# Channels - how to make a new, and by who?

**Category:** [Site Feedback](https://discourse.openehr.org/c/site-feedback/2)
**Created:** 2023-02-22 15:37 UTC
**Views:** 865
**Replies:** 4
**URL:** https://discourse.openehr.org/t/channels-how-to-make-a-new-and-by-who/3602

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## Post #1 by @varntzen

New functionality: Now it is possible to have private chats and also Channels. This can replace Slack. But who can make a new channel, and how? I would also prefer to link to a channel in a topic within a discussion in one of the categories to be able to sort of jump out to a channel chat from a topic, and keep it within that topic as a link.

Regards, Vebjørn

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## Post #2 by @marcusbaw

Person-to-Person 'private' chats are able to be created by anyone who is Trust Level 1 and above (this will be most users) - @trust_level_1 and subsequent trust levels are an inbuilt anti-spam mechanism which Discourse has and they are auto-incremented according to various criteria.

Private chat threshold can be customised
![image|690x119](upload://lLHFy7ePm5IDUP2aZHMwNANCQK5.png)

Group chats can only be created by Admins AFAIAA

At the moment chat history is not infinite - it is truncated at 180 days according to your settings here https://discourse.openehr.org/admin/site_settings/category/chat?filter=retention but can be set to retain forever, which might be worth thinking about @thomas.beale

[quote="varntzen, post:1, topic:3602"]
to be able to sort of jump out to a channel chat from a topic, and keep it within that topic as a link.
[/quote]

I'm not sure if individual lines of chat are link-addressable in this way but you can experiment

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## Post #3 by @damoca

Testing it with @yampeku , it looks great!

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## Post #4 by @Nathan

I can't see the chat or channel functionality. Is it still available for TL1s?

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## Post #5 by @joostholslag

I seem to remember @wouterzanen had to have it enabled, presumably by an admin.

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**Canonical:** https://discourse.openehr.org/t/channels-how-to-make-a-new-and-by-who/3602
**Original content:** https://discourse.openehr.org/t/channels-how-to-make-a-new-and-by-who/3602