DLE Message PRO

DLE Message PRO replaces DataLife Engine private messages with a real messenger. Instead of the old inbox and sent “folders”, your visitors get conversations just like in Messenger: chat list on the left, the conversation on the right, new messages arriving on their own within 2–3 seconds, with “typing…” and ✓✓ “Seen”. A chat button and mini-windows sit at the bottom of every page, just like on Facebook. It runs on ordinary hosting — no Node.js, no WebSocket servers, no third-party services. Supports DLE 21.0.

Highlights

• Live chat without page reloads. New messages, “typing…”, “Active now” and ✓✓ “Seen” show up within 2–3 seconds. One browser tab polls the server for all the others, so hidden tabs use almost no resources.
• Mini-chats on any page. A chat button with an unread counter and chat windows at the bottom of the site: people can read a news story and reply without leaving the page. “Send PM” in profiles and comments opens a mini-chat.
• Everything people expect from a messenger. Reactions, replies, editing and deleting, forwarding, pinning, emoji, photos, files and voice messages, group chats.
• Notifications. Web Push in the browser and on phones (no third-party services), email about unread messages, sound.
• Spam protection. Message requests from strangers, limits for newcomers, stop words and link rules, blocking, reports with admin actions.
• Every feature has its own switch. Photos, files, voice, groups, reactions, editing, forwarding, “typing…”, ✓✓ — turn each on or off in the admin panel, with permissions per user group.

How it works

On installation the module imports all existing DLE private messages and takes their place: the /messages/ page (the address is configurable), old do=pm links, the “Send PM” window and the counter in the template header all lead to the messenger. Turn the module off and the standard DLE private messages come back, while conversations in the module are kept.

No separate server is needed: messages are delivered through tiny marker files that the web server serves without PHP or the database, so even hundreds of visitors online put almost no load on the site. Colors, font and dark theme come from the module settings and your template.

Features

Messaging

• Searchable chat list with tabs “All”, “Unread”, “Groups”, “Requests”, “Archive”; pin a chat, mute it, archive it.
• ✓ “Sent” and ✓✓ “Seen” receipts, “typing…”, “Active now” and “Active N min ago”.
• Message reactions, quoted replies, editing, delete for yourself or for everyone, forwarding, copying, a pinned message.
• Emoji, in-chat search, history that loads as you scroll, day separators, clickable links.
• Photos (re-encoded, with previews), files and voice messages recorded right in the browser, with waveform and seeking.
• Group chats: name and avatar, members, group admins, invite links, leaving a group.

On the site

• Messages page: two columns on desktop, one screen at a time on phones.
• Mini-chats on every page: several windows at once, minimized ones shown as avatar bubbles; on phones the button opens the messages page.
• Light and dark theme, accent color, your template's font; SEO-friendly URLs and Multi-Language sites.
• Unread counter in the template header and in the browser tab title.

Notifications

• Web Push in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari and on phones (on iPhone — once the site is added to the Home Screen); keys are generated automatically.
• Email about unread messages — sent with a delay and no more often than you set, with an unsubscribe link right in the email.
• New message sound; each user chooses what to be notified about.

Protection and privacy

• Message requests: the first message from a stranger arrives as a request, without ✓✓ and without links or files, until the recipient replies or accepts it.
• Limits on messages and new chats, stop words, no links for newcomers, automatic blocking for spam.
• Blocking users, “Who can message me”, hiding “Active now”.
• Files are served only to chat members, file type checks and image re-encoding, XSS protection.

Admin panel

• Overview: messages today, who has been writing, who is online, new reports, module status.
• Reports with the conversation around the message and actions: delete the message, ban from messaging for a day, a week or permanently, dismiss the report; list of blocked users.
• Moderation: search through conversations (off by default, enabled on the “Privacy” tab).
• Daily statistics: messages, authors, new chats, files, voice messages, push notifications and emails.
• Group permissions: “Write”, “Photos”, “Files”, “Voice”, “Create groups”, “No limits”.
• Settings in tabs: “Features”, “Appearance”, “Messages”, “Attachments”, “Speed”, “Notifications”, “Anti-spam”, “Privacy”.
• Import of all DLE conversations (both the old _pm and the new one, since 18.0) in batches, with no freezes; server check.

Languages

Russian, English, Ukrainian and Spanish — for both the site and the admin panel; the language follows DLE.