Presents...

Windows Desktop Client

v1.0

© 2013, Zaplee Inc.

This eBook is brought to you by….

Zaplee turns Skype into a

complete business phone system

Check us out at…

www.Zaplee.com

The fastest, easiest and most cost effective way to set up a company switchboard!

Tony Ridley, Intelligent Travel

TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTACTS

1) Customize contact names

2) Remove contacts

3) Create contact groups

4) Remove a contact from a group

5) Permanently save groups

6) Categorize contacts into lists

7) Share contacts

8) Import contacts

9) Backup Skype contacts

10) See if contact is really offline

11) Hide offline contacts

AUDIO & VIDEO CALLING

12) Share screens

13) Create custom keyboard shortcuts

14) Make audio conference calls

15) Make video conference calls

16) Drop an individual from a

conference call

17) Master the in-call controls

18) Forward calls to a phone

CHAT / IM

19) Find chat commands

20) Change font / resize font

21) Resize the “Send a Message” box

22) Create a black cat sighting

23) Break your pencil

24) Use hidden emoticons

25) Insert line breaks

26) Turn words blue

27) View chats in separate windows

28) Search chats

29) Edit / delete sent messages

30) Create a group chat

31) Leave a group conversation

32) Stand out in a group chat

33) Set up keyword alerts

34) Back up your chat history

35) Send SMS messages

36) Add international flags

ANNOYANCES

37) Disable notifications

38) Stop Skype from launching

automatically

39) Disable promotions

40) Turn off emoticon animation

41) Remove Skype watermark

42) Stop accidentally calling people

PRIVACY

43) Hide your typing indicator

44) Disable Skype Wi-Fi

45) Hide your online status

46) Block spam calls

47) Delete instant message history

Contacts

Contacts

CUSTOMIZE CONTACT NAMES

Right click on the contact name you’d like

to change and select “Rename” from the

menu. Type in the custom name you want

to use and hit enter.

Click on the icon above your contacts list to

create a group (Shortcut: ctrl + n). A light blue

box will appear at the top of the chat pane.

Drag and drop the contacts you’d like to add to

the group into this box. The blue shading will

disappear after you add your first contact.

CREATE CONTACT GROUPS

REMOVE CONTACTS

Right click on the contact name and select

“Remove from Contacts” from the menu. A

dialog box will pop up asking you to

confirm. Click the “Remove” button to

complete the process.

REMOVE A CONTACT FROM A GROUP

If you want to remove a contact from a group, first

select the group from your contacts list. At the top of

the chat pane, right click on the contact you’d like to

remove and select “Remove person from this group”.

PERMANENTLY SAVE GROUPS

Unless you save them, groups will only

show up in your “Recent” list. Here’s

how to save a group to your “Contacts”

list: Right click on the group and select

“Save Group in Your Contacts”. You’ll

have the opportunity to customize the

name of the group before you save it.

Contacts

If you want to create lists of contacts

(e.g. Friends, work, family) go to

“Contacts” in the top menu bar and

select “Contact Lists” and then “Create

New List”.

A text box will appear in the contacts

list – enter the name you’d like to use

for this list and hit enter.

To add a contact to a list, right click on

the contact and select “Add to List”.

Finally, choose the list you’d like to add

this contact to in the sub-menu on the

right.

CATEGORIZE CONTACTS INTO LISTS

SHARE CONTACTS

If you want to share a contact with someone, first start a chat with the person you

want to send a contact to. Next, drag and drop the contact you want to share into

the “Send a message” box in the chat pane.

IMPORT CONTACTS

Skype lets you import contacts directly from a variety of

programs including Facebook and Microsoft Outlook. Start

by going to “Contacts” in the top menu bar and selecting

“Import contacts”. A pop up window will appear where you

can select the program you want to import from and then

select which contacts to include.

Contacts

BACKUP SKYPE CONTACTS

You can back up your Skype

contacts to a file by going to

“Contacts” in the top menu bar and

selecting “Advanced” and then

“Backup Contacts to File”. Your

contact list will be saved as a

“.vcf” (aka Vcard) file.

SEE IF A CONTACT IS REALLY OFFLINE OR JUST INVISIBLE

Ever wanted to know if your friends are really offline or just have

their status set to “Invisible”? Here’s how you can tell: Send your

friend a chat message. If a gray “waiting” circle appears to the right

of the time stamp, they are really offline. If the chat message goes

through, they are still online. Of course, just because they are

online doesn’t guarantee that they’re sitting at their computer.

