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Changing User Settings
This section contains the following information:
Settings Window Overview
The Settings window enables you to configure the Instant Messenger display and startup parameters. Click the Settings icon in the Main window.
The Settings window contains the following tabs and buttons:
General tab — The options on this tab enable you to set the startup parameters for the Main window.
Appearance tab — The options on this tab enable you to modify text formatting and background settings for Instant Messenger.
News tab — The options on this tab enable you to set parameters for the News Channels window, where alert and news channel messages are displayed.
Alerts tab — The options on this tab enable you to set desktop, email, and paging parameters for alerts.
Voice tab — The options on this tab enable you to set the voice call parameters.
Archiving tab — The options on this tab enable you to set the archiving parameters.
Sound tab — The options on this tab enables you to set sound settings that notifies you when a message is sent, received, a presence status is changed, and when an alert message is received.
Privacy tab — This tab enables you to specify which users can see you.
Advanced tab — This tab is for advanced users to configure status requests and to set priorities for multiple Instant Messaging sessions.
OK button — After all the configuration changes have been made, click OK to save the changes, and exit the Settings window. The changes become effective immediately.
Apply button — After configuration changes are made, click Apply to save the changes and make them effective without exiting the Settings window.
Close button — Cancels any changes you have made but not yet applied.
Help button — Displays this Help topic.
General Tab
The General tab contains the following options:
Note - The Desktop Integration Settings is for Windows environment only.
Startup Settings
Select from the following startup settings to modify the Instant Messenger when you login.
Auto logon to server — If you enabled auto-logon, uncheck this box to disable auto-logon. The next time you log in to Instant Messenger, you will be prompted to enter your user ID and password. (You enable auto-logon by checking the Auto-Logon checkbox on the Log in to Server window.)
Note - When using Instant Messenger in the Sun Java System Portal Server environment, Auto-logon is always enabled, and cannot be disabled.
Auto Connect to Server in case of lost connection — When this option is checked, Instant Messenger automatically tries to re-establish a connection to the server in case of a connection loss.
Show contact list on startup — Displays the Main window when Instant Messenger starts. Uncheck the Show contact list on startup checkbox in the General tab, if you do not want the Main window to appear the next time you log in to Instant Messenger.
Show news on startup — Displays the News Channels window when Sun Java System Instant Messenger starts.
Launch IM automatically when system is started (Windows Only) — Starts Instant Messenger when you start your computer and log into Windows. (This feature is only available on the Windows platform.)
Desktop Integration Settings
Show Icon in Taskbar Notification Area — Choose to display the Sun Java System Instant Messaging icon on the desktop’s task bar alert area.
Hide Taskbar Icon When Minimized — Prevents the display of the the Sun Java System Instant Messaging icon when the application is minimized.
Note - These options are displayed only when Instant Messenger runs on Windows.
Miscellaneous Settings
The following miscellaneous settings affect how you view various features in Instant Messaging.
Ask for offline status on exit — When checked, Instant Messenger asks for an offline status or a message at the time of exiting the client.
Show User Status Change Pop-ups — When checked, the option displays a pop-up message when the status of any user in your contact list changes.
Show Multiple Chats in New Windows — Select to simultaneously start multiple chat sessions in a new window.
Convert emoticons in the chat content — Select this to convert short cut characters for emoticons to corresponding emoticon icons. If this is not checked, the characters are displayed as is in the chat window.
Maximum number of messages shown in a chat window drop-down list — You can set the maximum number of messages to be displayed in the chat window by selecting the number from this drop-down list. The available options are: 50, 100, 200, and 500. By default, the number of messages displayed is 200.
Appearance Tab
The Appearance tab contains the following options:
Text Formatting Settings — Modify the text size and the text color of your contact list and chat and alert text with the text size list box and the test color list box.
Background Texture — Use background textures and images in your text messages.
News Tab
The News tab contains the following options:
Loop Through News Channels and Messages — Enables scrolling through the messages in all the subscribed news channels. All messages are refreshed as you automatically loop through the news channels. No looping is performed on a news channel with only one message.
Hide Tabs in News Channels Window — Prevents the display of tabs in the News Channels window.
Note - When the tabs are hidden, scrolling is disabled.
Display Alerts in News Channel — When enabled, alerts are displayed in a news channel. Additionally, these alerts continue to be displayed as pop-up messages.
Hide News Tools — Prevents the display of the tools (left arrow, pause, and right arrow) in the News Channels window.
Tab placement drop-down list — Choose where to display tabs in the News Channels window, either Top, Bottom, Right, or Left.
Alerts Tab
The Alerts tab contains the following options:
Always request a delivery status — Displays the delivery status of the alert on your desktop. The delivery status options are: sent, received or read.
Deliver Offline Alerts at Login — Delivers alerts to your desktop when you log in to Sun Java System Instant Messenger. This applies only to alerts sent since your previous session.
Forward Offline Alerts to this Email Address — Automatically sends alerts to the email address specified in the text box below if the user is offline. The default email address is your email address you specified when you registered your Instant Messenger User ID.
Forward Offline Messages to the SMS Address — Automatically sends alert and chat messages to the mobile number specified in the text box if the user is offline.
Show Calendar Reminders — Automatically sends alerts for appointments that are on your calendar.
