Division of Student Affairs

Using Other Protocols

If you use another messaging protocol to chat with students and co-workers, you can log in to those messaging accounts through Spark. You do need an existing account on one of these messaging services in order to use this function. If you do not have an existing account, try visiting the website of the instant messaging provider (ex: http://www.aim.com); these websites usually feature a link to sign up for a screen name.

Logging in to Another Protocol

1. From the main window, click the icon which corresponds to the messaging protocol you wish to use (Yahoo shown in photo).
   
   
2. Select "Enter login information."
3. Enter your login information in the menu that pops up and press "Save."
   
   
4. By re-clicking on the icon for your messenger protocol, you now have a new set of options:
   
   
   • "Sign out" will sign you out of that messaging protocol, at which point you can sign back in by re-clicking the icon and selecting "Sign in."
   • Unchecking the "Sign in at login" option will keep Spark from automatically logging you in to that messenger protocol.
   • "Delete login information" will delete your saved username and password, use this option if you no longer want to use this messaging protocol in Spark.

Adding Contacts on Another Protocol

If you have set up another messenger protocol in Spark, you can add contacts on that messenger account as well.

1. From the "Contacts menu, select "Add contact."
   
   
2. A slightly-different add contact menu appears.
   
   
3. Enter your contact's screenname and optional nickname and group.
4. Check the "User is on a public network" box and select the messenger protocol from the drop-down box.
5. Once you have added a contact on another network, you can file it into groups just like a Case contact.