Everyone these days is using Skype as a general messaging system, along with a good way to stay in touch with family for free. Here are 5 simple settings and features that most people are not aware that Skype can do.
1. Turn off notifications
They are so annoying and pop up anyone comes online or offline or changes status. Just go to the settings menu, notifications, and then turn them off.
2. Understanding your status (Red / Yellow / Green / Invisible)
Learn to really take advantage of the 4 possible states that you can be in on Skype. People generally respect them, plus there are other benefits to them as well.
Red, or Do Not Disturb, will turn off all notifications, sounds, and dock pings. This is helpful if you want to be online, but stay focused on your work.
Yellow, aka Away, indicates that you’re computer is running and online, but you’re not there. Then people won’t take it personal when you don’t instantly respond.
Invisible is for ninjas. Are you a ninja?
Offline is just completely disconnected. I use this for my super productive “writing mode” so that I have zero temptation to get distracted talking to people.
3. How to send people contacts
If ever someone asks you for the Skype user name of someone you presently have as a contact, then you can easily send it to them with a nifty 2 click process.
Click on the conversation of whom you want to send contacts. Then click the big + circle button in the top right corner, and choose “Send Contacts.” Boom!
4. Increase your font size
If you’re having and reading a lot of conversations on Skype, then I highly encourage you to increase the text size from the default. From inside the chat window, push ⌘+ or ⌘- to make the text bigger or smaller. It’s much easier on your eyes.
5. Use favorites
People often forget you can add people to favorites so their name never disappears from the sidebar. This is a real time saver when messaging the same people over and over again. Skype is a bit clunky, and searching for contacts every time is a waste of your precious time.
To favorite, just click into the contact, and then push this little star symbol next to their name so it’s filled in.
After you favorite, they will always show up in the sidebar, like this…
There you have it! Skype is way cooler now. If you know of any more cool tricks with Skype, post them in the comments below.
Cheers!
Tharyn
