Guide - Private Messsages

[Emz]

You have a choice to either watch our video talking you through everything you need to know about private messages or scroll down to read with helpful images showing what we are talking about. Both have the same information.

{ INSERT VIDEO HERE }



Private Messages - Quick Links
1) Info & Inbox
2) Outbox & Sent Messages
3) Compose Message
4) Manage PM Drafts
5) Rules, Folders & Settings

[Emz]

Info & Inbox



(Need a closer look? Clicking the image will open it up, right-click and select 'Open Link in New Tab' to not leave this page.)

Private messages are private communication sent or received by a registered user on our forum and are much like emails. They are also known as PMs.

To open up one's private messages, you can either click 'Private messages' in the navigation bar at the top right of the forum. Or click on the downward arrow next to your username name, click 'User control panel' and then click the fourth top tab 'Private messages'. (See circled areas on the image above). Whichever way you choose, both will take you to your private messages inbox.



1) Messages
Just like an email account, all your messages sent to you can be found in your inbox. On the far right side you can see the options to 'Mark all messages read', the number of messages you have and how many pages of said messages.

You can easily click/mark any messages on the far right (or mark all at the bottom) and using the drop down menu underneath, select two different tasks.
1) Mark/Unmark as important
2) Delete marked

Just like with ones email inbox, it's best to keep this tidy and delete any finished or unuseful messages.


2) Export
You have the ability to export any or all messages. This is a feature I have never used on a forum so probably can not help with if you run into any issues/problems.


3) Sort Messages
Clicking this symbol will show you a drop down menu to help you sort your messages which can be helpful in finding particular ones if there is quite a few.

[Emz]

Outbox & Sent Messages



(Need a closer look? Clicking the image will open it up, right-click and select 'Open Link in New Tab' to not leave this page.)

All your sent messages will appear in either the Outbox or the Sent messages. As long as the recipient(s) have not yet read the message, it will stay in the Outbox. As soon as someone reads the message it will be archived to the Sent messages.

Both the Outbox and Sent messages are identical to the inbox with the same features. For information on these features please scroll up to the previous post about the inbox.

[Emz]

Compose Message



(Need a closer look? Clicking the image will open it up, right-click and select 'Open Link in New Tab' to not leave this page.)

To compose a new message or start a new PM, you will notice a button saying 'New PM' when you are in your inbox, outbox or sent messages areas or you can click on 'Compose message' on the far left.

While in a thread you will notice that in peoples mini profiles on the left side of the post, you will see a 'Contact' there might just the one image next to this or dots that will have to be clicked to bring up the various ways of contacting them. The circled image below shows which is the PM button to send this person a private message, (hovering over the images will let you know which is which incase they have the same image more than once, but usually it's the first one). You can also see in everyone's profile how to contact them/click to send them a private message.



1) Adding Recipient/s
If you have clicked to compose a new message and not clicked on sending someone a PM through their mini profile etc. You will need to add who you are sending your message to. You can either type in their username (make sure it is correct even with any capital letters, symbols etc) or click 'Find a member' (see below).

You can even send your PM to more than just one person, after their username is typed in just click 'Add', freeing up the text box to add someone else. You should see the added username below that area like you see in the red boxed area in the main image above.



2) Find a Member
If you are unsure of a persons username you can click 'Find a member' to open up a new tab to search from all our registered users.
As you can see in the image below, you can search for the member you wish to send a message to in a number of different ways.

(Need a closer look? Clicking the image will open it up, right-click and select 'Open Link in New Tab' to not leave this page.)
When you find the member in question, click '[select]' which appears underneath their username to add them.


3) Subject & Message Box
Just like with an email you will need to enter a subject for your message and of course type up in the box what you wish to say. You have the option to style your text or add in content with BBCode, or add in smilies.

BBCode are the buttons you see above the message text box area (starting with 'B' and then 'I' etc) and the smilies can be see moving about in the area on the far left. Clicking a smilie will enter it into the message box. For more information, see our BBCode Guide.


4) Options
With your message all done and before you send it off, you have some options at the bottom. Most can be ignored but you may wish to change the option of including your signature at the bottom of the message. You might not even have a signature in which case this can be ignored.


5) Save Draft, Preview, Submit
You can save your draft if it's not finished and you wish to continue it later. All saved PM drafts will go into 'Manage PM drafts' underneath the 'Compose message' on the far left. Please note any saved drafts do not save who the recipient/s are and will need to be re-entered.

You can preview your message to see how it will look to the person/people receiving it. This is helpful if you used any BBCode to see how it is displayed and you can edit anything that needs changing before previewing it again.

Once you are ready, click the 'submit' button to send the message off. It will then automatically go into your 'Outbox'.

[Emz]

Manage PM Drafts



(Need a closer look? Clicking the image will open it up, right-click and select 'Open Link in New Tab' to not leave this page.)

Saved drafts of private messages will be found here. To go back to editing/writing any message click the 'Load draft' which you can see circled in the image above. Please note you will have to re-enter any recipient/s as these will not have been saved with the draft.

You can also organise any drafts in this area by clicking/marking any to be deleted.

[Emz]

Rules, Folders & Settings



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There is no need to do anything in this area unless you particularly want to. You may wish to add a folder to sort messages from a particular person, or change what happens if any folder/s are full.



1) Rules
I advise no one using this area unless they are confident with what they are doing. There are so many different types of rules and ways of doing rules it would take too long to go into. This is not something that needs to be done so shall not go into details.


2) Add Folder
To add a folder simply type in what you wish for it to be called and click 'Add'. Any new folder/s will automatically be added in the far left menu underneath 'Inbox'.

You'll see by adding a new folder/s you will now have new options in the 'Rules, folders & settings' to rename or delete any added folder/s. These folder/s will also be an option when creating particular rules or in the 'if folder is full'.



Your new folder/s area will be identical to your inbox with the same features.


3) If Folder Is Full
You can only have a limited number of messages in each folder (your Inbox being your main folder). So it's best to keep your inbox tidy and regularly delete any unneeded/old messages, just like you would with your emails. You have three different options on what you wish to happen should you ever reach the maximum number of messages in your inbox.

If you have added a folder/or wish to add a folder, you can always select this in the second option of having your messages moved just in case you reach the limit.