Group object

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For information about private channels, refer to conversation objects.

The Conversations API will tell you whether a conversation is private or not with the is_private boolean field.

For posterity, a group object contains information about a private channel that was created before March 2021. The private channel's ID will begin with G, as private channels were previously known as "private groups."

An example response is below:

    {
        "id": "G123456",
        "name": "secretplans",
        "is_group": "true",
        "created": 1360782804,
        "creator": "U123456",
        "is_archived": false,
        "is_mpim": false,
        "members": [
            "U012AB3CD"
        ],
        "topic": {
            "value": "Secret plans on hold",
            "creator": "U123456",
            "last_set": 1369677212
        },
        "purpose": {
            "value": "Discuss secret plans that nobody else should know",
            "creator": "U123456",
            "last_set": 1360782804
        },
        "last_read": "1401383885.000061",
        "latest": { … },
        "unread_count": 0,
        "unread_count_display": 0

    },

Field	Type	Description
id	string	The ID of the private channel.
name	string	The name of the private channel.
is_group	boolean	Whether this object is a conversation.
created	Unix timestamp	When the conversation was created.
creator	string	The user ID of the member that created this private channel.
is_archived	boolean	true if the private channel is archived.
is_mpim	boolean	Whether a multiparty instant message (mpim) is being emulated as a private channel. For compatibility with older clients, mpims can appear as private channels unless rtm.start is called with mpim_aware=1.
members	array	A list of user IDs for all users in this private channel. This includes any disabled accounts that were in this private channel when they were disabled.
topic	object	The topic of the conversation.
purpose	object	The purpose of the conversation.

Some API methods (such as conversations.create) will include extra state information for channels when the calling user is a member:

• last_read: the Unix timestamp for the last message the calling user has read in this channel.
• unread_count: a full count of visible messages that the calling user has yet to read.
• unread_count_display: a count of messages that the calling user has yet to read that matter to them (this means it excludes things like join/leave messages).
• latest: the latest message in the channel.