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FAQ - Instant Messaging: Sending And Saving Instant Messages

Single Internal Contact        Multiple Contacts        External Contacts        Saving Messages

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How do I send an instant message to an Olin student, faculty or staff member?

1. On your list, double-click the name of the person you want to contact. The conversation window opens.
2. Type your message in the lower part of the window, and click the Send button.
3. To start a new line while typing, press SHIFT+ENTER.
4. Your message appears at the top of the window.

Tips

• At the bottom of the conversation window, you'll be able to see when the other person is typing, as well as the date and time of the last message you received.
• In the conversation window, you can turn the ability to type emoticons on or off by clicking Enable Emoticons on the View menu. This is handy if you want to send specific characters instead of the emoticon they would otherwise render.
• Each message can be up to 400 characters long.

Send an instant message to more than one person

You cannot initiate an instant message conversation with more than one person; you can only add people to an existing conversation.

1. In the conversation window, click Invite Someone to this Conversation under I want to.
2. Click the name of a contact, or click Other and type someone else's complete email address.
3. Click OK.

Notes

• If I want to is not visible, click Show Sidebar on the View menu, and click the arrow next to I want to.
• A total of five can take part in a conversation, including you.

Send an instant message to someone not on your list

1. In the main window, click Send an Instant Message under I want to.
2. On the Other tab, type the person's complete email address, and then click OK.
3. Make sure the person's service is selected under Service.

Notes

• If I want to is not visible, click Show Actions Pane on the Tools menu.
• The person to whom you send the instant message must have a version of Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger installed.
• If an instant message you send cannot be delivered, check with the recipient to make sure they allow messages from people who are not in their list. To do this, ask the person to click Options on the Tools menu and then, on the Privacy tab, make sure that All other users is in the Allow list.

Save an instant message

Unless you explicitly save it, the text in the conversation window will be gone when you close the window. You can be assured that Microsoft and Olin do not save your conversations.

1. In the conversation window on the File menu, click Save As.
2. Go to the folder where you want to save the text, type the file name, and click Save.

Notes
Your conversation will be saved as a text file, and you can view it later by opening it in Notepad.

Related Links
How do I add a contact to my list?
How do I send and save instant message?
How do I block or unblock someone from seeing and contacting me?
How do I let others know I'm not available?
How do people add me to their contact list?
How can I see others without being seen?