Using instant messaging

You can chat online with anyone who has an active, away online, or in a meeting status. People who are away or in a meeting can see your instant messages once they return to their computers.

Before you begin

The IBM® Sametime® instant messaging feature is available only if your administrator enabled this feature for your organization. Before you can use instant messaging, you must enable it for your iNotes account. The online meeting feature is available only if your organization's IBM Sametime service includes web conferencing capabilities.

About this task

When instant messaging is enabled, your online status is visible to other users, and you can see who is available online. Online status icons appear in mail messages, meeting invitations, and in mail, contacts, and calendar views.

Procedure

Enable instant messaging and set preferences using the options described in Table 1.
Table 1. Instant messaging preferences
Task Procedure
Enable instant messaging In Preferences, on the Basics tab under Instant Messaging, check Enable Instant messaging.
Log on to instant messaging Do either of the following:
  • In the navigator, click the chat icon next to your name and select Log On To Instant Messaging
  • In the sidebar, click the status area and select Log On To Instant Messaging

Use these same steps to log off of instant messaging.

Note: If you get an HTTP 404 Error message when logging on to instant messaging, it may indicate that the instant messaging server is not configured correctly, and you need to tell your administrator.
Start a chat Do any of the following:
  • On your instant contact list, double-click the name of anyone whose status is active.
  • In any document or view in which online awareness displays, click the active online status icon of the person with whom you want to chat.
  • In a mail view, on a message, right-click the name of the sender and then click Chat with.
Note: Instant messages are automatically secured with encryption.
Change instant messaging status
  • Click a status icon either in the navigation panel or in the sidebar Sametime pane and choose a new status.
  • (Optional) Select Edit Current Status Message and change any of the standard status messages.
Add contacts to instant contacts list Click Show > Sidebar