# Understanding the chat window
<a name="understand-chat"></a>

If you're new to Amazon Chime this section introduces you to Amazon Chime's chat features. Expand each section to learn more.

## Availability statuses
<a name="status-icons"></a>

In the chat window, the following statuses indicate whether a user is available to chat.
+ Automatic
+ Available
+ Busy
+ Do not disturb
+ Private

If you create a custom status message, you can also use these statuses.
+ Be right back
+ Commuting
+ On call
+ Out sick
+ Vacationing

For more information about setting your status and using custom statuses, see [Using status messages](status-message.md).

## The sidebar
<a name="chat-left-pane"></a>

The home and chat windows display the sidebar on the left. The sidebar organizes your calls, chat rooms, and contacts into the following sections.

**Meetings and calls**  
This section displays any ongoing meetings and calls until they end. Open the ellipsis menu (**...**) on the right to join a meeting, start an instant meeting, schedule a meeting, and view your meeting bridge information.  
Choose **Call history** to view a list of your incoming, missed, and outgoing past calls.

**Chat rooms**  
Lists your chat rooms. Select a chat room to open it and send messages. Use the ellipsis menu (**...**) on the right to hide a room from the side bar, leave the chat room, and change your notification settings.

**Recent messages**  
Lists the contacts that you've chatted with during the past seven calendar days. The section can list 25 contacts. Choose a contact to send a message and see any past messages.

**All messages**  
Displays past messages from all the contacts that you've chatted with during the data-retention period set by your company.

## The message list
<a name="chat-messages"></a>

The messages you exchange with a contact or a group appear to the right of the sidebar. The name of the contact appears above the messages. For a group chat, the names of everyone in the group appears above the messages. When you use a chat room, the room name appears above the messages. This image shows a group chat:

![\[Two names separated by a dot.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime/latest/ug/images/chat-group-names.png)


A set of icons appears to the right of the names. Use them to call the contact or group, change your notification settings, and open the actions menu, respectively. 

![\[A phone, a bell, and 3 horizontal dots in a circle.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime/latest/ug/images/chat-name-controls.png)


## The message controls and menus
<a name="chat-controls"></a>

Another set of controls appears to the right of each message. They show you when the message was sent, plus another actions menu. You use the menu to quote a message, copy a message, or copy a message's ID. For group chats, you also see the number of group members who've read the message. That number changes as more group members open the chat thread.

![\[The time, the number of people who've read the message, and three dots in a circle.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime/latest/ug/images/chat-read-by.png)