Fortunately, with text chat in voice channels, you can send text messages and files into a text chat designated specifically for that voice channel. Read on to find out more about this feature and how you can use it.
What Is Text Chat for Voice Channels in Discord?
Traditionally, most Discord servers had to have individual text channels for each voice channel. This was so that the people speaking in that voice channel could share text and files without causing chaos in the main text channels.
Ironically, this strategy itself often lead to chaos. There’d be so many text channels that you couldn’t tell which is which, and after a while, users would end up sending everything in the main text channel anyway. This outcome is a nightmare for any Discord admin. After all, the point of having different channels is to maintain some sense of order.
Luckily, Discord has a feature to tidy things up: all voice channels have a built-in text chat. These text chats only appear when you click the icon in the voice channel, and don’t take up space next to the regular text channels. This makes them more accessible for people who are in the voice channel, and also doesn’t crowd the channels list in the server.
Other than not being listed as a text channel, the voice channel chat behaves just like a regular text channel.
By default, the messages in the voice channel chats are stored, and you can share files and send invites as you would in a regular text channel. You don’t need to join the voice channel to access the text chat for it. All you need to do is to click on its icon.
How to Access the Voice Channel Chat in Discord
You don’t need to do anything to get voice channel chat in your server. The only prerequisite is for your users to have updated clients.
To access the voice channel text chats in Discord, you need only to click the little text bubble icon next to the voice channel’s name. This icon has a tooltip labeled Open Chat.
Once you click the icon, the text chat will appear on the right side of the app. You can now chat here as you would in a normal text channel. This means that you can share files and links, send emojis, and use application commands such as those for Discord bots. Though you would need to add bots to your server first.
You can close the text chat by clicking the cross on the top right, or by clicking another text channel.
How to Customize Voice Channel Chat in Discord
If you want to allow only specific people to send messages in the voice channel chat, you can do so by customizing the permissions. These permissions also include reading the chat history, sharing files, using emojis, and more.
To customize a voice channel chat, click the cog icon next to the voice channel’s name to go to the voice channel settings. There, select Permissions on the left. Scroll down to the Voice Channel Chat Permissions and you can see all the different permissions.
You can prevent users from sending messages in the chat by disabling the Send Messages permission. You can also disable the Read Message History permission so that users will only see the messages that have been sent after they activated the chat. Any message prior to that will not be visible to them.
Keep in mind that when you alter these permissions, it is by default altered for every user in the chat. You can change it for a special group by adding roles to your Discord server and changing the permissions for that role specifically.
Texting in Discord Voice Channels
Sending text messages while in a voice channel is an ancient practice in Discord. Trying to organize the text channels for each voice channel often leads to disarray, but now with voice channel chat, you can chat in a text channel built into each voice channel.
The voice channel chats aren’t just limited to text messages, though. You can share files and links and even use application commands. Now that you know how to use this feature, go forth and bring order to your Discord servers!
