zulip/help/restrict-private-messages.md

Configure who can use private messages

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In Zulip, users can exchange private messages with other users, bots and themselves. Organization administrators can configure who is allowed to use private messages.

Configure who can use private messages

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This feature is beta; see the notes below for details.

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{settings_tab|organization-permissions}

1. Under Other permissions, configure Who can use private messages.

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Notes on restricting private messages

• Disabling private messages will cause sending a private message to throw an error; the Zulip UI will appear to still allow private messages. We expect to make some UI adjustments when private messages are disabled during the beta period.

• Even if private messages are disabled, users can still exchange direct private messages with bot users (this detail is important for Zulip's new user onboarding experience). Consider also restricting bot creation when using this feature.

• Restricting private messages does not automatically restrict creating private streams.