Voice Tab
The Voice tab contains the following options:
Allow Incoming Calls — Select this option to allow incoming calls. By default, this option is selected. If you do not select this option, users will not be able to start a voice chat with you.
When on a voice call — When you are on a voice call, you can select a status to be displayed to other users.
Set my status to — To specify your status, choose the options provided in the Set my status to drop-down list. The options are Online, Away, Busy, and Leave Unchanged.
Set my status text to — Select this option to specify a status text of your choice. You can type the status text in the text box.
Network Ports — Enables you to specify the network port.
Select Port Automatically — Select this option to use any port that is freely accessible.
Use UDP ports in the following range — If you do not want to use the freely accessible ports, specify a range of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports in this field. The value can range between 1025 and 65500.
Archiving Tab
The Archiving tab contains the following options:
Enable Email Archive — Select this option to archive chat messages exchanged between two or more users. Messages are archived in the form of emails.
Never Archive Messages From — Use this option to specify users whose messages you do not want to archive. To add a user, do the following:
Click the Add button.
The Add Users window is displayed. You can either add a user from your contact list or search for a user.
To search for a user, type the name of the user in the Name field or the user ID in the User ID field and click Find Recipient.
The Select Contact window containing a list of users that match your search criteria is displayed. Select the user from the list and click OK. The selected user is added to the Recipients List column.
To add a user from your contacts, select the user listed in the Contacts List column and click Add. The selected user is added to the Recipients List column.
Click OK to return to the Settings window.
Use the Add and Remove buttons to add or remove users from the Never Archive Messages From list.
Click OK to save the archive settings.
Sound Tab
The Sound tab contains the following options:
Enable Sounds — When checked, this option enables you to receive a sound notification.
Play Sounds When — The options within this frame enable you to specify when the sound notification should be received. The options available are: I Receive a New Message, I Receive an Alert, A User Status Changed, I Send a Message, and A New Message is Posted to a News Channel.
Privacy Tab
The Privacy tab enables you to specify the users who can chat, poll or send alerts to you. When other profiles are created, they appear in the list below the Visible to All profile. When one of these profiles is selected, the Edit, Delete, Set As Default, and Activate buttons are enabled. This tab contains the following options:
Privacy Profile — With privacy profiles, you can determine which users are allowed to see your user status and which users’ Instant Messages should be blocked. The profile Visible to All appears in the list box as the active/default profile. This profile can not be edited or deleted, therefore, the Edit and Delete buttons are disabled. This profile is selected by default when the screen is initially displayed.
New Profile — Creates new privacy profiles. When you select this option, the New Profile window displays. See Adding/Editing Privacy Profiles.
Edit — Modifies existing privacy profiles. When you select this option, the Edit Profile window displays. See Adding/Editing Privacy Profiles.
Delete button — Deletes privacy profiles.
Activate button — Activates selected privacy profiles. Only one profile can be activated at a time.
Set As Default button — Sets selected privacy profile as the default. Only one profile can be the default at a time.
View Others button — When you select this option, the View Users window displays the users who can see your status but are not on your Contacts list.
Note - Your custom privacy profile is disabled if you set your status to Invisible. Though you appear invisible to users, they can still send messages to you even if they were previously blocked by your privacy profile. As soon as you change your status, your privacy profile is reactivated.
Advanced Tab
The Advanced tab enables you to specify automatic approvals for contacts as well as to modify priority settings for multiple sessions of Instant Messenger. The features on this tab are intended for Advanced users. Contact your system administrator or technical support center for support. This tab contains the following options:
Settings for Idle/Away — When enabled, this option allows you to select the length of time your current session is idle or away when you are inactive. Once your status changes to idle or away, your messages are routed to the active session on a machine or device that has a higher priority.
Requests to See My Status — Enabling this feature allows you to automatically approve any requests from users who are not in your Contacts list but request to see your status. If you check this option, you can automatically add those users to your contacts list by selecting the Automatically Add New Contact to: option.
Priority settings for the Current Session — If you are running Instant Messenger on multiple machines, a session ID is assigned to each machine when you login. Depending on which machine you are using, you may set your session priorities such that alerts come directly to your active machine.
For example, you log onto your workstation in the morning. During a meeting, you log into your PDA and chat with a co-worker through your Java chat client. At that point, you define message priority so that inbound messages will reach your PDA not your workstation. When you return to your office, you catch up with the Instant Messaging traffic that, by default, was routed back to your workstation when you exited your PDA. Finally, you go home and log in from your home office, routing inbound messages to reach you at home rather than at the office. The office session stays logged in at all times when no other higher-priority client is logged in; it receives inbound messages by default.
You can set different priority settings for Online, Idle, Away, and Do Not Disturb statuses in each chat session.
To Change User Settings
Following are the activities associated with configuring User Settings:
Setting options on the General Tab
Setting options on the Appearance Tab
Setting options on the News Tab
Setting options on the Alerts Tab
Setting options on the Advanced Tab
Configuring who can see you when you are online in the Privacy Tab
Follow these steps to change your settings:
- In the Main window, select Settings from the Tools menu:
The Settings window appears.
- Make your changes to the various tabs.
Click Apply to save the changes in a tab without exiting the Settings window, and then move to another tab.
- When you have finished making the changes, click Close for the changes to
take effect and exit the Settings window.
The changes become effective immediately.