls and documents), Emoji, Rewrite with AI and Send.

A message or thread reply can be up to 80,000 bytes of UTF-8 text. English letters and digits take 1 byte each, most other letters take 2 or 3 bytes, and an emoji takes 3 bytes or more.

On iPhone, Android and the web app, a message that fails to send shows Retry. The desktop app shows an error and keeps your text; check the conversation before you send it again.

Formatting and display

Messages people type are sent as plain text. Messages from bots, including AI assistants, can use Markdown and appear formatted.

On iPhone, Android and the desktop app, the Message display setting chooses how message text appears on your device: As sent (the default), Formatted or Plain text. To change a single message, long-press it (desktop: open its ⋯ menu) and choose View formatted or View plain text; Use default display switches it back.

The web app doesn’t have these options: messages sent with Markdown appear formatted, and plain-text messages appear as typed.

Long messages are shortened in the chat. On iPhone, Android and the web app, select Continue reading to see the whole message.

Dictate a message

On iPhone, Android and the web app, you can speak a message instead of typing it. The desktop app doesn’t have voice input.

With the message box empty, select Voice input (the microphone in place of Send).
The first time, allow microphone access. iPhone also asks you to allow speech recognition.
Speak. Your speech is recognized in your DonutChat app language.
Select Stop voice input when you’re done. Dictation also stops after a pause or after about 30 seconds.
Check the text, then select Send.

In the web app, voice input works only in browsers that support speech recognition. In other browsers, selecting the microphone shows a message about microphone access instead.

React to a message

Long-press a message and select a quick reaction, or select More reactions (+) to pick any emoji. The quick reactions adapt to the emoji you use most.
Double-tap a message to add or remove 👍.
Select a reaction under a message to add or remove yours.
Long-press a reaction to see Who reacted.

In the desktop app, hover over a message to use its quick reactions or More reactions. Click a reaction to add or remove yours, and hover over it to see who reacted.

Mention people

Type @ in a chat or thread, keep typing to filter by name or username, and select someone to insert a mention. Bots are marked BOT in the list.

In the main conversation:

@username notifies that person.
@everyone notifies all members of the chat.
@here notifies members who are online.

On iPhone and Android, a main-conversation message that mentions you, including @everyone, notifies you even in a chat you’ve muted. In the desktop app, a muted chat doesn’t notify you about new messages, even ones that mention you. A mention in a thread reply doesn’t send its own notification: the person is notified only if they follow the thread. For more, see Notifications.

Mentions of you appear in Activity. Select a mention in a message to open that person’s profile.

In the desktop app, typing @ suggests members and bots, but not @everyone or @here.

Edit a message

On iPhone, Android and the desktop app, you can edit the text of messages and thread replies you sent, at any time. Messages with attachments, polls or games can’t be edited.

Long-press your message and choose Edit. In the desktop app, open the message’s ⋯ menu and choose Edit message.
Change the text, then select Save.

An edited message shows Edited. Anyone in the chat can select it to see earlier versions (desktop: View edit history). Editing keeps the message’s place, reactions and replies, and doesn’t notify anyone again.

The web app can’t edit messages and doesn’t show the Edited label or edit history.

Delete a message

Long-press your message and choose Delete. In the desktop app, open its ⋯ menu and choose Delete message… (or Delete reply… in a thread).
Confirm.

You can delete only your own messages, at any time. Group owners and managers can’t delete other people’s messages; to flag one, report it. If the message you delete started a thread, the replies stay, and the original shows as Parent message deleted.

Drafts

Text you type but don’t send is kept as a draft for that chat or thread, and it’s there when you come back. On iPhone, Android and the web app, the chat list marks chats that have a draft. Sending the message or selecting Clear message removes the draft.

iPhone and Android: drafts are saved on the device. They aren’t synced to your other devices, and they’re kept when you restart the app.
Web app: drafts last while the browser window is open. Reloading or closing it clears them.
Desktop app: drafts last until you quit the app.

Typing indicators

When someone in the main conversation is typing, a line such as “Sam is typing…” appears below the messages. Other people see the same while you type. Typing indicators don’t appear in threads.

Copy a message or its link

Long-press a message and choose:

Copy message to copy its text.
Copy message link to copy a link to the message, or Copy reply link for a thread reply.
Copy thread link to copy a link to its thread.
Copy attachment link to copy the link in the message’s link preview, if it has one.

A message link opens the message in DonutChat on a phone with the app. Only people who are already in the chat can see the message; anyone else sees Message unavailable, so sharing a link never gives access to a chat.

In the desktop app, open a message’s ⋯ menu and choose Copy text. To copy part of a message, select the text, right-click it and choose Copy selection. The desktop app can’t copy message links.

DonutChat doesn’t have a forward option. To pass a message on, copy its text or link. To keep a message for yourself, bookmark it. Thread replies can’t be bookmarked.

Report a message

If a message is spam, abusive or otherwise inappropriate, you can report it to the DonutChat team: long-press it and choose Report (desktop: Report message… in its ⋯ menu), then choose a reason. The sender isn’t told who reported them. You can report other people’s messages in the main conversation, but not thread replies.

For the steps and how to check on a report, see Report a message.