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Conversation Types

Better Messages supports several conversation types, each suited to a different community pattern. All types share the same messaging surface — file sharing, reactions, replies, mentions, calls, AI bots — but differ in how participants are added and how persistent the thread is.

Private (one-to-one) conversations#

The default type. Two users start a thread from the new-conversation screen, exchange messages with full history, and the conversation is private to those two participants. The most common pattern for member-to-member messaging on community sites and marketplaces.

Group conversations#

Multi-participant DMs — three or more users in a single private thread, started from the new-conversation screen by picking multiple recipients. Moderators (creator + admins) can invite or remove participants over time. See Group conversations for the full feature reference.

Chat rooms#

Persistent rooms with admin-set membership rules. Administrators create chat rooms from WP Admin → Better Messages → Chat Rooms, then embed them anywhere with the generated shortcode. Each room defines its own role-based access (allowed roles, guest access, optional join restrictions). Rooms can be configured to appear in user inboxes or to be embed-only.

See Chat rooms for details.

Synced group chats#

A special integration mode that mirrors user groups from third-party plugins into Better Messages threads. The Better Messages addon listens for join / leave events on the host plugin and keeps the thread participants in sync automatically.

Currently supported group sources:

Mass messaging#

Not strictly a conversation type, but worth knowing about: mass messaging lets administrators send a broadcast as individual 1-on-1 DMs to many recipients at once — each recipient gets a private thread with the sender, not a shared group. Useful for site-wide announcements that still feel personal. See Mass messaging.

See also#