Sharing & Permissions
Pentos lets you share any chat with other users with granular access controls.
How to Share a Chat
Open the chat you want to share and click Manage in the chat menu (the + button in the top left corner of the chat). This opens the Manage sidebar, where you can invite people, change their roles, and remove them from the chat. Each person you invite gets one of three roles: Viewer, Editor (the default), or Admin. The Owner role belongs to the person who created the chat and cannot be given to anyone else.
You can also share from the chat’s actions menu if you are the chat’s Owner or an Admin.
Permission Levels
| Role | View & download | Send, edit, comment & rename | Share & manage members | Archive & delete |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viewer | Yes | No | No | No |
| Editor | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Admin | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Owner | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Viewer: Can read the chat history and download a copy, but cannot send messages or make any changes.
- Editor: Can send messages, edit messages, add comments, and rename the chat.
- Admin: Everything an Editor can do, plus sharing the chat and managing who has access and their roles.
- Owner: The chat’s creator. Has full control, including archiving and deleting the chat, and cannot be removed.
When people are added to or removed from a shared chat, the chat’s Owner and Admins are notified, and an activity message is added to the chat. An activity message is also added when someone leaves.
Files Attached to a Shared Chat
Attaching a file to a shared chat lets everyone in that chat open it, including people you add later. Access is worked out each time the file is opened, based on who is in the chat at that moment, so you never have to share the file separately.
Two limits are worth knowing:
- It is view-only: Other people in the chat can open and download the attachment, but they cannot edit it, rename it, or share it onward. Those stay with the file’s own permissions.
- You can only pass on what you can share: If a file was shared with you as a Viewer or an Editor, you can still attach it to your own chats, but other people in those chats will not be able to open it. Only the file’s Owner and its Admins can hand access to someone new.
When a file cannot be opened, it appears as a locked User File with no name or preview. Clicking it explains that you do not have access. Removing the message, or leaving the chat, ends that access immediately.
Calls in Shared Chats
Once a chat is shared, anyone with access can start a real-time call directly from the chat menu:
- Huddles: Audio-only group calls for quick voice check-ins.
- Meetings: Video and audio group calls with a setup screen for camera and mic preview.
When a Huddle or Meeting is active in a shared chat, every other collaborator sees a green pulsing Join indicator on the chat and a persistent notification toast so they can join with one click. In a chat shared between just two people, Ignore on that toast declines the call, as in a direct message.