BitWise Basics - Getting Started
From BitWise DocuWiki
Master the basics of BitWise including adding contacts, messaging contacts on your contact list, and setting an away message for while you are away from the computer.
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Log in to BitWise
Enter your username and password to connect to BitWise. Your password will be hidden as it is typed. Several options are available on the login window:
- Remember Password: BitWise can store your password so that you do not need to enter it every time you want to connect.
- Login Automatically: Enabled only if Remember Password is checked, this will connect you to BitWise as soon as you open BitWise without entering your name or password.
- Invisible Login: Connects you to BitWise in invisible mode, meaning that other users will not be able to see that you are online, but you will be able to see users that are online.
If you use BitWise Professional, you will need to open the Setup and enter your Network ID.
Interface Selection Wizard
Because this is your first time connecting to BitWise, the Interface Selection Wizard will appear. This wizard lets you choose one of two conversation interfaces:
- Grouped / "Tabbed": All conversations are grouped in one window with "tabs" that allow you to easily swich among conversations.
- Traditional / "Single": Each conversation has its own separate window.
You can change your selection at any time later using the Basic / Quick preferences. This document will assume you are using the grouped view.
Empty contact list
The first time you connect to BitWise, your contact list will be empty, unless you elected to have a few super buddies added to your list (BitWise IM Personal only). Before we add contacts, however, let's look at the contact list.
The contact list menu provides access to many BitWise features. The File menu provides access to the major BitWise features, the Status menu changes your BitWise status (such as going away), and the Contacts menu lets you arrange and otherwise modify your contact list.
The toolbar provides quick access to some of the most common screens. Hover over a toolbar item to see what window it will open.
Adding a contact to your contact list
To add a contact, you need to open the Add Contact / Group window. The easiest way to do this is to click the green + icon on the toolbar. This will open a window like the one shown at right. To add a contact, you will need to know his or her BitWise name, which is something you will have to get from that person (or someone who knows them). Depending on your configuration, you may also be able to search for other BitWise users and/or view a list of users available to chat (BitWise IM Personal only). Once you know the BitWise name of the person you want to add, simply type their name as shown, and click Add Contact.
Contact added to contact list
When you press Add Contact, BitWise will contact the server to verify that you have entered a valid name. As shown, George is a valid name, and a message that George has been added is shown in the Add Contact window. George is also now shown on the contact list, with a yellow bulb indicating that he is online. Next, we will send George a message.
Starting a conversation with a contact
To send a message to a contact, double-click on the contact's name in the contact list. For example, double-clicking on George opens a conversation window like the one shown at right. The conversation window has 4 main areas, starting with the top left area and moving clockwise:
- Active conversation list: Shows active conversations. In a moment, we will see more than one active conversation.
- Conversation: The messages to and from other users will appear here.
- New message: Type new messages to send here.
- Contact icon: BitWise allows you to specify an icon to be associated with your name. If your contact has an icon, it will be displayed here.
The status bar at the bottom shows conversation information, your direct connection status, and the padlock symbol reminding you that your conversations are encrypted.
Conversing with a contact
To send a message, type your message in the bottom area of the conversation window, and press enter. Notice that the status bar at the bottom indicates Message 1 received by George. As shown, George has responded, and already another message has been typed. Again, after typing a new message, send it by pressing Enter (or Return).
BitWise automatically shows the time that messages are sent and received, along with a message number (so that you can verify receipt of your messages using the information in the status bar). The display of the timestamps and message numbers can be customized in the preferences, although that is not covered here.
Conversing with more than one contact at a time
In the screenshot at right, notice that the active conversation list now has another item: Jessica has appeared above George, and has a conversation bubble icon. The conversation bubble indicates that you have an unread message from that contact. In this specific case, Jessica has sent a message that you have not yet read. You may continue your existing conversation with George until you are ready to switch to Jessica, which is shown next.
Switching among the active conversations
There are two ways to switch among the active conversations shown in the active conversation list. One way is to use the mouse and click on the contact to whom you want to converse. There are also shortcut keys for switching conversations. You can switch to the next conversation by pressing the Tab key, and switch to the previous conversation by pressing the ` key (the key above the Tab key). The screenshot shows that we have switched from the conversation with George to the conversation with Jessica.
