XTRF Chat – a new way to 

communicate 
 
 
 
Email really doesn’t fit the bill anymore. It’s inefficient and doesn’t scale well. 
Meanwhile, other messaging applications provide yet another source of information 
to check. We think our clients deserve better.  
 
 
That’s why we’ve been tinkering away in the background to come up with something 
new. And we’ve done it! 
 
 
Meet XTRF Chat. 
 
 
It’s specific for the translation and localization industry.  
It brings context into the conversation. 
And it makes collaboration with your vendors easier. 
 
 
You can access it from XTRF’s Home Portal, web, or mobile application, meaning you 
can get super speedy replies even when vendors or PMs are out and about. 
It makes teamwork and communication easy with project chat rooms for all 
members of a project team. And it allows you to see queries and conversations in 
the context of the project.  
 
 
Read on to find out how it works.   

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User guide – how to get chatting 
 

Creating new accounts and joining workspaces 

A workspace is like your com​pany’s own space wit​hin XTRF Chat. When you assign a 
job to someone who doesn’t have an XTRF Chat account with your organization, 
they’ll be sent an email invite to create one. Then, they become part of your 
workspace and are assigned to all relevant project chat rooms.  
 
Users assigned to XTRF jobs (typically Vendor Contact Persons) are invited to join  
the workspace in the role of vendors, while users assigned to XTRF projects or 
quotes (typically Project Managers and Project Coordinators) - in the role of 
Managers. 
 
 

Creating a chat room 

An “all project members” chat room is automatically created when: 

● A project manager (PM) creates a new quote or project in the Home Portal 
● A PM converts a quote into a project 
 
All Vendor Contact Persons (VCPs), PMs, and Project Coordinators (PCs) assigned 
(or pre-assigned) to the project (or quote) will be added to this chat room. Users who 
haven’t signed up to XTRF Chat or joined the workspace will be sent an email invite to 
join.  
 
Parallelly to the “all project members” chat room, a new private chat room is created 
between Project Managers and all individual vendors assigned to the project, so you 
can communicate individually if you need to. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Changing members of a chat room 

To assign new vendors to a project chat room, you need to assign them to a job in 
the project. 
 
If you need to swap the vendor assignee, simply reassign the job to a different vendor 
or change the assigned contact person. Note that the previous vendor will no longer 
be able to access the chat room. 
 
To change PMs or PCs in a chat room, simply change who’s managing the project in 
the Home Portal. 
 
If a PM, PC, or vendor profile is deleted from XTRF, they will be removed from your 
organization’s Chat workspace too. They won’t be able to access it anymore, and 
messages written by them will be anonymized.  
 
People can also leave a workspace if they choose to. This means they will no longer 
be able to view the workspace and their previously sent messages will be 
anonymized. 
 

Changing project details or canceling projects 

If you change the name of a project or quote in XTRF, the new name will show in the 
chat application.  
 
If you close or cancel a project, or a quote is rejected in XTRF, the chat rooms related 
to that project will no longer be displayed as “ongoing”. However, managers and 
vendors can still see and send messages in these chat rooms. 
 
If you need to reopen a project or quote in XTRF, the associated chat rooms will be 
updated to show as “ongoing”.   

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FAQs 

To log in to XTRF Chat, provide your email 

How do I log in to XTRF Chat?  address and password that you set up 
when joining the Chat workspace. 

Can I turn off the "All project members"  No, this channel will appear in each project 
channel in the workspace?  and can't be removed. 

XTRF Chat will be added to each of your 

projects automatically unless you disable 
How do I add XTRF Chat to my project? 
this option while creating a project. Note: 
You will not be able to turn on chat later on. 

To disable XTRF Chat for your project, 

How do I disable XTRF Chat for my 
untick the box "Use XTRF Chat for this 
project? 
project".  

No, they can't. Vendors can communicate 

with each other only in the "all members" 
Can two of my vendors start a 
channel. Project managers can 
conversation in XTRF Chat? 
communicate with each vendor individually 
or with all project team members. 

Your open projects will appear in the 

"Ongoing" tab. You can see all projects you 
are a member of, including closed and 
How do I access the XTRF Chat history? 
cancelled projects in the "All" tab. To see 
the conversation history, open the relevant 
chat window and simply scroll up or down. 

What happens if the project is  When you reassign the project to a new PM 
reassigned to another project manager  or PC, the previous assignee will still be a 
or project coordinator?  part of the project chat. Removing a PM or 

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 PC from the project does not remove them 
from the chat workspace or chat channels. 

Is there a limit of participants in a chat 

No, there is no limit. 
workspace? 

Yes, Quotes also support the Chat 

functionality. When you create a quote, chat 
rooms will be created for that quote. Once 
Is XTRF Chat available in Quotes? 
the quote is approved or is moved to the 
project stage, chat rooms and all 
conversations will be preserved. 

Can I create chat rooms not related to  No, currently you can only use chat rooms 
projects?  automatically created by the application. 

Full terms of use can be found here: 

What are the terms of use for XTRF 
https://legal.xtrf.eu/2017/products/chat/X
Chat? 
TRFChat-GeneralTermsAndConditions.pdf 

Do I need to accept Terms and  Yes, accepting T&C is mandatory to use 

Conditions before joining XTRF Chat?  XTRF Chat. 

