Table of Contents
How to manage Messages plugin
Go to Admin Area > Plugins > Installed Plugins.
Find the Messages plugin - move mouse cursor over it, and click the Settings button.
You will be directed to the Messages plugin settings page.
You will see three messages modes:
Mails
This mode enables the standard Mailbox. Your users will be able to:
- send the messages into the site Mailbox by clicking the Send Private Message button on the user's profile page.
The compose message area will appear at the bottom of the page.
- receive the incoming messages to their INBOX by clicking the Messages button in the console.
User will be directed to their Mailbox
Here user can not only reply to the message, but send a new message, search for messages, mark the message as read, unread or delete history.
Chats
This mode enables only chat option. If you enable this mode, the users chat list will appear in the right bottom corner of the screen.
The users shown in the chat should ether be in your Friends list (make sure the Friends plugin is installed on your site) or users you had a conversation with. Users are ordered by the activity - online users (they will show first) and the users who recently contacted you will appear at the top of the list.
To start the chat, you should simply click a user in the chat list. The chat window will appear next to the users list.
Notification about a new chat message will appear next to the user in the users list and on the Messages button in the console.
User also can see all their chat messages in the Mailbox. To do so, they need to click the View All button in the console.
| Note: If you switch to the Chats mode, all conversations related to the Mails will be hidden from the list of conversations in the Mailbox. Do not worry the conversations are not deleted and will show up again in case you switch back to the Mails option. |
| Note: Conversation will be completely removed from the database only in case both users will delete it from the Mailbox. |
Mails + Chat
This mode enables both standard Mailbox and chat options. If this mode is enabled, users will be able either to send a private messages or to have a real-time chat conversation.
The conversations in the Mailbox will be indicated by two icons:
- envelop icon says that this is the private message sent to INBOX;
- chat bubble icon says that this is the chat message.
| Note: If you choose Mails or Mails + Chat option, you will see the Allow to send messages once in configuration. This configuration allows you to enter the number of seconds to set the interval between the users' messages. |
Monetization
The Messages plugin allows you to monetize the site by limiting the access to the Messages features. The list of actions can be found in the Admin Area > Users > User Roles section. Here they are:
Actions for the Mails mode
- Send Private Message - allows to start conversation
- Read incoming message - allows to read new message
- Continue mail dialog - allows to reply to the message
Actions for the Chats mode
- Start chat dialog - allows to start new chat
- Read chat messages - allows to read new message
- Continue chat dialog - allows to reply to the message or continue previous chat conversation
| Note: If you enable the Mails + Chat mode, all six actions will show up in the actions list. |
If you use the Paid Memberships and/or User Credits plugins, then in case the action is not available for free, a user receives the following message:
If the Paid Memberships and/or User Credits plugins are not available, the Send message button and reply area will simply be hidden/disabled.