# Manage Chat Sessions

Over time your internal chat list can fill up with conversations you no longer need in view. From the Cloud Voice App desktop client you can drop a session from the list, wipe a conversation's messages on your own device, or erase every record of a chat everywhere. This page walks through each option and explains what happens to your history in each case.

Every task below starts the same way: sign in to the Cloud Voice App desktop client, then open **Chat** from the left navigation bar and switch to the **Internal Chat** tab.

## Remove a session from your chat list

Use this when you simply want a conversation to stop showing up in your internal chat list.

:::note
Removing a session hides it from the list only. None of the messages are deleted.
:::

1. Open **Chat** in the left navigation bar, then select the **Internal Chat** tab.
2. Right-click the session you want to hide and choose **Remove**.

   ![Right-click menu on an internal chat session with the Remove option highlighted](/images/pbx/remove-from-chat-list.png)
3. Confirm by clicking **OK** in the dialog.

The conversation drops off the list right away. It comes back, together with all of its earlier messages, the next time you message that contact or they message you.

## Clear a conversation's history on your device

Choose this if you want to empty a chat window now but keep the option to look the messages up again later.

1. Open **Chat** in the left navigation bar, then select the **Internal Chat** tab.
2. Clear the conversation:

   ![Steps for clearing the local chat history of an internal conversation](/images/pbx/clear-local-chat-history-steps.png)

   1. Right-click the session and choose **Clear chat history**.
   2. Click **OK** in the confirmation dialog.

   The messages disappear from the current chat window.

:::tip
The conversation isn't gone for good. Click the history icon (![Chat history icon](/images/pbx/icon-chat-history.png)) in the chat window to bring up the complete record.

![Chat window showing the full history retrieved with the history icon](/images/pbx/clear-local-chat-history.png)
:::

## Delete a conversation's history everywhere

When privacy or security calls for it, you can erase a conversation's messages for good.

:::danger
This removes the chat history both on your device and on the server. The deletion is permanent and cannot be undone, so there is no way to recover the messages afterward.
:::

1. Open **Chat** in the left navigation bar, then select the **Internal Chat** tab.
2. Delete the history:

   ![Steps for permanently deleting all history from an internal conversation](/images/pbx/steps-delete-all-chat-history.png)

   1. Right-click the conversation and choose **Remove chat history**.
   2. Select the **Delete All Chat History** checkbox.
   3. Click **Save** in the dialog.