> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.talkchief.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Organize Team Conversations in Channels and Spaces > Use Spaces and Channels in TalkChief Cowork to structure team communication by team, project, or topic and keep every conversation easy to find. Effective team communication depends on structure — the right conversation needs to reach the right people without burying everyone in noise. TalkChief Cowork gives you two complementary layers of organization: Spaces to group related work together at a high level, and Channels to keep individual topics focused and searchable. Add Threads, Direct Messages, and real-time Presence on top of that, and your team always knows where to talk and who is available. ## Spaces A Space is a container that holds a collection of related channels. Think of a Space as the boundary around a team, project, or customer relationship — everything that belongs together lives inside it. Each Space should have a clear name, a stated purpose, and a designated owner who is responsible for keeping it organized. Common ways to structure Spaces include: * **By team** — Engineering, Sales, Support, Marketing * **By project** — Project Apollo, Q3 Launch, Website Redesign * **By customer** — Acme Corp, Northstar Ltd (useful for account-based teams) Giving each Space a focused purpose prevents channels from sprawling across unrelated topics and makes it easier for new team members to orient themselves quickly. ## Channels A Channel is a topic-based group conversation that lives inside a Space. Everyone added to a Channel can see and participate in the full conversation history (subject to your plan's retention policy). Use channels to separate distinct subjects so conversations stay organized and easy to search later. Good channel naming examples: * `#support-queue` — inbound customer issues * `#sales-east` — regional sales team updates * `#releases` — deployment and release announcements * `#general` — team-wide announcements and casual chat Keep each channel focused on a single topic. When a channel starts covering too many subjects, split it. ## Threads A Thread is a focused reply chain attached to a specific message inside a channel. Instead of letting responses pile up in the main channel timeline, start a Thread to keep a particular discussion, decision, or follow-up self-contained. Threads are especially useful for: * **Decisions** — all the context for a specific choice lives in one place * **Follow-ups** — action items tied to a particular message stay visible * **Reducing noise** — subscribers to the channel see the top-level message without being flooded by every reply ## Direct Messages Direct Messages (DMs) are private conversations between two people or a small group. Use DMs for quick one-on-one questions, sensitive discussions, or informal coordination that doesn't belong in a shared channel. DMs are not organized within Spaces — they are always accessible from your main messaging sidebar. For conversations that grow in scope or need to include more people over time, consider moving the discussion into a dedicated channel instead. ## Presence Presence shows you the real-time status of your teammates so you can coordinate without interrupting someone at the wrong moment. Statuses include: * **Online** — available and active in the app * **In a call** — currently on a TalkChief conference or business call * **Away** — inactive or manually set to away Glance at Presence before sending a DM or starting a call to choose the best moment to reach someone. ## Set Up Your First Space Launch the TalkChief app on any supported platform and navigate to the **Cowork** section from the left sidebar. Click **New Space**, enter a clear name (e.g., "Engineering"), and write a one-line purpose so team members immediately understand what belongs here. Inside your new Space, create at least one channel to start — `#general` and `#announcements` are good defaults for most teams. Add the colleagues who should have access to this Space. They will automatically gain access to all channels inside it unless individual channel permissions restrict them. Set message retention duration and default notification preferences for the Space to match your team's workflow and your organization's policy. Establish a channel naming convention before you scale — for example, always prefix support channels with `support-` and regional sales channels with `sales-`. Consistent names make channels predictable and searchable as your workspace grows. Once your Spaces and Channels are set up, you can start a conference call directly from any channel without leaving the app. See [Meetings and Conferencing](/cowork/meetings-and-conferencing) to learn how one-click calls and screen sharing work inside Cowork. External guest participation in Cowork channels depends on your TalkChief plan and how your workspace administrator has configured external access. Some plans support inviting guests from outside your organization into specific channels with restricted permissions; others do not include this capability. Check with your TalkChief administrator to confirm whether external participation is enabled for your workspace and which channels allow it before sharing an invite with someone outside your organization.