# Conversations
In this article, we will be using our DEMO workspace, Flowers By Lily. Conversations is a centralized place for communication and can be broken down into two main groups:
* External
* Internal
* Channels
* Direct Messages


## External
Under this category, the Rake user is interacting with potential leads. If you have an Active Conversation, they will be displayed here and be individually separated for when you have multiple conversations at once.


When you select an active conversation, the conversation turns purple. An Active Conversation will have the Workspace name, it will show the name of the guest, the latest interaction from the guest as well as how long ago the interaction was made.


Your Selected Conversation will open up in center panel and will always be displayed here. This is true whether you are selecting from External, Channels or Direct Messages. This panel is used to communitcate with messages and/or images.

Events will be posted to the Rake user only. Event is any chat changing occurrence and it will include a time stamp. This will consist of a user initiating a conversation with our live chat widget, Rake user joining a conversation, and when a conversation ends. All events will be logged in the transcript for future viewing.


### MINE | ALL
External gives you the option to view all external conversations with customers in your workspace as well as external conversations that you have joined in your workspace.


Clicking MINE will take you to all conversations that you currently have or had in the past in your workspace. Any conversations that you have with a customer will be found in MINE. By default, MINE will always be displayed.

Clicking ALL will take you to conversations customers had with any Rake user in your workspace including BeeOpen agents conversations. This is a helpful tool if you need to see a colleague's conversation with a customer. You can do this to past or current active conversations. If a Rake user has a conversation with a customer in your workspace, it will be found in ALL. You may also open an old conversation from an existing customer to gather previous information.


### Customers
Add customer names and contact information to the customer so that it can be later viewed in the Customers tab. When you receive an incoming chat from a NEW customer, the chat will appear blank in your active conversations.


Start the incoming conversation by clicking START.


Once you request for the guest's name and contact info, click the blue bar at the top.


Here you can enter their first and last name, phone number and email address. Click SAVE when you entered any new information.


The customer's name will appear in active conversations as well as your selected conversation. Their phone number and email will be displayed in an organized manner in the customer information box located on top of the conversation.


## Internal
This category is for internal messages for Rake users. You can switch from external and internal conversations seamlessly by choosing an Active Conversation in Channel or Direct Messages.


Channels is a great way to organize communication with multiple users. General is a place for all communication with Rake users in your workspace. A sales team or management might want a focused channel with specific users. To create a channel, click the plus button in the channel section. Users can be added or removed to a channel in the User & Channels tab.


Direct messages with individual users can also be seamlessly accessed in this panel. Similarly, you can start a new conversation with someone directly by clicking the plus button in the Direct Messages section. Users can be invited to Rake in the User & Channels tab.

# Finished! Whats next?
Congratulations! You have taken an introduction to the Conversations Tab. For more information, contact a Rake representative.

To return to Setting Up Rake checklist click [HERE](https://hackmd.io/@Rake/SJOKs5n-8)

To move on the the next item on the checklist click [HERE](https://hackmd.io/@Rake/HyeRTdMXL)