Can I add a vendor to my project 

No, only assigning a job in a related project 
workspace in any other way than 
will add a vendor as a chat member. 
assigning a job to them? 

Once a vendor voluntarily leaves the 

workspace, their name will become 
What happens when a vendor leaves  anonymized in all chat rooms they were 
the workspace?  members of and they will lose access to the 
chat workspace. Their account will remain 
active, so you can invite them to join again. 

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 To add a vendor as a new chat participant, 
assign a job to them. They will appear in the 
chat channel automatically. If you want to 
How do I add chat participants?  add a PC or a PM, add them as 
collaborators to your project in the "People" 
section in Smart Projects or "Main data" in 
Classic Projects or Tasks. 

To send files to chat members, click on the 

How do I add files to the conversation?  clip icon and choose the file you want to 
send. 

What is the size limit for files sent via  Files sent through XTRF Chat have a size 
XTRF Chat?  limit of 1 GB. 

You can remove a vendor from XTRF Chat 

How do I remove a person from a chat  channel by reassigning the job to another 
channel?  vendor or another vendor contact person of 
the same vendor. 

Vendor Contact Persons will be removed 

How do I remove a vendor from an  from the Chat workspace only if they are 
XTRF Chat workspace?  deleted or their personal data are erased in 
XTRF. 

I have removed a vendor from a chat  You can add them back by assigning the 
channel by accident. What can I do?  job to them. 

I see a series of random numbers and  This means that the vendor has left the 
letters instead of a vendor name. What  workspace and their data has been 
happened?  anonymized. 

The vendor has accidentally left the  To add a person back to the XTRF Chat 
chat workspace. How do I add them  workspace, you need to resend the 
back?  invitation to join the workspace. An 

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 invitation is sent automatically once you 
assign a job to them. 

If I remove a vendor from a project, will  No, they will lose access only to the chat 
they lose access to chat rooms for  rooms for the specific project they have 
other projects?  been removed from. 

No, you need to add XTRF Chat at the 

Can I add XTRF Chat to an existing 
project creation stage to use it. You will not 
project? 
be able to add XTRF Chat later on. 

Yes, there's an application available for both 

Is XTRF Chat available on mobile? 
Android and iOS. 

Is XTRF Chat available as a  Yes, XTRF Chat is also accessible as a web 

browser-based version?  version, outside of your XTRF Home Portal. 

Notifications about unread messages will 

appear in the XTRF Chat next to the relevant 
chat room. If you are using the mobile app, 
you will receive a push notification right 
away. The application also sends push 
How will I be notified about unread 
notifications via internet browsers (if you 
messages? 
allow it to). Lastly, you can configure your 
chat application to notify you via email 
about unread messages - the email 
notification is sent if you have had any 
unread messages for 2 hours. 

Before the vendor accepts the invitation to 

How do I know if a vendor has joined a 
join, an "invitation pending" message will 
workspace? 
appear next to their name. 

How do I know a vendor is online and is  After your vendor accepts the invitation, you 
able to read my messages?  will see if they are online or not by the dot 

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 next to their name. A colored-in one (​●​) 
means they are online. An empty one (​○​) 
means they are offline. 

Can I check if a vendor has read my 

No, this isn’t possible. 
message? 

No, this is not possible. However, you can 

Can I export XTRF Chat history for 
easily copy the content of the chat, using 
reference? 
the standard copy and paste method. 

How do I remove a project manager or  To remove a PM or a PC, you need to 
project coordinator from the  remove their respective user from Home 
workspace?  Portal. 

Simply reassign the job to the correct 

I have mistakenly assigned the wrong 
vendor, and the incorrect vendor will no 
vendor to a job and they have joined the 
longer be able to see the content of the 
workspace. 
chat rooms. 

I would like to use XTRF Chat only with 

No, all project participants (Vendors, PMs, 
some of the vendors in the project. Can 
and PCs) will be automatically added to the 
I add only some of them to a chat 
chat channel. 
workspace? 

If you have chosen to use XTRF Chat in a 

I'd like to remove a vendor from the  project, you will need to use it with all 
workspace, but keep the job assigned  project members. You cannot remove a 
to them.  person from the chat, while they remain 
assigned to the job. 

My vendor's job has been moved to the  Yes, unless you reassign the job or remove 
"Ready" status. Will they still be able to  the person from your workspace, all project 
access the project chat rooms?  participants will have access to the project 

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 chat rooms, even after finalizing their jobs. 

Chat rooms for closed or cancelled projects 

What happens to the chat rooms once I  remain available in the "All" tab in your 
close or cancel the project?  XTRF Chat all the time. You can still use 
them for chatting. 

No, a vendor can only leave the workspace 

Can a vendor leave specific chat rooms 
on their own request. If you want the vendor 
on their own, but stay in the 
to be removed from the chat channel, you 
workspace? 
need to reassign their job to someone else. 

How do I request support for XTRF  To get support for XTRF Chat, contact 
Chat?  XTRF’s Helpdesk h​ ere​.