Communicating with other staff members is an effective tool to pass information on quickly and sometimes discreetly.

A message can be sent to any user currently logged in to appear instantly on the machine they are currently using. It can also be sent to an offline users so they receive that message as soon as they next log in.

• Accessing Instant Messenger
• Sending an Instant Message
• Quick Notes
• Panic button
• History
• Recipients
• Instant Message audio alert sound

Additional Instant Message help articles:

• Instant messaging notifications (includes troubleshooting notifications not appearing)
• Formatting Instant Messages 
• Adjusting instant messaging text size

Accessing Instant Messenger

1. Go to File - Instant Messenger or click Instant Message in your workspace.
2. This will open to the Instant Messenge window.
3. From here you can access all of your Instant Messaging options including,
   • Conversation where you can send a new message, select Recipients, choose and create Quick Notes for your common messages and access the Panic message option.
   • History provides you access to a limited number of old messages, this is limited to save memory on your computer which has also been known to slow EXACT down when increased.

Sending an Instant Message

1. Go to File - Instant Messenger or click Instant Message in your workspace.
2. Select your recipient/s from the list, when selected you will see the To: field update with all those you have selected.
3. Type your message in the text window at the bottom of the screen
4. Press Send when you're ready to send you message.

Quick Notes

Add any regular messages as a Quick Note to save typing them out each time.

1. Go to File - Instant Messenger or click Instant Message in your workspace.
   
   • Click +1 to create a new Quick Note.
   • or to send a Quick Note, highlight an existing note then click the arrows to add the text into your message field.

Panic button

The red Panic button is there for emergencies. You can only have one panic message configured at a time.

To configure your Panic message,

1. Click the spanner next to the Panic button.
2. Type your message.
3. Press OK to save.

To send a Panic message,

1. Press the red Panic button.
2. Confirm you wish to send this message to all users.

History

Messages that have already been sent to or from a user will appear under the History tab.

Recipients

By default, the Recipients list shows all users logged into EXACT at the time of opening Instant Messaging.

• Ticking Show Offline will include any users not currently signed into EXACT.
• Users signed into EXACT are displayed with a green spot beside their user name.
• Those not signed in/offline users will show at the bottom of the list with a grey spot beside their user name.
• You can send messages to offline users who will receive the message when they next log into EXACT.
• Clicking the All button will select everyone shown in the list, if everyone is selected the button will change to display None which when pressed will clear any recipients that aren't locked into the current conversation.

Instant Message audio alert sound

The instant message audio alert can be changed per user,

1. Go to Configure - User Settings.
2. Under the heading Instant Messages, select an alert sound from the drop-down menu.
   • Press Play to preview the audio