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 actions:

• To chat with the sender of a message, from a mail view, select the message, click Chat, and select Chat with.
• To chat with the sender, from a mail message, click Chat and then select Chat with Sender.
• To chat with the chair of a meeting, from the Calendar view, select the meeting, click Chat, and select Chat with Chair.
• 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 not on your instant messaging contact list, click 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, application links, and Web address links in messages that you send. If recipients are using Lotus Notes 7 or above, they will be able to open the target by clicking the link. If recipients are using Lotus Notes 6.5.x or a standalone IBM Lotus Sametime Connect client prior to release 7.5, 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.

See Also

Working with instant messaging
Saving a chat or instant meeting transcript to a file
Saving a chat or instant meeting transcript to Mail

Glossary