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Starting a Chat
- Click on a user name on your Contact List.
The User menu will pop up.
- Choose Chat from the menu.
A dialog box will appear which will request a reason for the chat.
- Type in your Chat subject (optional).
If the requested party accepts, the chat session will begin.
You can control the appearance of your chat application by using the various options
in the Chat Window Menus.
Note: If there are more than six users present in the same chat room, it will
automatically switch to the IRC Layout. In addition, under the IRC Layout text is
added to the conversation only after the Enter key is pressed.
Inviting Other Users to Join a Running Chat Session
If you have an active chat session, and would like to invite other users to join your chat
session:
- Click on the name in your Contact List.
- Select Chat, just as if you were starting a new chat session.
A dialog box will appear.
- Enter your Chat subject (optional).
- Click on Join Session.
- The requested party will be added to the Chat Session upon answering you.
Tip: A shortcut to add users to an existing chat session - just drag their name
from your Contact List to the title bar of your chat session window.
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Chat Window Menus
The Chat Window Menu Bar consists of the following:
- File:
- Send Focus: If this option is checked, other users can see when your chat window is active or not. They will know when you are "listening" or not.
- Clear Buffer: Deletes the current chat buffer (history).
- Log On/Off: Records the chat conversation to a file on your disk (specified by you).
- Save Buffer: Saves the chat conversation to a file on your disk (specified by you).
- Print: You can print out the chat session.
- Kick User: Opens the Kick User Menu which contains the list of people in your
chat session. If you wish to kick a user from the chat room, double-click on his name. This will start
a democratic vote. If the majority of the chat participants agree to your suggestion, the user will
be kicked out of the chat room.
- Quit: When you want to quit the chat you have 2 options:
- Save Chat - In the ICQ Message Archive.
- Don't Save Chat.
- Edit:
- Copy: Copy the currently selected text to your clipboard.
- Paste: Paste text from your clipboard to your chat dialog.
- Layouts:
- Reset: Resets the sizes of all chat windows to their default settings.
There are four layouts for your chat session that you can choose from. They can be found in
the Layout menu on the command bar. The four types of layout are:
- Vertical Layout - Divides the chat window to vertical sections.
- Horizontal Layout - Splits the chat window into horizontal sections.
- Split Layout - Changes the layout to split-screen mode.
- IRC Layout - Similar to IRC Style chatting. The window is split into
a main dialog window and a list of users.
Of all the layouts, this one is most suited for larger groups.
- Name Bars: Toggles all name bars on or off.
- Display:
- Color: Changes the color of your text.
- Back Color: Changes the color of your chat window screen background.
- Font: Changes the font on your chat windows.
- Auto Color: Only for IRC Style Layout. This assigns every use a different color (overrides their color selections).
- Override Format: Overrides the other chatter's format and replaces it with your color and font settings.
- Other:
- Enable Sounds: When checked, other users may page you (using Ctrl-G).
- Keystroke Sounds: When checked, you hear a typing machine sound every time you press a key.
- Beep Users: Pages all chat parties with their configured Chat Beep sound, which can be
set in the Windows Control Panel under 'Sounds' (shortcut: Ctrl-G)
- LOL: Selecting it will sound a loud laugh to all chat participants.
- Sleep: Minimizes the chat window until a chatter writes something to you.
When you're in IRC layout you have 2 options:
- (IRC) Send line after Enter: The recipient will view your text fully only after you press Enter.
- (IRC) Send each character: The recipient will view your text as you write it.
- Action:
- Send Action (Ctrl-A): You can add an Action icon to convey your reaction.
You can use the ICQ default actions or edit the outgoing message accompanying the action.
- Send Emote: You convey your emotions by sending a gesture to your chat partners.
- Help:
- Index: The help files for ICQ chat.
- About: information about this feature.
Saving Your Chat
You can save the protocol of your chat at the end of a Chat Session.
- When the chat is over the following dialog will appear.
- Check the Keep a copy of this chat session checkbox, if you want to keep a record of it.
- Enter a short description in the Enter Description text area, so you can easily locate it.
- You now have 3 options:
- Print - You can print the chat session.
- Export - You can export the chat session to another folder, computer or user.
- Play Chat - You can play the chat session on you computer.
- Click OK to save your entries.
- If you don't want to save the Chat Session, don't check the Keep a copy of this chat session checkbox.
Shortcuts
Below the Menu Bar is the Shortcut Menu. There, you will find several shortcuts to tasks that you can
perform. They include several common font manipulations like bold, underline, and italic,
changing the font size and face, and even changing the font and background colors.
Click on the icons below to learn about more about them:
Other Features
You can still launch other ICQ events (Message, URL etc.) while in a Chat Session. In all layouts, other than IRC Style, you will have buttons
that pull down the User Menu which includes sending messages, file transfer and sending URLs. In the
IRC Style Layout, clicking on a user name on the right column gives you the Event Menu.
The hand icon is for freeze and the eraser to Clear Buffer
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