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# Chat

> Allow users to chat with each other directly in your app.

The **Chat Collection** is a special type of [**Collection Component**](/docs/essentials/components/collections) that allows users to chat with each other directly in your app. Users can send and receive chat messages instantly in a shared chat screen.

## Adding Chat Collections

#### Chat - Arcade 1

In the** **[Data Editor](https://www.glideapps.com/docs/getting-started/introduction-to-the-data-editor)**,** Create a table to house the chat messages

Create columns to save the chat text and time stamp of the message.

In the [Layout Editor](https://www.glideapps.com/docs/getting-started/intro-to-layout), select the tab you want to edit.

Click on the plus symbol in the **Components** panel.

Select **Chat**.

Choose the [Data Source](/docs/essentials/data-sources) table where you want your chat messages to be stored.

Give the component a title.

In **Save Text**, choose which column should store the chat messages that are sent.

You can also choose Chat as a style for the [Comment Collection](/docs/essentials/components/collections/comments).

## **Configuring Chat Collections**

#### Chat - Arcade 2

Chat collections are specifically designed for chat threads with the following **Display** fields:

* **Text**: The user's chat text.
* **Timestamp**: The date and time the chat was sent.
* **User photo**: The photo of the user who sent the chat.
* **User name**: The name of the user who sent the chat.

After mapping the fields you want to display with columns in the data source, populate **Additional Columns** for each new message. This will store the values that you want to display in the data source.

* **Timestamp**: The date and time the chat was sent.
* **User photo**: The photo of the user who sent the chat.
* **User name**: The name of the user who sent the chat.
* **\{A Unique Identifier}**: We recommend storing at least one unique value for the thread in which you want this chat to appear. This will allow you to set up a [**Relation**](/docs/automation/computed-columns/relations) or [**Filter**](/docs/reference/user-experience/filter) to segment your chats.

In addition to the standard options available with collections, the chat collection also comes with an **Empty screen** option. This is the message that will be displayed when there are no previous chats to show.

Optionally, you can limit the number of chats that will appear on a page.