IBM Workplace Managed Client users: If your company uses IBM Workplace Collaboration Services for instant messaging, features may differ from the IBM Lotus Sametime instant messaging features described here. For information on instant messaging with Workplace Collaboration Services, see the Instant Contacts section of IBM Workplace Managed Client Help.

Chats are interactive, real-time text conversations. Use chat if you need to ask a question or start a discussion.

You can send chat messages to anyone who has an Active or Away online status. People who are Away can see your messages once they return to their computers.

You can send chat messages from a mail view or message, from the Calendar view, from a meeting or Group To Do document, from the Instant Messaging Contact List, or from the main menu.

Note Chats with regular users are automatically secured with encryption.

1. Do one of the following:

• From a mail view, to chat with the sender of a message, select the message, click Chat, and select "Chat with."
• From a mail message, to chat with the sender, click Chat and then select "Chat with Sender."
• From the Calendar view, to chat with the chair of a meeting, select the meeting, click Chat, and select "Chat with."
• From a meeting or Group To Do document, click Chat and then select either "Chat with Chair" or "Chat with All."
• From the Instant Messaging Contact List, select a name and click the Chat icon .
• To chat with someone out of context, choose File - Instant Messaging - Chat (or click the "Prompt to chat" icon from the Instant Messaging Contact List), type the name of the person you want to chat with -- first name followed by last name -- and click OK. Alternatively, you can type just the first name or last name (but not a short name such as Rob instead of Robert, unless that is how the person is listed in the Lotus Sametime directory). If the name that you typed matches more than one entry in the directory, a list of matching names appears. Select the correct name from the list and click OK.

Tip You can include Notes document links, view links, and database links in messages that you send. If recipients are using Lotus Notes 7, they will be able to open the target by clicking the link. If recipients are using Lotus Notes 6.5.x or a standalone Lotus Sametime Connect client, they will be able to open the target by copying and pasting the displayed string into the Notes "Address" field.

4. You can leave the chat at any time by clicking Close.

You can save a transcript, or text log, of the chat conversation. For more information, see Saving a chat or instant meeting transcript to Mail and Saving a chat or instant meeting transcript to a file

See Also

Working with instant messaging

Glossary

Help on Help

All Help Contents

Glossary

Help on Help