Adding a contact from a conversation
When someone messages you who is not on your contact list, it is likely that you will want to add that person to your contact list so that you can contact them again in the future. In such cases, a menu item is added to the Actions menu that allows you to quickly and easily add that person to your contact list. In the screenshot here, Jessica is not on Bobby's contact list, so an option to add Jessica appears on the Actions menu.
Auto-responses
When using BitWise, you may want to leave yourself connected, but indicate that you are currently unavailable. This is done using BitWise's away status, which will be shown in more detail later. In the screenshot here, Jessica has indicated that she is away; her lightbulb has changed to an olive green color to indicate her change in status. Also, when a message was sent to Jessica, her away message is automatically shown. An away message is a custom greeting that you specify when you use the away status so that others can know information about your whereabouts or your expected time of return.
Contact actions and options
From the contact list, right-click (or Control-click on the Mac) any contact for an exhaustive list of actions and options. While this document only demonstrates one of the actions, others are demonstrated in other documents. The groupings represent different types of actions:
- First group: shows information or history on a contact.
- Second group: relates to file sharing and conferences.
- Third group: deals with direct connections.
- Fourth group: configurable options for a contact.
- Bottom group: rename or remove a contact.
Some options may be grayed out/disabled at one time or another based on certain preferences. For example, if file sharing is disabled, the contact-specific file sharing options are unavailable.
If you are interested, you can read more about Using Contact Options.
Contact status/profile
If we select to view a contact's Status/Profile, a window like the one at left is displayed. The Status/Profile shows a variety of information:
- Online since: when the user logged in to BitWise.
- Away since: when the user entered away status (if away).
- Idle since: how long since the user last touched the keyboard or mouse (optional).
- Local time: the user's local time.
- Away message: If the user is away, his or her away message will be displayed here automatically.
- Profile: The profile is optional freefrom information that you can enter about yourself. If the contact has specified a profile, it will be shown.
The directory information, not shown in this document, is analagous to a phonebook and contains (optional) information like name, address, phone numbers, web site, etc.
Away status / Away menu
If you want to indicate yourself as being in away status, use the Status menu on the contact list. The away popup menu provides several options for selecting an away message, although most of them are not immediately available.
- New Away Message: Specify a new away message and go into away status.
- Edit Current Message: Available when already in away status, edit your current away message and change it to something else.
- Use Previous Message: Available only after setting away status once, go into away status using the last-used away message.
- Edit Messages / Prefs: Open the Away / Idle preferences (not covered in this document).
If you had saved any away messages, they would appear by name below the line for easy selection. The next several steps show how to move into away status.
Setting a new away message
Selecting New Away Message from the Away menu opens a window like the one shown here. The top portion is the away message, and you may optionally give the message a name and save it for later use. After you have entered your away message, click Set Away to move into away status. While away, anyone reading your status/profile, or anyone who sends you a message, will be able to read your away message.
Away Window
While you are in away status, the away window shows your current away message, who has sent you messages since you were away, and provides quick access to several options.
- Hide Conversations: While away, hide all conversation windows from showing. Unchecking this would re-show all conversations.
- Suppress Alerts: BitWise won't play any message or contact sounds while away, nor will it display corner popups.
- Return from away when I send a message: If this option is checked, you will automatically be taken out of away status when you send a message.
You may double-click any name in the list of users who have messaged you while away to open a conversation with them.
Advanced contact management - groups
You can also organize your contacts into groups. From the Add Contact / Group window (most easily accessed by clicking the green + icon on the contact list), click the arrow by To group: and choose Add New Group. A new window will prompt you for the name of the group you want to add. Enter the group name and click OK.
You can also see here that Frank has been added to the contact list. Frank is currently offline, indicated by the simple dash appearing next to his name.
Advanced contact management - rearranging contacts
You can move a contact from one group to another simply by dragging the contact name, much like moving a file between two folders in a file manager (such as Windows Explorer). The screenshot here shows that Frank has been moved from the Contacts group to the NY Office group. This was done by left-clicking on Frank, holding the mouse button down, and dragging Frank on to NY Office.
Contact are always placed below where the mouse is released. For example, if Frank were dragged and released on top of George, Frank would be inserted below George.
