Chat Tool Help Contents

The Chat Tool is a text-based collaborative tool that provides users with a simple facility for communicating and sharing text files.

Starting the Chat Tool

Posting a Message

Using Files

Using the Clipboard

Pop Up on Receive


Starting the Chat Tool

To start the Chat Tool, click on the button on the main CoolTalk window with the picture of the typewriter.  If you have Pop Up on Receive selected in the Chat Tools Options menu, and another conference member sends you a message, the Chat Tool will open automatically.


Posting a Message

There are three ways to send a message in your Personal Note Pad to the other conference member.  You can click on the Post button on the Chat Tools Toolbar.

You can also select Post Note Pad from the File menu.  Finally, there is a keyboard accelerator, CNTRL-ENTER, which will post the contents of your Personal Note Pad.

When you post the Note Pad, the contents of your Personal Note Pad will appear in your Chat Tool Log and the Log of the other conference member, where it can be saved.  For this reason, the Chat Tool is useful for keeping logged communications sessions.

You can also Include text files in your Personal Note Pad to send to the other conference member.


Using Files

The Chat Tool allows you to perform a number of file operations to make text-based conferencing and logging easier.  You can create a New log, Save the current log, or Print the current contents of the Chat Tool Log.  You can also include a text file from disk to in your postings.

New log

Include file

Save log

Save log As

Print Setup

Print log


New Chat Tool Log

If you want to empty the current Chat Tool Log, select New from the File menu.  The contents of the Chat Tool Log will be discarded, and the file pointer of the log will be reset, so that if you wish to save any new contents, you will have to use Save As (preventing you from overwriting an existing log file).


Include Text File

You can include text files in the Personal Note Pad in order to send them during a conference.  To include a file from disk, either select Include from the File menu, or use the Include button on the Toolbar.

When you select Include, a file requester will appear, enabling you to browse your file system and select a file to load into the Personal Note Pad.

Once a file has been loaded, you can edit it as much as you like before you post it.


Save log

The Save option from the file menu is a shortcut to update a log that has already been saved to disk. (There is also a shortcut to the Save command on the Toolbar) The Save command will automatically append additions to a log that you have already saved.

If you have not yet saved the Chat Tool Log the first time, you will need to use the Save As command to save the Chat Tool Log.


Save log As

If you have not yet saved the Chat Tool Log, or you want to write the log to a new file on disk, you should use the Save As option from the File menu.

When you select Save As, a file requester will appear, allowing you to select the location and name for the Chat Tool Log, which is saved as a text file.  Once you have saved the log using the Save As command, you can update it using Save.


Print Setup

Selecting Print Setup from the File menu launches the Printer Setup dialog, which enables you to configure your printer so that you can print the Chat Tool Log.


Print Log

To print the current contents of the Chat Tool Log, select Print from the File menu.  The Chat Tool Log will be printed on the printer selected in the Printer Setup window.


Using the Clipboard

Using the Windows Clipboard, you can import text to the Chat Tool from other applications, and copy text from the Chat Tool for use elsewhere.  The standard Windows Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, and Select All features are available from the Edit menu.  Shortcuts to Cut, Copy, and Paste are also provided on the Toolbar.

Undo

Cut

Copy

Paste

Select All


Undo

Undo negates the most recent change made in the Personal Note Pad.


Cut

Cut moves the selected text to the clipboard.  When you use Cut, the selected text is removed from the Personal Note Pad.  It can be replaced using the Paste command.


Copy

Copy creates a copy of the currently selected text in the clipboard.  It can then be placed elsewhere using the Paste command.


Paste

The Paste command places text copied to the clipboard into the currently selected application.  In the case of the Chat Tool, it is placed at the cursor position in the Personal Note Pad.


Select All

Select All highlights the entire contents of the Personal Note Pad.


Pop Up on Receive

Pop Up On Receive can be toggled from the Options menu.  It determines the behavior of the Chat Tool when you receive a message from the other conference member.  When Pop Up on Receive is on, the Chat Tool is launched when a message is received.  If this option is off, you will have to open the Chat Tool manually to read messages received from other users.


Help Topics

Help Topics launches the Windows Help viewer.


About Chat Tool

About Chat Tool displays the Chat Tools About box, which provides version and copyright information.