Easy Chat Channel Buttons

Easy Chat Channel Buttons

Easy Chat Channel Buttons adds a lightweight, movable bar of colored circular buttons for switching chat channels, opening favorite numbered channels, and inserting prepared phrases.

Instead of typing /s, /y, /em, /g, /o, /p, /raid, /i, /bg, or a changing numbered-channel command, you can choose the right chat with one click without losing anything you have already typed.

Create reusable phrase buttons for group instructions, greetings, recruitment messages, Mythic+ notes, roleplay, and other frequently used text. A phrase can keep the current chat or switch to a preferred channel before inserting its text at the cursor — it is never sent automatically.

The addon integrates cleanly with both the default World of Warcraft UI and ElvUI.

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Features

• Small colored circular buttons on a freely movable bar
• One-click access to built-in chats and favorite numbered channels
• Prepared Phrase buttons with custom text, tooltip, color, and preferred channel
• Existing chat text is preserved when changing channels or inserting phrases
• Active channel highlighting and dimmed inactive buttons while chat is open
• Button colors match your personal chat color settings
• Unavailable buttons hide automatically without leaving empty gaps
• Individual built-in chat visibility controls
• Horizontal or vertical layout
• Any ordering of Built-ins, Numbered Channels, and Prepared Phrases
• Adjustable button size, button spacing, and group spacing
• Optional text labels for easier button identification
• Optional comfortable click targets for very small bubbles
• Saved bar position and visibility state
• Lock, unlock, and reset-position controls
• Minimap button:
  • Left-click opens settings
  • Right-click shows or hides the button bar
• Compatible with the default UI and ElvUI
• Lightweight and performance-friendly

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Prepared Phrase Buttons

Each Prepared Phrase can have:

• Custom text
• Custom hover tooltip
• Individual button color
• A preferred chat channel
• A custom position in the phrase list

Current is the default preferred channel. A phrase can also target Say, Yell, Emote, Guild, Officer, Party, Raid, Instance Chat, or Battleground. If the selected channel is unavailable, the phrase silently keeps the current chat instead.

Clicking a phrase inserts its text at the current cursor position without automatically sending the message. If chat is closed, the addon opens it first.

Use When Chat Has Text to control what happens when a non-empty draft is already open in another channel:

• Use Preferred Channel — preserve the draft, switch its channel, and insert the phrase
• Keep Current Channel — insert the phrase without switching the draft
• Do Not Insert — leave a draft for another channel unchanged

Use Duplicate to copy a phrase together with its text, tooltip, color, and preferred channel. Arrow controls move individual phrases up or down, and the button bar updates immediately.

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Favorite Numbered Channels

Save numbered zone and player-created chats such as General, Trade, Services, LocalDefense, or other active /N channels as account-wide Favorites.

• Favorites follow channel-number changes automatically
• Unavailable Favorites hide temporarily and return when the channel is available again
• Button labels can show the current local channel number
• Manage Custom Channels can add an available channel directly or by channel name or active /N
• First-time setup adds the supported numbered channels available to the player once
• The addon never joins or leaves channels
• Community streams are not included

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Phrase Export and Import

Prepared phrases can be transferred between characters, accounts, or installations.

• Export Phrases creates a copyable export string
• Import Phrases validates pasted data and asks for confirmation before replacing settings
• Phrase order, text, tooltips, colors, preferred channels, and When Chat Has Text are preserved
• Older phrase exports remain supported

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Supported Built-in Chat Channels

• Say — always available
• Yell — always available
• Emote — always available
• Guild — available while you are in a guild
• Officer — available when you have officer chat access
• Party — available while you are in a party but not a raid
• Raid — available while you are in a raid
• Instance Chat — available while you are in an instance group
• Battleground — available while you are in an instance group

Built-in buttons appear only when their chat type is available and enabled in settings. Hiding a normal channel button does not prevent a Prepared Phrase from using that otherwise available channel.

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Layout and Accessibility

The settings panel lets you configure:

• Button size from 10 to 32 px
• Spacing between buttons
• Group spacing from 10 to 60 px
• Horizontal or vertical layout
• Button Group Order for Built-ins, Numbered Channels, and Prepared Phrases
• Optional button labels
• Optional comfortable click targets
• Built-in channel visibility
• Prepared Phrases and favorite numbered channels
• Bar lock state and position reset

Group order runs from left to right in horizontal layout and from top to bottom in vertical layout.

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Slash Commands

/ecb or /ecb config  — open the settings panel
/ecb lock            — lock the button bar
/ecb unlock          — unlock the button bar for moving

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Compatibility

• World of Warcraft Retail / Midnight
• Default World of Warcraft UI
• ElvUI

The addon does not modify ElvUI. When ElvUI is loaded, button edges receive a subtle glow that matches its visual style.

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Lightweight Design

The addon is intentionally focused:

• No heavy frameworks
• No unnecessary background processing
• Simple configuration
• Minimal performance overhead

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Author

Created by Ievgen Pavlenko.