Adam Gartenberg's Blog

Sametime Quick Tip: Type Ahead Search

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• Author: John Del Pizzo
• June 5, 2009
• Category:  Quick Tips  Sametime  John 

Question: What does your contact list look like? Does it scroll on forever? Is it a tangled mess of groups and subgroups? If it is, then this Quick Tip is for you.

About a year ago I stopped adding new people to my contact list, yet still have instant access to all my colleagues. The key is that Sametime doesn't require you to add contacts in order to interact with them. (Why waste time adding people - just to ask if they can help - and then remove them when you get directed to someone else?) Instead, use the Type Ahead Search bar.

     
The Type Ahead Search bar above the Sametime Contact List and the Tabbed Chat Window

The Type Ahead Search bar does three important things:

• searches your contact list so you don't have to hunt around for people
• searches the directories of your Sametime communities, giving you instant access to anyone in your organization
• searches your phone book or lets you manually enter phone numbers to dial (requires Sametime Unified Telephony or the appropriate plug-in from your PBX vendor)

       

As you can see... a couple of letters brings up my name from the main IBM community (where I am online, available and not on the phone), a second community (where I am offline) and phone numbers for click to call. I find this much faster and more convenient than the contact list. As an added bonus, and it also reduces screen clutter. The Tabbed Chat Window consolidates chats into a single space that includes the Type Ahead Search bar. The contact list can be minimized and everyone can be accessed from the single chat window.

We'll bring you more on using Tabbed Chats and Multiple Communities in future Sametime Quick Tips.

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