HIDE OFFLINE CONTACTS

Skype has a setting that will automatically

hide your contacts that are offline. To

activate this setting go to the “Contacts”

menu and select “Hide Contacts Who”.

Choose “Are Offline” from the sub-menu

on the right.

Contacts

Calling

Calling

CREATE CUSTOM KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

SHARE SCREENS

During both video and audio calls you can share

screens with the other caller. Click on the “+”

button and select “Share screens”.

A small rectangular box will pop up in the corner

of the screen that displays your call status and

gives you a button that stops your screen share.

Screen sharing is free for 2-person calls, but for

conference calls at least one person on the call

must have a “Premium” account.

The first step is to enable keyboard shortcuts by

going to the “Tools” menu and selecting

“Options”. Click on the “Advanced” tab and

select “Hotkeys”. Check the box at the top that

says “Enable keyboard shortcuts”.

To customize a shortcut check the box next to

the action you’d like to customize and click the

“Change selected shortcut” button below the

hotkeys box. A pop up window will appear that

lets you select your custom shortcut. Note that

every shortcut must include at least one of the

following keys: Shift, Ctrl or Alt. To add other

keys to your custom shortcut, click in the blank

text box and hit the key you’d like to use.

MAKE AUDIO CONFERENCE CALLS

Skype is capable of making audio-only conference calls

with up to 25 participants. Conference calls with other

Skype users are free. Calls that include outside phone

numbers require Skype credit.

To make a conference call, start by clicking on the group

you’d like to call in your contacts list (see tip #2 for

instructions on creating groups). Then click the “Call

group” button at the top of the chat pane.

MAKE VIDEO CONFERENCE CALLS

Skype can make video conference for up to 10

participants. At least one person on the call must

have a “Premium” account for this feature to

work.

To start a video conference call, select the group

you want to call from your contacts list (see tip

#2 for instructions on creating groups) and then

click the “Video Call” button.

To drop an individual from a video or audio

conference call, place your mouse over the

person’s picture and click the red icon. You must

be the host of the call in order to drop someone.

DROP AN INDIVIDUAL FROM A CONFERENCE CALL

Calling

MASTER THE IN-CALL CONTROLS

A. Click to see the contacts pane. Click again to hide it.

B. Click to see the chat pane. While on a call, you can send

instant messages to any of your contacts, including other

participants in the call.

C. This button lets you turn your webcam on and off during

video calls. When your webcam is turned off, the camera

icon will have a red line through it.

D. You can mute and un-mute your microphone by clicking this

button. When your microphone is muted, the icon will have

a red line through it.

E. Click the “Plus” button to reveal these options:

+ Take a picture (Video calls only) – this option will take

a picture of the incoming video feed.

+ Send File – lets you send files to the other participants

in the call

+ Send Contacts – Share

+ Share screens

+ Add people to this call

+ Show dial pad

F. Click here to end the call

G. Use this button to adjust your speaker volume and check

your call quality information.

H. Click to view your call full screen. Click again to exit the full

screen view.

Calling

FORWARD CALLS TO A PHONE

Skype can forward calls to your landline or mobile phone.

You’ll need to buy Skype credit or have a subscription plan

to use this feature.

Set up call forwarding by going to the “Tools” menu and

selecting “Options”. Click the “Calls” tab and select “Call

forwarding”. Next, click on “ Call Forwarding Options”.

Check the box next to “Forward my calls to”. Select which

country your phone number is in by clicking on the flag

icon. Finally, enter your phone number in the box to the

right and click the “Save” button at the bottom of the

window.

Calling

Chat / IM

Chat / IM

FIND CHAT COMMANDS

To see Skype’s chat commands, type

the following into the “Send a message”

box…

/help

A list of commonly used commands will

appear along with a link to a

comprehensive list.

If the list doesn’t appear, the version of

Skype you are using is not supported.

Updating to the latest version will solve

this problem.

/help

CHANGE FONT / RESIZE FONT

Here’s how to customize your font…

1) Go to the “Tools” menu and select “Options”.

2) Click on the “IM & SMS” tab and choose “IM appearance”.

3) Click the “Change font” button.

4) Make the changes you want click and “Ok”.

