SunForum Chat

Chat enables you to exchange text messages with other conference participants. Messages can either be broadcast to the whole conference, or "whispered" to a single person.

At the end of a Chat session, messages can be archived to a text file for later reference. This makes Chat a useful tool for taking minutes during a conference.

	Starting chat
	Sending a message to everyone
	Whispering a message to a specific person
	Changing the way messages are displayed
	Getting notifications of incoming messages.
	Saving the current message list
	Clearing the list of messages
	Viewing messages that occurred before you joined the conference
	Ending chat

Starting Chat

To start Chat, press the Chat button on the SunForum toolbar, or choose the Chat command on the Tools menu.

The Chat window appears and is automatically started on the other conference participants' systems. (Equally, if somebody else in the conference starts Chat, it will start automatically on your system.)

Sending a Message to Everyone

To send a text message to everyone in the conference:

	Set the "send to" option to "Everyone in conference"
	Type the message in the message entry field
	Press enter.

Whispering a Message to a Specific Person

To send a text message to a specific person:

	Select the person to "whisper" to in the "send to" option field (clicking the option button lists everyone currently participating in the conference)
	Type the message in the message entry field
	Press Enter: the message will be sent only to the person specified (at the recipient's end, the name of the sender will appear in italics so they can see that it has been whispered).

Changing the Way Messages are Displayed

You can choose whether to display the following fields along with each message:

	The date the message was received
	The time the message was received
	The name of the originator of the message

These fields are turned on or off by selecting the relevant option from the View menu. Any changes you make affect only your own display, so different people in the conference can choose a different set of fields to view.

Getting Notifications of Incoming Messages

If the Chat window is minimized, or hidden behind other windows on the screen, then incoming messages may go unnoticed. To guard againt this, you can set options to:

Restore, or raise the Chat window to the front of the screen on receipt of an incoming message.

To turn these notifications on or off, select the relevant item from the Options menu.

Saving the Current Message List

To save the current list of messages, select Save from the File menu. This saves the current message list in plain text format.

Clearing the List of Messages

To clear the current list of messages, select Clear All from the File menu. You will be asked if you want to save the contents.

Seeing Messages that Occurred Before You Joined the Conference

When you start Chat, you do not see messages that have already been exchanged in the conference. If you want to see these messages, you can ask another participant to save the file (as described above), and send you the message list in text format, either via File Transfer or by other means such as email or FTP.

End Chat

To end Chat, select the Exit command on the File menu. This stops the copy of Chat running on your computer, but does not affect other people in the conference who are still using Chat.