Communicating Securely Using Chat

Chatting as a VNC Viewer user

To participate in a conversation, or start a new one, click the VNC Viewer Start Chat Session toolbar button. A message box appears at the bottom of the VNC Viewer window:

Enter a message and click the Send button. The message is broadcast to a Chat dialog visible to you and to all other users:

Chatting as a VNC Server user

To start a conversation with connected VNC Viewer users:

1. Open the VNC Server shortcut menu.
2. Select Chat. The Chat dialog opens. Type text in the field at the bottom:
   
3. Press the ENTER key to send the message:
   

Working with chat

The message box is minimized when chat is not being used. To see it again, hover the mouse over the hot area at the bottom of the VNC Viewer window:

Note that the Chat dialog can also be minimized. If so, you are notified when new messages appear by the taskbar button flashing (Windows and Linux) or a number overlaid on the dock icon (macOS).

Chat messages are stored on the VNC Server computer for 90 days. To stop recording messages, select Tools > Options in the Chat dialog, and turn off Log chat history. Alternatively, you can reduce the number of days, or switch to storing a particular number of messages.

To clear the conversation window, delete the vncchat.xml file. Under Linux or Mac, this file is located in the .vnc directory (you can configure the location under Windows). Under Linux or Mac, you must first stop VNC Server, delete the file, and then restart.

Note that when a VNC Viewer user disconnects, messages sent by that user change color in the Chat dialog.

Troubleshooting chat

If you cannot chat, check the following:

1. Are you sitting in front of a desktop computer? You cannot chat from VNC Viewer for iOS, Android, or Chrome.
2. Are you connected to VNC Server with a Professional or Enterprise subscription? You cannot chat if VNC Server has a Home subscription. 
3. If you are using a previous version of VNC Viewer or VNC Server, is it at least version 4.5? Chat is not supported by earlier versions.
4. Is there anyone to chat with? The VNC Server dialog reveals if any VNC Viewer users are connected.
   
5. Has VNC Server been configured to disable chat? If you have access, check global permissions on the VNC Server Options > Users & Permissions page.
6. Has VNC Server been configured to prevent you chatting? If you have access, check permissions for the user you are registered as on the VNC Server Options > Users & Permissions page.