Everyday message tools
Published
ChatLite is simple on purpose, but a few small tools make busy conversations easier to follow. This guide lists each one, how to use it and what it does not do.
What you will do
You will reply to a specific message, copy message text, understand the read marks, use drafts and emoji, jump to the latest message and search your conversations.
Before you start
- A conversation with at least one message in it.
- These tools work in one-to-one chats and in groups unless a step says otherwise.
Steps
Reply to a message
- Tap or click the message you want to answer, outside any attached file or voice message. A reply bar appears above the message box with the sender's name and the start of the original text.
- Type your answer in the message box and select Send. Close the reply bar with the cross at its right edge if you change your mind. The other person sees your message marked as a reply, with the label Original message.
Copy a message
- Use the small clipboard button next to the message. The tooltip says Copy message.
- ChatLite shows Message copied and the text is on your clipboard.
Read the marks
- In a one-to-one chat, the word Read appears next to your message once the other person has opened the conversation and seen it.
- In a group, a small number next to your message is how many members have not read it yet. When everyone has, the number becomes the word Read.
- While someone is typing in the conversation, you see typing... in the conversation.
- A number on a conversation in the list is the count of messages you have not opened yet. It clears when you open the conversation.
Drafts, emoji and the latest message
- If you type something in the Type a message... box and leave the conversation without sending it, ChatLite keeps the text as a draft in this browser and puts it back when you return. Sending the message clears the draft.
- The emoji button next to the message box opens a small picker of 30 emoji. Select one to add it to your text.
- When you have scrolled up in a long conversation, a button appears that says Jump to latest. Select it to go to the newest message.
Search
- Type in the Search rooms or friends box above the conversation list.
- ChatLite matches the conversation name, the IDs of its members and, in a one-to-one chat, your friend's name and status message. Select Clear search to see every conversation again.
How to tell it worked
- Reply: your message is sent marked as a reply and the reply bar disappears.
- Copy: you saw Message copied, and pasting elsewhere inserts the text.
- Search: only the matching conversations stay in the list.
- Drafts: the text you left is back in the box when you reopen the conversation.
If something goes wrong
Copy failed
The browser did not allow access to the clipboard. Select the text by hand and copy it with the browser's own menu.
No matches found
Check the conversation name, the friend's name or the user ID and try again, or select Clear search.
No Read mark appears next to your message
The other person has not opened the conversation yet, or is offline. The mark appears after their device reports back.
A reply bar does not appear on a voice message or a file
Replying works on text messages. Attached files and voice messages respond to tapping in their own way.
What ChatLite does not do
- Search covers conversations and friends, not the text of the messages inside them.
- A reply is marked with a generic Original message label and does not show the original text inside the conversation, so say what you are answering when it is not obvious.
- A sent message cannot be edited or deleted for the other person.
- Read marks are a convenience. They show that the other person's device reported a message as seen, not that the person has understood it.
- Drafts live in this browser only. They do not follow you to another browser or device.
Privacy and data
Drafts, unread counts, conversations and messages are stored in your own browser. Read marks and typing signals travel between the devices of the people in the conversation, directly when possible and otherwise through ChatLite's server. Clear the site data on a shared device, as described in the guide on chat history and local data.
Reviewed against ChatLite's current behavior on .