# Creating a team

A team groups colleagues who collaborate on shared conversations. Each team has a **team space** in the sidebar that can include a team inbox, tasks, and a chat room.

You can create a team in several ways:

* On the fly in the onboarding process
* When connecting an account (email, SMS, or other channels)
* Directly in **Settings** > **Teams** > **Create Team**

{% hint style="info" %}
To open Settings, click your avatar in the bottom-left corner of the sidebar, then **Settings** (or press <kbd>⌘,</kbd>).
{% endhint %}

{% stepper %}
{% step %}
**Team basics**

**Name, color and emoji**

Give your team a name and customize it with a highlight color and emoji. For example: ⛑️ **Support** in red, 💰 **Sales** in green, or 🔧 **Engineering** in blue.

**Active members and Observers**

When creating a team, you can define two types of users:

* **Active members** receive notifications for new messages. They see conversations listed in the [Team Inboxes](/docs/core-features/team-inboxes.md) mailbox in addition to the team inbox.
* **Observers** do not receive notifications and see conversations listed in the team inbox only. Ideal for managers who want to monitor work without being flooded with notifications.

**Dedicated inbox**

You can choose to have a dedicated inbox or not. Turning it off is useful if you only want to create a team for internal mentions or chats.

**Dedicated chat room**

You can decide if you want the team to have its own chat room.

<div data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="/files/GYerQJOpT1i91EEzcDgU" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>
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{% step %}
**Sidebar customization**

Choose how this team will appear in your sidebar. Missive offers two display options:

* **Show team space** (default) — Includes the team inbox, tasks, and room. Ideal if your team regularly collaborates using tasks or the team chat room.
* **Show only the team inbox** — Keeps your sidebar minimal, showing just the inbox without tasks or room.

<div data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="/files/E4n9Ji28vQoETsNFmoLc" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>
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**Business rules**

**Business hours**

This setting helps [Missive Analytics](/docs/advanced-features/analytics.md) accurately measure [Reply time and First reply time](/docs/advanced-features/analytics/reports.md#users) by excluding contacts made outside business hours.

You can also use business hours in [Rules](/docs/advanced-features/rules.md) to measure SLA conditions like "Unreplied and open after" only during working hours, excluding nights, weekends, and holidays.

**Inactivity period**

Determines when to segment long conversations so that people reusing old threads for new inquiries count as new conversations in your [analytics](/docs/advanced-features/analytics.md).

<div data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="/files/vHaByu0z263ME3SEFTrH" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>
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{% step %}
**Conversation rules**

**Mention options**

When a user mentions the team in a comment:

* Add only active members to the conversation (default)
* Add both active members and observers to the conversation

**Assignment options**

When a user replies to a message from a team inbox:

* Assign the conversation to that user (default)
* Leave the conversation in the team Inbox

When a reply is received in an already assigned conversation:

* Move conversation to the assignee's Inbox (default)
* Move conversation back to the team Inbox

<div data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="/files/XUUWUl8hjaeivp0EfwSG" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>
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