While you can take advantage of the "type ahead" feature, you can also create your own personal lists. These may be organized by teams, departments, or locations. Their organization is up to you. To add someone to your list, click on the drop-down arrow on the right-side of the icon bar, and then click on New | New Sametime Contact:

The Add Sametime Contact dialog box will display. In this dialog box, type in the name of the person you want to add. You can type in their name or any part of their name and click on the Lookup button. In this case, you typed in the full name of Sandra Woolfolk and received her name back as the only match in the returned list of names. To add her to your list of Sametime contacts, click on her name to select it, and then click on the Add button at the bottom of the dialog box:

Sandra is now listed in your Sametime contact list.

If you want to do a broader search, you can also type in any part of Sandra's name, such as just her last name. Sametime searches the directory for all the matches on the partial name, and returns them for your selection. In this example, the search for Sandra's last name returned more than one name.

The selection process to add Sandra to your contact list is the same as before. Select her name by clicking on it, and then click on the Add button. Remember to select the appropriate group in which to add the person. You can always change your mind and reorganize your contact list, but it's better to get this right on the first try.

As you've learned thus far with Sametime, there are multiple ways to go about completing a task. Selecting names is no exception. Another way to add Sandra to your contact list is by using the search bar. In the blank line, you begin by typing her name and the dialog box will list matches as you begin to type. Once you see a match for Sandra's full name, you can right-click on her name and select the Add To Sametime Contact List option:

You can also right-click on a group name in your contact list and this will return a pop-up menu with the Add Contact option available.

With Lotus Notes, if you are using the Sametime Embedded client, you can also add contacts from your inbox. When you receive a new message, you can add the person to your contact list by right-clicking on the e-mail, selecting the person's name, and then selecting the option to Add to Sametime Contact List.

In the Notes client, you can also drag-and-drop a name from your inbox into the Sametime contact list. To do this, select an e-mail ID and drag-and-drop onto a group name. Once you do that the Add Sametime Contact dialog box will display. This dialog is slightly different than the previous Add Sametime Contact dialog in that it may show additional possible matches to the name. You'll notice that you can modify a Nickname, as well as specify the group name in which to add the user.

In this screen you see that you can also change the Sametime server community. A Sametime "server community" is a group of Sametime users who can communicate with each other. The Sametime client can connect to multiple Sametime communities, making it simpler for you to communicate with your colleagues who may be in different companies or locations from one central place—your Sametime client! Your Sametime administrator may have configured your Sametime client to connect to several communities at once. But if you are only connected to one Sametime server community—your default community—you won't see this as an option.

Suppose you've added a name to your Sametime contact list that you no longer need to chat with on a regular basis. You can remove that contact as easily as you added the person. You simply right-click on the name of the person you want to remove. A pop-up menu with an option to remove the name with the Remove from Sametime Contact List option will display:

When you select that option, the person is removed from your contact list. Be sure you want to remove the person as there is no undo function. Another option for "uncluttering" your contact list might be to move this person to a different group.

In the Sametime Connect client, you have the option of importing or exporting an existing contact list. Your Sametime administrator may have provided you with an import file that includes contacts and several public groups, or you may have exported your contact list prior to uninstalling Sametime. To begin either process, select the File | Import Contact List or File | Export Contact List option. You can import your contact list from either your Sametime community or a local .dat file. Your Sametime export options include exporting as a multiple community file (all community contacts are included in one file) as an .xml file, or individual community files (each Sametime community's contacts are separated) in a .dat file.

You may find it easier to sort through your contacts if you are only displaying colleagues who are available to chat or who are logged into Sametime. You can change your Sametime contacts list to only show people who are online by right-clicking on any of the Group names in your contact list. A pop-up menu appears that has an option to Show Online Only:

When you select that option, a checkmark appears next to the option, indicating your contact list will only display those individuals who are online in Sametime. If you repeat the process, the checkmark will disappear, and everyone on your list will once again appear, regardless of whether they are signed on or not. This option is also available from the Notes client, View | Sametime | Online Contacts Only.

The Sametime Preferences screen has a number of settings that allow you to control how your contact list displays information or alerts you to various changes. You can control the font settings of the contact list, whether offline contacts show up on your list, how your contact list synchronizes if the local version is different than the server version, and other settings. Most of the settings are self-explanatory, and you can experiment with them without any risk of damage as you can always use the Restore Default button to reset the options to the way they were when you first installed Sametime.