The more things you do offline, the more productive the time you are connected to America Online will be. Here are some easy ways to make the most of your time online:
Read the Help topics offline
Unless you just need to check something quickly, don’t make a practice of selecting Help from the Apple menu while you are online. If you do need to access the Help topics while you are online, go to the Member Services area first, since time spent in the Member Services area is free of connect charges.
You can also print any open Help topic, by selecting Print from the File menu.
Use your modem’s full capabilities
Sign on at the highest baud rate possible (considering your modem’s capabilities, and the local access numbers available in your area). For more information go to Keyword High Speed once you are online.
Use FlashSessions
Use FlashSessions to retrieve mail that is waiting online for you, and to send mail you have composed offline. For more complete information select FlashSessions from the Help topics.
Log your session
If you keep up with the discussions on various message boards around the service, you will be glad to know you can save the new posts to a file, and read the file offline.
To log a session:
1. Select Logs from the File menu. The Logs window will open. (Note: Steps 1-6 can be performed before you sign on to America Online.)
2. Select System from the Available Logs.
3. Click on Open.
4. Select a name and destination for the log file.
5. Click on Save.
6. Double-click on the button in the upper left corner of the Logs window to close it.
7. Sign on to America Online, if you are not already online.
As you move around the service, you need only open the items you are interested in, whether they are text documents, magazine articles, or posts to message boards, to have the text transferred to the log. No need to spend the online time to read the information!
Before you sign off:
1. Select Logs from the File menu. The Logs window will open.
2. Select System from the Available Logs.
3. Click on Close.
4. Sign off America Online, but leave the application open (i.e., leave the Sign On Screen on the desktop).
To read the log:
1. Select Open from the File menu.
2. Select the system log file you created online.
3. Click on Open. The log file will open, and you can read the articles, documents, and message board posts you opened. You can print the log, if you wish, by selecting Print from the File menu.
Compose your message board posts offline
After you have read your log file, you may want to compose some posts to add as responses. You can compose your responses offline, then sign on and transfer them to the message boards.
To compose your posts offline:
1. Select New Memo from the File menu while you are offline. An Untitled window will open.
2. Compose your posts. If you want to add several posts, you can compose them all in the same window.
To sign on and post your responses:
1. Select Setup & Sign On from the Go To menu when you have finished composing your posts.
2. Sign on to America Online.
3. Navigate to a board and folder you want to post to.
4. Click on Add a Message (or Post a Response) to open the posting window.
5. Click on the Untitled window you created offline to bring it to the front. If you cannot see it on your desktop, select Untitled from the Windows menu.
6. Highlight the portion of the text in the Untitled window that you want to place in the post.
7. Select Copy from the Edit menu.
8. Click on the Add a Message or Post a Response window (or select it from the Windows menu).
9. Click in the Enter Text box.
10. Select Paste from the Edit menu. The text will be transferred.
11. Click on the Post icon to post the message.
12. Repeat Steps 3 - 11 until you have posted all the messages you composed offline.
