The Way We Work Has Changed: The Role of Chat Applications

Since 2014, Slack has been associated with distributed teams that began collaborating faster and organizing workflows more efficiently. While it was tied to conversations, productivity was not the only aspect related to this app. A decade later, we all know that we must pay the price for the communication style introduced by Slack and similar platforms, as they were closely associated with this type of software.

Despite all the progress, chat apps still remain isolated from collaboration and management tools. Even though Microsoft Teams, as an example of a collaborative tool, has "tabs," they stay separate—these tabs are only superficially stitched together, which can be seen in practice.

Another source of distraction is the constant switching between windows, dodging distractions, and trying to stay organized amid endless pings, which may leave users constantly overwhelmed with noise. This makes it impossible to focus and impractical to stay organized—up to the point where it’s hard to keep everything in order when we need to toggle between apps, chatting in one place, managing work in another, and doing it all simultaneously.

ClickUp was built on the idea that the solution should be simple: all the conversations and work should live on the same platform. This is a solution for boosting productivity, clarity, and focus.
That’s why users who strive for productivity need ClickUp Chat.

What’s important is that this is not just another chat app—it was built after we completely redefined how teams collaborate and crafted a cutting-edge communication tool designed to define work for the next decade.

The app combines everything people enjoy in chats with fundamentally new functions to help people work smarter and faster. Chat in ClickUp is powered by ClickUp's Brain™ AI, which helps clean up chats, find action items, create tasks, and even automatically answer questions before any team member has to respond. It's remarkably revolutionary.

Work from ClickUp Chat

Now, work becomes much easier and less stressful because you can do your tasks right when (and where) you're discussing them. The Chat is fully integrated with project management to provide unparalleled productivity.

• Projects in the App: This Chat is not just for conversation — it also includes Lists, Projects, Tasks, Docs, Forms, Whiteboards, and more.
• FollowUps™: As work conversations can be flooded with noise, important messages get lost. Triage messages and make sure action items never get lost with FollowUps.
• Convert messages into tasks (AI function): You can turn any conversation into a work task. If you have the resource, you can do this manually or let AI capture the context from the thread and package it perfectly for execution.
• SyncUps: This function lets you communicate through live video and audio calls inside your Workspace. You can share your screen, link to tasks inside the SyncUps chat, assign comments on the call, and more. AI can automatically post a summary and create action items from the call.

Context Always Stays Connected — in ClickUp Chat

One shared platform is vital as it is a single source of truth; the context is finally in one app without the need for switching between multiple chats. We automatically draw relationships to similar chats and tasks as soon as you create them, so you no longer have to link context manually.

• Connected Tasks: Link messages with tasks and closely tie the context together.
• Synced Threads: Your threads can be easily synced between chats and tasks, so everyone stays on the same page.
• Relationships: Tasks or Docs are automatically linked so that you can see all of the conversations related to them and all of the assets related to those conversations.
• Posts: You can now easily create longer-form, async-driven posts in chat threads and label them as Updates, Announcements, or Ideas. As all your meaningful conversations are captured in one place, you can easily focus on deep work instead of worrying that you're missing critical data.
• Teammate Profiles & Scheduling: You can see your teammates' priorities and even book a meeting on their calendar—all of it right inside the Chat.

AI Manages Chat so You Don’t Have to

As everything is now in one place, AI can help with things that used to be impossible. For example, it can automatically answer questions—even before humans on your team have to.

• AI Answers: You can ask a question in any chat, and AI will give you an instant answer based on the history of that chat—optionally, it can be based on information throughout your workspace and connected apps (Google Drive, GitHub, Figma, Salesforce, etc.).
• AI CatchUp: You can use AI CatchUp to catch up on what you missed when you just started working. Instead of going chat by chat and reading all the messages, which takes much time you can use AI to quickly catch up on the essential topics and anything you need to act on.
• AI Task Creation: One click to create a task from a message, and AI will automatically write the name, description, and link to the chat context.
• AI Relationships: Now, it’s much easier to find tasks, documents, or other chats related to an open chat message or thread.

Plus, Everything a Modern Chat App Should Have

And, of course, the Chat has all of the features you can expect from a modern application:

• Direct Messages: Now, creating 1:1 or group conversations with specific users is possible.
• Chats & Channels: You can easily set up an area for conversation for any Space, Folder, or List. Optionally, you can create a new Space for chats that aren't attached to anything else.
• Threads: This refers to nested conversations to keep all the chats tidy.
• A Customizable Sidebar: You can manage and organize your chats however you want, including sections that you can personalize.
• An Activity Feed: The chat will show all the relevant updates across all your chats, including tabs for Mentions, Reactions, and Assigned to Me.
• Customizable Push Notifications: Users can now choose their own preferences for each chat and specific messages.
• Reminders: You can get notified and come back to any message.
• Drafts & Sent: With the new chat, you can quickly and easily find anything you've ever written.
• Integrations: It’s now easy to link to dozens of top apps.

Delivering Our Vision: The Everything App for Work

Today,  we've finally developed a vision for the unification of communication and work management. And all of it in one Chat.

We integrate communication and collaboration in one seamless system. Using innovative AI tools, ClickUp Chat unlocks unprecedented productivity for everyone.

With AI as an innovative approach to chats, we can make the world more productive, as Chat and Work will (finally) be together and integrated for better workflows.

Try ClickUp Chat for Free