CoWork

CoWork is a messaging and collaboration platform for teams. It is GDPR compliant by being self-hosted and using encryption. CoWork is designed around teams that have full control over their channels. They decide who has access to channels within their team so even an administrator may not be allowed to sneak into conversations.

Teams can be created by users with the CoWork Administration permission. Each team has one or more team administrators. The team administrators are allowed to make settings on team members as well as on the team channels without having the CoWork Administration permission. However, they do not have to be a team member themselves - and then they do not have read or write access to channel content. Team members are set up separately by the team administrator. They can consist of individual users or groups, e.g. to represent departments. It is also possible to allow access to all users of the INETAPP server and thus create a public channel.

Each team can have multiple channels where all team members have access by default. However it is possible to create channels where only a subset of the team members is allowed to participate. Public channels have no member restrictions on either the team or the channel. Every channel can have an optional description.

A channel consists of the messaging area, including the text input and attachment field; and the user list. The user list displays the online status of all users - up to 1000 users. Public channels only show the status of users that are online not invisible.

The status of a user can be changed from the top-bar of the CoWork application. There is a list of predefined statuses which can be extended by a custom status phrase.

Writing Messages

Messages are written in the messaging area. The text input field allows custom formatting based up on the MarkDown syntax. Sending file attachments, such as images and documents, is available using Drag & Drop and the attachments button on the left side of the text input field. Attachments with well known types can be previewed by user in the channel.

Messages can be edited and deleted by the original author using the context menu or by pressing the up arrow on the keyboard.

The context menu of a message, either the mouse context menu or the button on the upper right hand side of the message, allows to copy the message link for posting it elsewhere.

Note: Team administrators can delete messages from a channel for content moderation.

Note: Users in the channel get informed that a user is currently writing a message.

Mentions

Users and Groups can be mentioned using the following syntax:

  • @all - every user with access to this channel
  • @online - every user in this channel who is online
  • @<group name>, @group:<group id> - every user in this channel who is member of this group
  • @<user name>, @user:<user id> - only this user

Mentions will be send out as browser notifications. This requires at least one browser window with CoWork to be online or another browser application of the INETAPP server to be running. Push notifications are subject for later integration.

Note:User and groups are suggested while typing a message - after the @ was entered.

Note: Users that are invisible are treated as offline and will not be notified by @online mentions.

Direct Messages

CoWork allows to write direct messages to other users. Direct messages are practically the same as a private channel of two users without further administration.

Writing a direct message can be started using the context menu on a message or the extra button at the right side of a user in the user list.

Users can leave direct message channels which results in deletion of the channel and its content when the second user has left too.

CoWork Commands

CoWork has a a built in bot that is being triggered using the / as the first character of a message. It will then display all the available commands for selection - or the command can be typed by the user.

Commands extend the functions of INETAPP into CoWork. An overview of currently available commands is provided on the CoWork commands page.

Backup

The Maintenance Backup application provides a task for saving the current state of CoWork including all the messages, attachments and team / channel settings.