Sending an Instant Message

Communicating with other staff members is an effective tool to pass information on quickly and sometimes discreetly.

A message can be sent to any user currently logged to appear instantly on the machine they are currently using. It can also be sent to anyone not currently logged in so they receive that message as soon as they next log in.

You can begin sending a message by going to File->Instant Messenger

This will open to Instant Messenger window. From here we can view historical messages and begin new ones.

The Recipients list on the right shows by default all the user who are logged in at the moment. Clicking on the Show Offline control will add in other staff members who are not in the practice at the moment. Online users are shown as light green, offline users are shown at the bottom of the list in grey.

Being able to send messages to offline users is useful for sending practice wide reminders, or specific messages for staff that work on different days to you.

The ALL button will select everyone shown in the list. If Everyone is selected the button will show as 'None' and clicking it will clear any recipients that aren't locked into the current conversation.

Note: When you look at the list of offline users you might see a list of staff who no longer work at the practice. Your practice manager can trim this list by going to the User Setting screen in the configure menu, and setting them as inactive,. This will remove them from the list.

Once the recipients have been selected you can type the message in the bottom left window. You will see which users will be sent the message.

When sending a message to more than 1 user you can choose to send it as a group message or individual messages. The difference is that when a user responds to a group message all users involved in the chat will be able to see the response, if left unticked the response will only go to the original sender.

Once the message is sent it will appear in the conversation window. Messages you receive in a conversation will be shown on the left, with who they are from and when they arrived shown underneath. Messages you send are shown on the right with when they were sent, and who you sent them to shown underneath.

If you close the Instant Message window you can find the conversation, along with other historic message, in the History tab.

Sending a Panic Message

A panic message immediately sends to all active window. Designed to be used to alert when all staff members in the case of an emergency.

To send he message click the Panic button in the bottom right.

You can configure what the message says by clicking on the configure button. Typing/amending the message and clicking Ok.