Chat / IM

RESIZE THE “SEND A MESSAGE” BOX

To resize the “Send a message” box, hover the cursor over the edge of the box.

The cursor will change from to when you’re in the correct

position.

Click and drag the border to the desired size. You can resize both the height and

width of the box.

CREATE A BLACK CAT SIGHTING

Hold down the “c”, “a” and “t” keys simultaneously for 2

seconds and this friendly black cat will show up in your chat:

Since this was created to let the recipient know that a actual

cat may be doing the typing, pretty much any combination of

3 or more keys will work. Using C-A-T is just easy to

remember.

BREAK YOUR PENCIL

Push down any 3 neighboring keys together (e.g. D-F-G)

and you’ll see a quick animation of 2 hands breaking a

pencil.

Don’t blink – it disappears quickly.

Chat / IM

USE HIDDEN EMOTICONS

Chat / IM

Chat / IM

Chat / IM

INSERT LINE BREAKS IN LONG MESSAGES

Hold down the “Shift” key and press “Enter” to add a line break to

your message without sending it.

MAKE A WORD TURN BLUE

Type “\\” before a word,

without leaving a space, and it

will turn blue.

VIEW CHATS IN SEPARATE WINDOWS

If you have multiple chats going at once, it

might be helpful to put them in separate

windows. Here’s how to do it: In the “View”

menu, select “Compact View”, then double click

on the contact name of each chat you want to

open in a separate window.

Chat / IM

You can search for words in your current or

previous chats by holding down the “Ctrl” key and

pressing “F”. The “Find” box will appear about the

“Send a message” box. Enter the word you want to

find in this box and hit “Enter”. You can then scroll

through every use of this word by clicking on

“Next”.

SEARCH CHATS

EDIT LAST MESSAGE

To edit last message you sent click the “Up

Arrow” key. The message will re-populate the

“Send a message” box and be shaded in

yellow. Make the edits you want and click

“Enter” to re-send.

EDIT OLDER MESSAGES

Right click on the message you want to edit

and select “Edit Message”. Make your changes

and hit “Enter”.

DELETE MESSAGES

If you wrote something that you regret, right

click on the message and choose “Remove

Message”. Cross your fingers that the other

person never read it!

EDIT / DELETE SENT MESSAGES

Chat / IM

STAND OUT IN A GROUP CHAT

During rapid-fire group chats it’s easy to lose track of who is writing what. You can

quickly identify yourself in your chat message by typing “/me”. Skype will automatically

convert “/me” to your profile name, which will show up in the chat text in a light gray

font. Even if it’s a little awkward to refer to yourself in the 3rd person, this trick will help

you stand out from the crowd.

CREATE A GROUP CHAT

To start a group chat, click on the

group in your contacts list (see tip

#3 for instructions on creating

groups) to highlight it and type

your message in the “Send a

message” box. Your chat has

begun!

LEAVE A GROUP CONVERSATION

Has the engineering team taken over a

group chat to tell Star Trek jokes? Beam

yourself out of there with this handy

trick: Right click on the group in your

contacts l ist and select “Leave

Conversation”.

Chat / IM

SET UP KEYWORD ALERTS

Keyword alerts are useful in a variety of situations. For example, if you are

included in a group chat, but only part of the conversation requires your attention.

Here’s how to set them up…

1) Click on the group in your contacts list to highlight it.

2) Go to the “Conversation” menu and select “Notification settings”

3) Select the radio button marked “Notify me only if these words are mentioned”

4) Enter the words you would like to be notified of in the text box, separated by

spaces.

5) Click the “OK” button

Skype will notify you if any of these words are mentioned in this particular

conversation. To make sure they are impossible to miss, Skype highlights them in

yellow.

Chat / IM

BACK UP YOUR CHAT HISTORY

Here’s how to backup your Skype chat history:

1) Open the run window (hold down the key and press “R”)

2) Type this command into the window and press enter: %appdata%\Skype

3) Open the folder with the same name as your Skype ID

4) Find the file named “main.db” (your chat history) and save it to your

backup location

SEND SMS MESSAGES

Although this is a paid service, sending a message via Skype can be a real time-

saver, especially if you have to type a long message. Also, depending on local

rates, it can be cheaper than sending texts internationally. The only drawback is

that you cannot receive SMS messages on Skype. So, if you’re expecting a

response include your mobile phone number as one of the recipients, so a “reply

to all” response will reach you.

