How to use Element

Download the app

Visit https://element.io/download to download the app for your computer or phone. If you don't want to install it, you can also use Element in the browser here.

Make an account

Element uses a system called Matrix to handle sending and receiving messages. You don't need to know anything about Matrix for using Element, though. I just wanted to let you know, in case you see references to your "Matrix account" in the app. You can just consider this your username for talking to other Element users.

Depending on if you're using the mobile or desktop app, you should see a screen like this:

Don't sign up with Google to make an account, and definitely don't sign up with your NCF account. It's best to use your own email address along with a password you don't use anywhere else. (I recommend using Bitwarden to generate and store secure passwords for all your accounts, but that's a whole 'nother story.)

When you finish making an account, you should have a username that looks something like @myname:matrix.org. This is what you can share with people to get access to different chats or send direct messages.

Note

You don't need to include :matrix.org in your username, it will be added automatically when you create your account.

The :matrix.org on the end just shows what server you signed up on. It's kind of like how people can have different email addresses like alice@gmail.com and bob@yahoo.com, but can still talk to each other across platforms. Element will automatically sign you up on matrix.org, so you don't have to worry about how this works, but it's good to know in case you're wondering why you see people with different addresses.

You'll then be asked to save a security key for your account. This is a secondary password, just in case you lose access to your account for any reason. Keep this somewhere safe!

You're in!

Once you're signed in, you can join servers and talk to other people if you know their @username:matrix.org.

On Element, you can join "Rooms", which are like big group messages with only one channel, or you can join "Spaces", which are a group of rooms. You can think of Rooms as big group DMs on Discord, and Spaces as servers with as many individual channels as you want.

Please reach out to me if you want to join the NCF server. It would be much easier just to post an invite link, but this precaution is to make sure we only have trusted students in the group.

Need help?

You can learn more on Element's user guide, or you can reach out to me directly if you have questions, and I'll be more than happy to help.

It can be confusing to get started at first, as Element doesn't work in the same way as Discord or other common apps.