Notes instant messaging allows you to see your coworkers online and have chat sessions with them.

The following terms will help you get started with instant messaging:

• Chat: A real-time text conversation. You can chat with any of your online colleagues. See Starting a chat for more information.
• Groups: People in your Instant Messaging Contact List are organized in groups. See Adding a group to the Instant Messaging Contact List for more information. The two types of groups are:
  • Private groups: Groups that you define. You can add people from the company's instant messaging directory to your private groups.
  • Public groups: Groups from your company's instant messaging directory. Your system administrator defines the contents of public groups.
• Instant meeting: A private chat session that includes three or more people. You can start instant meetings from a chat, a mail message, the Instant Messaging Contact List, or the main menu. Once an instant meeting starts, anyone can invite other online people to join the meeting. See Starting an instant meeting for more information.
• Instant Messaging Contact List: A list of your colleagues. You create your Instant Messaging Contact List. See The Instant Messaging Contact List for more information.
• Instant messaging directory: A master list of all people associated with your company. Your system administrator maintains your company's instant messaging (Sametime) directory. You access the directory when you add names to your Instant Messaging Contact List or invite people to instant meetings. See Searching the instant messaging directory for more information.
• Instant messaging server: The IBM Lotus instant messaging (Sametime) server to which you must be connected to use Notes instant messaging. See Connecting to an instant messaging server for more information.
• Online awareness: The ability to see the online status of others in your mail views and mail messages. For more information, see Showing or hiding online awareness for names.
• Online status: Your online status tells other people if you are available for online chats and instant meetings. See Managing your online status for more information.
• Online status message: The text that appears when people point to your name in the Instant Messaging Contact List. You can use the default online status messages or create customized ones. See Customizing your online status messages for more information.

Working with instant messaging

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