To send an SMS message, open up the drop-down menu below the “Send a

message” box that says “via Skype” and change the setting from “Skype” to

“SMS”. Type your message and click “Send” just like you would for a Skype chat

message.

Chat / IM

ADD INTERNATIONAL FLAGS

You don’t have to go to a UN meeting to see International flags…you can add some to

your next chat with these commands.

Chat / IM

Chat / IM

COMMAND: (flag:US)

Chat / IM

Chat / IM

Annoyances

DISABLE NOTIFICATIONS

Tired of being notified every time your Uncle

Mort gets online? Turn off those pesky

notifications! Go to the “Tools” menu and

select “Options”. Click on the notifications tab

and uncheck any notifications you want to get

rid of.

STOP SKYPE FROM LAUNCHING AUTOMATICALLY

If don’t want Skype to launch automatically every time

you start up your computer then change this setting to

prevent it from happening: Go to the “Tools” menu and

select “Options”. In the “General settings” tab uncheck

the box next to “Start Skype when I start Windows”.

DISABLE PROMOTIONS

Skype lets you turn off the promotions

that appear below the contacts list. In

the “Tools” menu, select “Options”. Click

on the “Notifications” tab and then on

the “Alerts & messages” sub-tab.

Uncheck the box next to “Promotions”

and click the “Save” button. For the

changes to take effect you need to sign

out of Skype and sign back in.

Annoyances

TURN OFF EMOTICON ANIMATION

Do you find an emoticon dancing the robot to be

distracting? Permanently freeze those emoticons by

changing this setting: Go to the “Tools” menu and select

“Options”. Click the “IM & SMS” tab and select the “IM

appearance” sub-tab. Uncheck the box next to “Show

animated emoticons” and click the “Save” button.

REMOVE SKYPE WATERMARK

If you’re bothered by the Skype watermark in the

corner of your video calls, you can remove it with a

few clicks of the mouse: In the “Tools” menu

select “Options”. Go to the “Advanced” tab and

uncheck the box next to “Show Skype watermark

during calls”. Click the “Save” button and you’re

done.

STOP ACCIDENTALLY CALLING PEOPLE!

Ever clicked on a contact and suddenly realized you were calling

them? Chances are you accidentally double-clicked on that contact

(Skype’s default setting is to start a call

anytime you double-click on them). Turn

off this “convenience” feature by going to

“Tools” menu and selecting “Options”. On

the top right, uncheck the box next to

“When I double-click on a contact start a

call”.

Annoyances

Privacy

Privacy

HIDE YOUR TYPING INDICATOR

If you don’t want the people you’re instant messaging with to see

when you’re typing, you can turn off the typing indicator:

1) In the “Tools” menu, select “Options”

2) Click on the “IM & SMS” tab and then the “IM settings” sub-tab

3) Hit the “Show advanced options” button on the right

4) Uncheck the box next to “Show when I am typing”

5) Click the “Save” button

DISABLE SKYPE WIFI

If you have purchased Skype credit and are concerned

about accidentally logging on to paid Skype Wifi, you

can turn this feature off. In the “Tools” menu go to

“Options”. Click on the “Skype Wifi” tab and then

uncheck the box next to “Enable Skype Wifi”. Click the

“Save” button to close the window.

HIDE YOUR ONLINE STATUS

If you don’t want the world to know when you’re jumping online, you can hide your

Skype “presence” by changing this setting. In the “Tools” menu, select “Options”.

Next, click on the “Privacy” tab. Uncheck the box next to “Allow my online status to

be shown on the web”.

Privacy

BLOCK SPAM CALLS

Stop telemarketers and other time-wasters

from calling your Skype account by updating

this privacy settings: In the “Tools” menu,

select “Options”. Next, click on the “Privacy”

tab. On the right hand side, under “Allow calls

from…” click on the radio button next to

“people in my contacts list only”.

If you only want to block an individual contact,

right click on their name and select “Block This

Person”.

DELETE INSTANT MESSAGING HISTORY

If you decided to Instant Message all your friends after

attending a bachelor party, you might want to delete your

IM history. Here’s how to do it: In the “Tools” menu, select

“Options” and click on the “Privacy” tab. Press the “Clear

history” button on the right side of the window.

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