How do I send an instant message in Skype for Windows Desktop?

Windows

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Watch the video to see how you can send instant messages in just over a minute. A step-by-step guide is also available below.

 

 

 

Sending an instant message

To send an instant message:

  1. Start Skype.
  2. In the Contacts tab, find the person or group you want to IM. Or in the Recent tab, find the conversation you want to pick up again.
  3. Select the group, contact, or conversation.
  4. Click inside the conversation window at the bottom of the screen.
  5. Type your message and click the blue Send icon, or simply press Enter on your keyboard.

When someone sends you an instant message

When someone IMs you, the Skype icon on the taskbar will turn orange and let you know that you have a new instant message.



To reply to an IM:

  1. Click the Recent tab. You'll see a list of conversations, with unread messages displayed in bold.
  2. Find the IM you want to read and select it.
  3. To reply, in the main window, click inside the conversation box.
  4. Type your message and click the blue Send icon, or simply press Enter on your keyboard.

 
Changing your IM settings

You can change your IM privacy settings, alter certain IM functions and customize the appearance of your instant messages.

1

In Skype, from the menu bar click Tools > Options.
2

Choose IM & SMS from the left and click the Show advanced options button to see all options.

IM settings window displayed
3

In the IM Settings panel, change your IM settings as required. You can choose:

  • Who you allow IMs from. Choose anyone or people in my Contact list only.
  • How long to keep your conversation history for: no history, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months or forever.
    You can also delete all of the instant messages in all of the conversations you’ve ever had with your contacts by clicking the Clear history button. Deleting the conversation history removes video messages. Once your conversation history is deleted, it cannot be recovered.
  • Whether IMs will open in a new window when you receive a new message in Compact View.
  • Whether pressing Enter inserts a line break, or sends an IM.
  • How copied messages should appear when you paste them into an IM.
  • Whether or not to display the typing indicator.
  • Where to save received files.
4

To change the appearance of your instant messages, select IM appearance on the left.

IM appearance settings window displayed
5

You can customize:

  • Whether to show static or animated emoticons.
  • Whether to show a timestamp next to messages you send and receive.
  • The font your IMs are displayed in.
Useful things you can do in an IM conversation

Edit a sent message

You can edit or delete an instant message within 60 minutes after you’ve sent it. To change or remove your IM, simply right-click the message and choose Edit Message or Remove Message.

Edit Message option selected from the window displayed after right-clicking the message

Send files

Share documents, photos and video clips of any size. Help with sending files.

Send File… option selected from the menu displayed after clicking the + button

Send a video message

Record and send a video to your contact. Learn more.

Send contacts

Send a contact’s details to another contact. Help with sending contacts.

Use emoticons

Liven up your IMs with emoticons and let your friends know how you’re feeling.

The Emoticons panel

Use special text formatting

You can use basic text markup in chats to use special formatting:

  • Surrounding text with asterisks (*) will change the text to bold. (Example: *sample text*)
  • Surrounding text with underscores (_) will change the text to italics. (Example: _sample text_)
  • Surrounding text with tildes (~) will change the text to strikethrough (Example: ~sample text~)
  • Surrounding the text with {code} will change the text to monospace font (Example: {code}sample text{code})
  • Placing two exclamation points and a space  (!! ) at the beginning of a message will send the entire message in monospace font (Example: !! sample text)
  • Placing two at symbols and a space (@@ ) at the beginning of a message will prevent or override special formatting (Example: @@ sample text)

Here are a few pages that can help you do even more:

 

 

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