By default a General Chat room is created once the Chat tool has been enabled for a course/site. This Chat can be edited but it cannot be deleted.

1. Begin by accessing Chat from within Communication and clicking the  Add Chat icon.
2. The General Tab will open automatically after you’ve clicked to add a chat room. This is where you will define Chat Settings.
3. Once you have defined all settings add the chat room by clicking the Add Chat button on the bottom right of the screen. You can also choose to Cancel the addition by clicking the red button.
   
   • Once the chat room has been created you can edit it by returning to the Chat tool, clicking into the chat room you wish to edit, and clicking the Edit icon.
4. Once you have added a chat room it will show up on the main Chat page. New chat rooms are automatically released and will appear in blue text. Chat rooms can be put into Draft Mode (under the Availability Tab) and will appear in light, gray text to signify that they are unavailable to students.
5. The following icons will appear at the top right of the Main Content Area:
   
   • Edit – allows you to edit the Chat settings.
   • Delete – deletes the entire Chat, including transcripts. This option is not available for the default General Chat.
   • Access Reports – contains viewing data of which students have visited the Chat and which features they visited.
   • Menu – click here to view the Activity Log which displays all administrator editing activity, Content Details, and to Print this Page.
6. The following options will appear at the top of the Chat's page:
   • Grade – this is only visible if the chat room is attached to the Gradebook. Clicking it will take you to the Detailed Grader.
   • Transcript – opens a pop up window that allows you to view the chat transcript by date range. Select the date range and click Submit to view a transcript including when users entered and left the room as well as all chat messages.
   • Report – provides the number of active participants and total posts to the chat room as well as detailed information about the individual users in the site. This includes their total number of public posts and the number of times they entered the chat room. To print this information for a user, click the Menu icon on the top right of the Main Content Area.
7. There are also additional buttons within the Chat window. These buttons are also available to users participating in the chat:
   • Unmute Sounds – Chat automatically includes sounds (when someone enters or leaves the room or when a new message is sent or received). Click this button to mute those sounds and click it again to unmute sounds.
   • Mute Sounds – Chat automatically mutes sounds (when someone enters or leaves the room or when a new message is sent or received). Click this button to unmute those sounds and click it again to mute sounds.
   • Open chat in a separate window – creates a separate window for the chat room. This allows you to move around in SOLE while still remaining in the chat room. However, if you exit SOLE you are exited from the chat room as well. Also, if you exit the popup chat you are exiting the chat altogether. You will need to re-enter the chat from within SOLE if you want to remain in the chat.
8. Once a chat room has been released you can go back and change it back to draft mode and make changes. Unlike Exams, chat text will remain once the chat room is reverted back to draft mode.