After installing the ChatTime package, six steps make chat available to your users: access, the utility bar, mobile, the license, settings, and a quick test.
You need to be a Salesforce administrator in the org where ChatTime is installed.
sftime.In a sandbox or Developer Edition org ChatTime is free and needs no license key, so you can skip Step 4 there.
ChatTime comes with two permission sets. Nobody can use chat until they have the first one.
| Permission set | Who gets it | What it allows |
|---|---|---|
| ChatTime User | Everyone who should chat | Using chat on desktop and mobile |
| ChatTime Admin | You, and anyone else who administers ChatTime | The ChatTime License tab, entering a license key, and license notices. It gives no extra rights inside chats |
An admin who also wants to chat needs both.
To assign to one user: Setup → Users → open the user → Permission Set Assignments → Edit Assignments → add the permission set → Save.
To assign to many users: Setup → Permission Sets → ChatTime User → Manage Assignments → Add Assignment → select the users → Assign.
Chats are private to their members. Being an admin, or having ChatTime Admin, does not let anyone read other people's conversations through the chat.
On desktop, chat lives in the utility bar at the bottom of a Lightning app. Add it to every app your users work in.
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Label | Chat | It changes to "Chat (3)" by itself when there are unread messages |
| Icon | chat | |
| Panel Width | 360 | |
| Panel Height | 480 | |
| Start automatically | Checked | Without it, unread counts, live messages and the sound only start after the user first opens the panel |
Users see the new item after they refresh the page.
Console apps: a console app (such as Service Console) can only be opened by users whose Salesforce license allows console apps. Users on a Salesforce Platform license usually cannot. Give those users Chat in a standard app, or the Chat tab from Step 3.
The Salesforce mobile app has no utility bar, so on phones chat is a tab. Skip this step if nobody uses the mobile app.
Users then find Chat in the menu of the Salesforce mobile app. The same tab also works on desktop, as a full-page chat.
When a message arrives, the other members of the chat get "New message from [name]" on their phone, and tapping it opens that conversation. For this to work, the Chat Message notification has to be made available to the Salesforce mobile app:
Good to know:
ChatTime is licensed per user. In a production org a 30-day free trial starts the first time anyone opens Chat, with no limit on users. Enter a license key before it ends.
ChatTime is free for up to 10 users. A free team also needs a license key, which costs nothing: follow the steps below and ask for a key for up to 10 users. For more than 10 users the price is $2 per user per month for all users, billed annually.
The page then shows the status Licensed, the valid-until date, the number of licensed users, and how many users currently have Chat access. A key works only in the org it was made for.
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Sandbox or Developer Edition org | Free. No key, no user limit |
| Trial, 30 days from first use | Everything works. ChatTime admins see the days left |
| Licensed, within the number of users | Nothing visible |
| More users have Chat access than licensed | The users who were given access first keep working. The most recently added ones see "No ChatTime seat is available for you". You see both numbers |
| License expired, first 14 days | Chat keeps working. ChatTime admins see a warning |
| License expired more than 14 days, or trial over with no key | Chat is read-only for everyone: messages can be read, nothing can be sent |
To free a seat, remove ChatTime User from someone, or deactivate the user. The next person in line gets the seat within a few minutes.
To add users or renew, email [email protected] for a new key and enter it the same way. It replaces the old one.
Nothing is ever deleted or hidden because of licensing. In read-only mode all conversations stay readable, and chat works again as soon as a valid key is entered.
ChatTime works with its defaults. Change a setting only if your company needs something different.
Where: Setup → Custom Metadata Types → Chat Setting → Manage Records → Default → Edit. Open chats pick up a change within 5 minutes.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Retention Days | 30 | Messages and their files older than this are deleted every night. Blank or 0 keeps them forever |
| Allow Message Edit | On | Uncheck so users cannot edit their own messages |
| Allow Message Delete | On | Uncheck so users cannot delete their own messages |
| Edit/Delete Window (minutes) | 15 | How long after sending a message can be edited or deleted. Blank means no limit |
| Allow Attachments | On | Uncheck to turn off file attachments |
| Max Attachment Size (MB) | 10 | Largest file that can be attached |
| Allowed File Types | Images, PDF, Office files, txt, csv, zip | Comma-separated extensions without dots. Files are not virus-scanned, so keep executables out |
| Real-Time Mode | Auto | How open chats learn about new messages (see below) |
| Auto Switch At (%) | 70 | In Auto mode, the share of the org's daily platform event deliveries at which chat switches to polling |
| Push Throttle Minutes | 2 | A person gets at most one push per chat within this many minutes |
Leave Chat Tab API Name as it is. It is set by Salesforce Time.
