# Filtering Conversations

Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/chat/filtering-conversations

> Narrow your chat list with the All, Direct and Groups tabs, and show only conversations with unread messages.

> **Enabling Chat**
>
> Chat is an optional feature. The Account Owner can turn it on from the [Optional Features](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/settings/optional-features#chat) page.

Your chat list can be narrowed two ways: by conversation type, using the **All**, **Direct** and **Groups** tabs, and by read state, using the unread filter. The two work together, so you can get to something like "unread group channels only" in a couple of clicks.

## The All, Direct and Groups Tabs

Your conversations are split across three tabs above the chat list:

- **All** - every conversation you are part of, direct messages and group channels together.
- **Direct** - only your one-on-one [direct messages](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/chat/direct-messages).
- **Groups** - only your [group channels](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/chat/group-channels).

**All** is the default, and shows exactly the same conversations Chat has always listed, so nothing changes until you choose a different tab.

![The All, Direct and Groups tabs above the Astalty chat list, highlighted, with All selected and a mention dot and an unread count of 83 on Groups](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/chat-list-tabs-guide.png)

Selecting **Groups** leaves only your group channels in the list, which is useful when you are checking a team-wide or Participant-specific channel for follow-ups and do not want one-on-one messages mixed in. Selecting **Direct** does the same for your direct conversations.

![The Groups tab selected, with the highlighted chat list showing only group channels such as All Staff Updates, Riverside SIL House and Good News](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/chat-list-tabs-groups.png)

### Unread Counts and Mentions on the Tabs

**Direct** and **Groups** each show how many unread messages are waiting in that tab, so you can tell where your unread messages are without switching tabs. A count above 99 is shown as **99+**.

**All** never carries a count, because it hides nothing - in your normal chat list, the **Direct** and **Groups** counts add up to the unread total shown on the Chat icon.

A yellow dot beside a tab name means at least one conversation in that tab has an unread message that [mentions you](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/chat/messaging).

## Showing Only Unread Conversations

To hide every conversation you have already read, click the **Show unread only** icon at the top of your chat list. Click it again to go back to showing all conversations.

The unread filter and the tabs are independent, so they combine - with **Groups** selected and the unread filter on, you see only group channels with unread messages.

> **The conversation you are reading stays in the list**
>
> Opening a conversation marks it as read, which would otherwise make it disappear while you are reading it. The conversation you have open is never hidden by the unread filter.
>
> It does still follow the tab you are on, so a direct message never appears under **Groups**.

## Your Tab Choice Is Remembered

The tab you select is saved for your account in the browser you are using, so Chat opens on the same tab next time. It is saved against your user, so someone else signing in on a shared computer starts them on **All** rather than handing them your filter.

If you open a conversation that the selected tab would hide - from a link, a notification, or from a shift - Chat falls back to **All** for that conversation so it is visible in the list beside it. Your saved tab isn't changed, and it comes back as soon as you open a conversation that matches it again.

## Filtering Archived Conversations

The tabs and the unread filter also apply to your [archived conversations](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/chat/archiving-conversations), so you can look through archived group channels without your archived direct messages in the way.

> **Searching ignores the tabs**
>
> Searching for a person, a channel or a message returns matches from all of your conversations, whichever tab you have selected. Use search when you know what you are looking for, and the tabs when you are browsing.

> **Filtering is on the web version**
>
> The **All**, **Direct** and **Groups** tabs and the unread filter are available in the browser version of Astalty. The Astalty mobile app shows all of your conversations in a single list.