In brief: In Net Net Chat, @ mentions a person and double brackets reference a Job, Deliverable, or Task; both must be picked from the picker.

Applies to: Everyone in the workspace, on an active free trial or a paid plan.

See also: Chat Layout: Stream, General, Job Channels, and DMs covers the surfaces mentions appear in, and Tagging and Retagging Messages So Chat Stays Findable covers what makes a message findable.

Net Net keeps two kinds of mention and keeps them apart. Type @ and you get the people picker. Type [[ and you get the work picker, which covers Jobs, Deliverables, and Tasks in one list. People mentions render in Net Net purple and notify the person. Work references render in green and show the full path, so a Task reads [[Job / Deliverable / Task]] rather than just a task name. Both have to be chosen from the picker, because a mention is a real link, not styled text.

The composer tells you both, right under the box you are typing in: [[ work references @ people.

Why two triggers

One symbol for everything sounds simpler until you are reading a message.

If @Website Redesign could mean a colleague or a Job, every mention costs the reader a beat of guessing. Splitting them means you never have to think about it. @ is always a human being. Double brackets are always the work. You can scan a channel and know what you are looking at without slowing down.

It matters to the software too. A person mention creates a notification. A work reference creates a link into the Job structure. They do different jobs and they need to stay distinguishable.

Mentioning people with @

Type @ and the people picker opens, showing active members of your workspace with the role underneath each name, drawn from User Roles Explained: Owner, Admin, Lead, and Member. Keep typing to narrow it. Pick someone and their name drops in.

What happens next:

• The mention renders inline in Net Net purple and links to that person's profile
• The person gets a notification that they were mentioned
• The message shows up in their Mentions view, one of the read and reply views described in Chat Layout: Stream, General, Job Channels, and DMs

That is the whole point of an @ mention. It is how you pull someone into a conversation they were not watching.

Referencing work with [[

Type two opening square brackets and the work picker opens. It is one list, not three, and it searches across:

• Deliverables, when you are in a Job Channel, from that Job
• Jobs, active, pending, and completed
• Tasks

If you want a refresher on the three objects themselves, they are covered in Projects vs Retainers: Choosing the Right Job Type, Deliverables: Status, Due Dates, and Confidence Explained, and Job Tasks: Assignees, Allocations, and Statuses.

Pick one and Net Net drops in a real reference. It renders in green, links straight to the work, and shows the full path rather than a bare name.

The full path

This is the part people notice first, and it is there so a reference never leaves you guessing which Deliverable somebody meant.

• A Job reads [[Website Redesign]]
• A Deliverable reads [[Website Redesign / Homepage]]
• A Task reads [[Website Redesign / Homepage / Second round of revisions]]

A Task that sits directly on a Job rather than inside a Deliverable shows the two levels it actually has. The path is built from the real structure at the moment the message renders, so it stays honest.

You have to pick from the list

Typing brackets around a name by hand does not create a reference. Net Net will stop the message and tell you: Choose work references from the suggestions list.

That is not fussiness. A reference is a link to a specific Job, Deliverable, or Task, and text that merely looks like one would be a dead end for anybody who clicked it later.

What the colors mean

Two colors, and they map to the two triggers:

• People, @, render in Net Net purple, the same brand color used for links and primary actions
• Work, [[, render in green, whether the reference is a Job, a Deliverable, or a Task

Both stay inline and text-first. They are colored links inside your sentence, not chunky pills that break up the paragraph.

Referencing is not the same as tagging

This is the distinction worth understanding, and it is the one people get wrong.

A reference is inline. It makes your sentence readable and clickable. It says "the thing I am talking about is this one, here is the link."

A tag is on the message as a whole. It is what makes the message findable later: it decides whether the message appears when you filter Stream by a Deliverable, and whether it counts toward the chat badge on a Task.

Most of the time you never think about tags because Net Net sets them for you:

• A message posted in a Job Channel is tagged to that Job
• A message posted from a Deliverable or task chat drawer is tagged to that item
• A reply inherits whatever tag its parent message had

Where it matters is General and Direct Messages, which have no work context of their own. Referencing a Deliverable in a DM makes the sentence readable, but it does not put that message into the Deliverable's history. Tagging it does. That is covered in Tagging and Retagging Messages So Chat Stays Findable.

Frequently Asked Questions

What key starts a work reference?

Two opening square brackets, [[. That opens one picker covering Deliverables, Jobs, and Tasks. @ is reserved entirely for people, and the composer shows both hints under the message box so you never have to remember.

Why does my reference show the whole path instead of just the name?

Because names repeat and paths do not. Three Jobs can all have a Deliverable called Homepage. Showing [[Website Redesign / Homepage]] means a reader knows exactly which one you meant without opening anything.

What color are mentions?

People mentions are Net Net purple. Work references are green. Both are inline links rather than pills, so they sit inside your sentence without breaking it up.

Why won't Net Net accept the brackets I typed?

Because a work reference has to be chosen from the picker. Text that looks like a reference is not one, and Net Net blocks the message rather than shipping a link that goes nowhere. Delete what you typed, type [[ again, and choose from the list.

Does mentioning a Deliverable file my message under it?

Not by itself. Referencing makes the sentence readable, tagging makes the message findable. In a Job Channel or a chat drawer the tag is applied automatically. In General and Direct Messages there is no automatic context, so tag the message if you want it to show up in that work's history.

Can I reference a Quick Task?

No. Quick Tasks are excluded from Chat entirely. They are standalone by design, with no chat and no way to be referenced or tagged. Job Tasks, including Draft ones, can be referenced normally.

Who gets notified when I mention someone?

Only the people you mention with @. They get a notification and the message appears in their Mentions view. Referencing a Job or a Deliverable does not notify the people assigned to it.

Related articles

Chat Layout: Stream, General, Job Channels, and DMs is the place to start if you are still working out which surface a message belongs in. Once you can point at work inside a sentence, Tagging and Retagging Messages So Chat Stays Findable covers the other half of the story: what makes a message findable from the Job rather than only from the channel it was posted in. Chat Threads: Replying, Editing, and Deleting Messages explains what happens to your mentions when you edit a message after sending it. And if you tried to reference a Quick Task and could not, Chat on Completed, Archived, and Quick Task Work explains why.

Updated on: 08/04/2026