What is instant messaging?

Instead of talking, you can type your heart out with Skype’s free instant messaging feature. This is great when you’re sharing information like a website address. It’s easier than spelling out as you can type or paste the address into the instant message window and it’s just a click away for the person on the other end.

Instant messaging typing indicator

Instant messages are a great way to communicate but sometimes you can get carried away and type at the same time as the other person, and your conversation can go all wonky. Skype has an instant message typing indicator that shows a pencil next to your contact’s name when they are typing. Now you can tell at a glance when they are about to respond – and either hold off or type your response quickly first, if you’re the quick typing type.

Edit your instant messages

It’s easy to accidentally hit ‘Send’ before checking what you’ve written, then realise you’ve made a mistake.

Instant messaging lets you edit messages you have sent. If you’re on a PC just right click on the message and edit what you’ve written or remove it entirely. For this to work, everyone in the IM needs to have the latest version of Skype.

Add emoticons to instant messages – add humor and feeling

A picture tells a thousand words and with Skype you can send emoticons (small pictures) in instant messages to show how you’re feeling. You can send a smiley face at the end of your sentence or a ‘thumbs up’ if you agree with what the other person is saying. There are number of slightly ruder options, too, if you’re up for it.

Special chat commands and roles for instant message chats

There are a number of really useful chat commands available that let you manage your chats in unique ways. To see a list of available commands simply type /help into a chat. With chat commands you can set a chat password, add and eject members, set guidelines and see who created the chat - and many more other commands besides these.

If you created the chat you use additional commands to set roles for members of the chat. You can set members to read-only, or elevate them to being the host of the chat. Learn more about chat commands and chat roles

Instant messaging works on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Windows Mobile, Nokia Internet Tablet, 3.

Need more help Check out our FAQs section.

• Related
• IM with Skype
• Group IM
• Emoticons

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