> ## Knowledge Base Index
> Fetch the complete knowledge base index at: https://help.prose.org/sitemap.xml
> Use this file to discover available pages before exploring further.
> Pure-Markdown content can be obtained by appending a '.md' suffix to the content URLs listed in the sitemap (without the trailing slash).

# Starting new conversations on Prose (DMs and Channels)

**Conversations on Prose can either be Direct Messages (per-contact), or between multiple people (in public channels or private channels). There is no such things as "conversations" in Prose wording, rather "rooms".**

# Starting a Direct Message

A Direct Message room goes for a one-to-one conversation between you and a team member.

Your active DMs appear in the left sidebar as an active conversation. You can open it, and close it. Closing a conversation will not remove your history messages, it'll only remove the conversation from your sidebar.

To open a new DM with a team member, click on "Open a direct message", search for the target contact, and finally open the conversation to send your message:

![Pick a member from your team and start the conversation](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/2/1/4/f214222024450800/room-dm_wc0wi1.png)

# Creating a Public Channel

A Public Channel is a conversation between many people from your team, that can be joined and left by anyone. It is listed in the public list of channels for all your team members.

To create a new public channel, or join an existing public channel, click on "Add a channel", give it a lowercase name (short and simple is best) and finally create or join it:

![Create a new public channel and join it](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/2/1/4/f214222024450800/room-channel_17s1v1d.png)

# Creating a Private Channel

A Private Channel is a secret conversation between many people from your team, that can only be joined on invite by someone who's already a member of the private channel. It cannot be found by anyone from your team who's not already a member.

To create a new private channel, click on "Add a channel", enable the private channel option, give it a lowercase name and finally create it:

![Create a new private channel and join it](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/2/1/4/f214222024450800/room-group_705epc.png)

# Inviting People to Channels

People can be invited to your newly-created public channels and private channels from the "Manage channel" modal, which you can open from the right sidebar when in a channel:

![Add new channel members](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/2/1/4/f214222024450800/room-invite_1i9posa.png)