diff --git a/src/Rooms.js b/src/Rooms.js
index fbcc843ad2..0f81bf5391 100644
--- a/src/Rooms.js
+++ b/src/Rooms.js
@@ -79,6 +79,24 @@ export function looksLikeDirectMessageRoom(room, me) {
     return false;
 }
 
+export function guessAndSetDMRoom(room, isDirect) {
+    let newTarget;
+    if (isDirect) {
+        const guessedTarget = guessDMRoomTarget(
+            room, room.getMember(MatrixClientPeg.get().credentials.userId),
+        );
+        newTarget = guessedTarget.userId;
+    } else {
+        newTarget = null;
+    }
+
+    // give some time for the user to see the icon change first, since
+    // this will hide the context menu once it completes
+    return q.delay(500).then(() => {
+        return setDMRoom(room.roomId, newTarget);
+    });
+}
+
 /**
  * Marks or unmarks the given room as being as a DM room.
  * @param {string} roomId The ID of the room to modify
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/RoomList.js b/src/components/views/rooms/RoomList.js
index e84c56e693..51811f672a 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/RoomList.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/RoomList.js
@@ -485,6 +485,8 @@ module.exports = React.createClass({
 
                 <RoomSubList list={ self.state.lists['im.vector.fake.direct'] }
                              label="People"
+                             tagName="im.vector.fake.direct"
+                             verb="tag direct chat"
                              editable={ true }
                              order="recent"
                              selectedRoom={ self.props.selectedRoom }