Retention. Messages are deleted for good after the retention period, including from the Recycle Bin. Check the number against your company's record-keeping rules before users start chatting. The cleanup runs every night at 2:00 AM through the flow Chat Retention Cleanup; change the time or pause it under Setup → Flows.
Real-time mode. Leave it on Auto unless you have a reason to change it.
| Live | Polling | |
|---|---|---|
| New message in an open chat | Instant | Within about 5 seconds |
| Unread badge and sound while minimized | Instant | Within about 30 seconds |
| Mobile push notification | Instant | Instant |
| Uses the org's daily platform event allowance | Yes | No |
Auto uses Live and switches to Polling by itself when chat would use too much of the org's platform event allowance, which is shared with your other apps and integrations. Choose Polling if you want chat to use none of it.
Every piece of text ChatTime shows is a Custom Label: button names, notices, error messages, the emoji category names and the push notification text. You can reword any of them, or translate them into the languages your users work in, without changing the product.
The labels all start with Chat_, for example Chat_Message_Placeholder for "Write a message…". To reword the English text, choose English as the language. Users see a change after they refresh the page.
Some labels contain placeholders such as {0}, which ChatTime fills in with a name or a number. Keep them in your wording.
Test with two users before you tell everyone. Use a second browser, a private window, or Setup → Users → Login to act as the second user.
If any of these fails, see Troubleshooting below.
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "You don't have access to Chat" in the panel | The user does not have ChatTime User | Assign the permission set (Step 1) |
| Chat worked for a user and then disappeared | The user's Salesforce license or profile was changed, which removes permission sets | Assign ChatTime User again |
| "No ChatTime seat is available for you" | More users have Chat access than the license covers, and this user was added last | Remove access from someone who does not need it, or email [email protected] for more users |
| A notice that chat is read-only, and no message box | The license expired more than 14 days ago, or the trial ended without a key | Enter a valid license key on the ChatTime License tab |
| "This license key was made for a different org" | The key belongs to another org, for example production instead of this one | Send [email protected] the org ID shown on the ChatTime License tab |
| "This license key is not valid" | The key was cut off or changed when copied | Paste the whole key again, exactly as received |
| Chat is not in the utility bar | It was not added to this app, or the page was not refreshed | Add it (Step 2) and refresh |
| No unread count or sound until the panel is opened | "Start automatically" is not checked on the utility item | Edit the utility item and check it |
| Messages arrive after a few seconds, not instantly | Chat is in polling mode | Normal in Polling mode, and in Auto mode on busy days. Messages are not lost |
| No sound | The browser blocks sound until the user has clicked on the page, or the user muted it | Click anywhere in Salesforce; check the speaker button next to the people search |
| No push notification on the phone | Chat Message is not enabled for the Salesforce mobile app in Notification Delivery Settings, notifications are off for the Salesforce app on the phone, the chat is muted, or a push for that chat was sent in the last 2 minutes | Check Notification Delivery Settings (Step 3), the phone's notification settings and the chat's mute state |
| Tapping a push does not open the chat | The Chat tab is not available to the user in the mobile app | Add the Chat tab to the app's navigation (Step 3) |
| A user cannot open the app that has Chat | It is a console app and the user's license does not allow console apps | Add Chat to a standard app, or use the Chat tab |
| An old version of the chat appears after an upgrade | The browser cached the previous version | Hard-refresh: Cmd+Shift+R on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows |
| A file is rejected when attaching | Its type is not in Allowed File Types, or it is larger than Max Attachment Size | Change the settings (Step 5) if the file should be allowed |
| Old messages are gone | Retention deleted them after the configured number of days | Expected. Raise Retention Days for the future; deleted messages cannot be restored |
Send us your question, or your org ID and user count for a license key.
Email [email protected]