“Hey, I put a link in the text channel!”
“Which channel?”
“Uhhh, #general?”
“No no, use #voice-chat-spam.”
“I don’t see that… oh, oh! Here we go. Posted.”
“You posted in the wrong #voice-chat-spam! You’re supposed to use #voice-chat-spam-3.”

If you’ve been on Discord for some time, you’re probably very familiar with how Voice channels work. Whether it’s to pop in to talk about last night’s game, show a friend your cool new haircut over video, or share your screen to collab on editing your new hyperpop track, you can do it all from within a Voice channel on Discord.

All, except for one thing: Text chat. 

Currently, if you want to share something you’re talking about in Voice, your options are to: 

• DM it to every person individually,  
• Post it in #general where people will get confused as to why you posted a video about stoats, or…
• Make a new Text channel specifically for that Voice channel called #voice-spam. If you have multiple Voice channels, you’ll probably make a companion text channel for each one. 

A Discord server should have a home for any conversation, including a space where those in Voice can collaborate and share whatever they want. Now, there’s finally a proper home for those looking to post things to share with their friends participating in a call: Text chat in Voice channels.

Now, every Voice channel has its own dedicated messaging space. No need to post a GIF in #general with no context, or make sure you’re posting in the right #voice-chat channel. No matter what you’ve got to share, everyone in your voice conversation knows exactly where to look.

How Does Text Chat in Voice Channels Work?

With each Voice channel having its own text chat, anyone hanging out in Voice now has a space to send messages, post links, and more easily engage in the conversation, even if you’re the one who might not have a mic. Got a link to share with your Voice chat buddy? Plop it in the Text chat, that way anyone joining in later can check it out as well and immediately get context about what everyone else is discussing. 

Some of the more experienced Discord users might be thinking to themselves, “How does a Voice channel’s Text chat act differently than a normal Text channel?” 

Text chat in Voice has a few new tricks that make chat feel more like home in a Voice channel. For starters, all Voice channels now have a dedicated Chat bubble icon, ready for any and every message, link, emoji, sticker, or GIF your heart desires to post.  

When someone posts in a Voice channel’s chat you’re participating in, you’ll see new message previews pop up on the top right-hand corner of the app. Stay caught up without having to open chat each time someone posts; even those without a mic will feel more involved when their message pops up for everyone to see.    

You can also check in on a Voice channel’s chat without joining the call itself, just in case you want to recollect that one link that everyone laughed at — just hover over the Voice channel and press the Chat button.

The best part? Using Text chat within Voice channels is free for every server, big or small. If your server happens to have additional features from boosting, such as increased file upload limits, they’ll work in your Voice channel’s Text chat as well. 

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A Text Chat Voice Chat Chat: Moderating For Your Chats 

Just like Threads before it, the new Text chat space within your server’s Voice channels is another surface that you may need to plan out server moderation for.  To help community servers prepare, we’re giving server owners and mods the opportunity to choose what roles can text chat in the Voice channel, and which Voice channels have this new embedded chat. Want to get ahead of @JoeShmoe hogging chat with conversation about his ant farm, or ensure everyone is speaking in #SeriousConvos only? Feel free to adjust accordingly before releasing Text in Voice to your community. 

Thankfully, things won’t change too drastically! Since all Voice channels now have a Text chat, Voice channels also now have access to all the same text-based permissions in a new category called Voice Channel Chat Permissions, including Send Messages, Add Reactions, Use External Emoji and Use External Stickers among all the others you’re used to. 

If any of your existing roles already have these permissions enabled — and they likely do, otherwise it’d be rather difficult to use existing Text channels — then your members will also be able to post in your Voice channel chats. If you don’t want someone to post in Voice chat, just disable any necessary permissions for the channel or category. 

But… when will your community be able to use Voice channel chat for talking the night away? If you happen to remember how Threads slowly released, it’ll be a pretty similar process. If you don’t remember or never knew Threads rolled out slowly, no worries — let’s discuss how Voice channel chat will come out:

Starting today, servers that haven’t become a “Community” server via Server Settings will be able to automatically access Text Chat in Voice Channels.

Servers that have “Community” turned on can opt-in to Text Chat in Voice Channels:

We’ve also worked with our biggest bot and library developers to help get updated ahead of launch — it’s fairly likely that a moderation bot you use has already been updated to be able to sus out malicious content in your Voice channel’s text chat.‍

By June 29th, 2022, all servers, including Community servers, will have Voice channel chat enabled, while still respecting the role and voice channel permissions you have already prescribed, and the world will see fewer and fewer Text-only channels named #voice-spam or #voice-chat.  
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Chit-Chat in Voice Text Chat: Chat in Voice Starting Now

We had a tough time thinking about what to name this feature. Is it “Voice chat chat?” “Voice Text”? “Text chat for voice chat?” Or can you now “Talk in Voice Chat's Text Chat?”

But no matter how you talk about it, we hope being able to use Text chat within your Voice channels for posting whatever you want makes talking, organizing your communities, or simply spending time with your closest friends that much easier. 

Text Chat in Voice Channels is available on all platforms Discord is on: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and your browser of choice via the web app. As usual, we’ve got a Help Center article for those who want the full scoop on how things work.

We’re always looking for ways to improve your experience on Discord. Shoot us a tweet, or post on our feedback form, if you’ve got ideas of your own.