Sign On
	Navigate the AIM service
		AIM Menu
		Conversations List
		Online Buddies List
		Offline Buddies List
	Add or Delete Screen Names from the Buddy List® feature
	Get New Messages and Update the Lists
	Send a New Message
	Receive a Message
	Reply to a Message
	Use a Quick Reply
	AIM Options: Changing your status or password
	Sign Off
	Get Help using the AIM Service
	Text Entry Modes

Learn how to sign on to the AIM service and start sending instant messages now. Then, see the rest of this user guide for more detailed information about what you can do with the AIM service on your AT&T Wireless phone.

Sign On

After signing on, you will be able to add screen names to your Buddy List feature, see who is online, and start conversations.

When you are done using the AIM service, sign off and turn off your phone to prevent others from using your screen name. Even if you have signed off the AIM service, the Web browser saves your screen name and password until the phone is turned off.

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Navigate the AIM service

After you sign on, the main AIM page displays your current conversations, and the online and offline screen names from your Buddy List feature, and you can access a menu of options for using the service. From this page, you can write and reply to messages, and manage the screen names in your Buddy List feature. Click the links below to learn more about each area of the main AIM page:
	AIM menu
	Conversations list
	Online Buddies list
	Offline Buddies list
Depending on whether your phone has softkey options, the AIM service pages may display differently for your phone. See phone-specific information.

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AIM menu

Depending on your phone, the AIM menu may appear as a softkey option or as a link. For some phones, this option is called the "List menu." If you have a screen name selected on the main AIM page (before you select the AIM menu), these menu options may change to be targeted to actions that you can perform on that specific screen name.

You can use this menu to:

	Get new messages and update the Conversations and Buddy Lists
	Send new messages
	Add or delete screen names from the Buddy List feature
	Change your status and password
	Sign off the AIM service
	Get help using the AIM service

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Conversations list

The Conversations list displays your current AIM conversations. This list is empty when you first sign on, but will show a list of your active conversations as soon as you update the list, or send or receive a message. An asterisk (*) next to a screen name indicates that you have a new message from that buddy.

Select a screen name in this list to see new messages or send new messages to the screen name.

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Online Buddies list

The Online Buddies list shows the screen names from your Buddy List feature that are signed on to the AIM service. Select a screen name in this list to send this person a message.

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Offline Buddies list

The Offline Buddies list shows the screen names from your Buddy List feature that are not signed on the AIM service. You cannot send messages until the screen name signs on to the AIM service.

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Add or Delete Screen Names from the Buddy List feature

To add a screen name to your Buddy List feature, select the Add Buddy option from the AIM menu, and then enter your friend's screen name. (Make sure you don't have a specific screen name selected). After you add a screen name to your Buddy List feature, it will initially appear under the Offline Buddies list until you get a new message or update the Buddy List.

To delete a screen name, select the screen name on the main AIM page, and then select Delete Buddy from the AIM menu. You'll be prompted to confirm whether or not you want to delete the screen name.

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Get New Messages and Update the Lists

Select the AIM menu, and then select Get New/Update List to get new messages and to update the status of the screen names in your Buddy List feature. The screen names are displayed in a bulleted list using a period (.) as the default symbol. The status symbols next to a screen name indicate the following:

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Send a New Message

To send a new message to an online buddy, select the screen name on the main AIM page. The message page displays and you can enter your message.

To send a new message to a screen name that is not listed in your Buddy List feature, select Send Msg to from the AIM menu. Then, enter the person's screen name and write your message.

On the message page, you can type the message or select Quick Reply to choose from pre-defined smileys, simple greetings, and common phrases to use in your message.

If you receive a message while typing a message to someone else, on some phones you can choose to cancel or "skip" the alert message so that you won't lose the message you are typing. Then, when you're ready, select the new conversation from the main AIM page.

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Receive a Message

Depending on your phone, how you are notified of new instant messages may be different. Typically, you may receive an alert message, and your phone may make a tone or vibrate. See phone-specific information.

From the main AIM page, you can update your Conversations List to identify any new messages. You can also set buddy alerts to be notified when a specific screen name comes online. More information on using alerts.

When you receive a message from someone who is not in your Buddy List feature, you are asked to Accept or Reject the message. If you reject the message, all further messages from this user will be declined until you send them a message or re-accept messages from them. More information on rejecting messages.

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Reply to a Message

You can reply to a message by typing your response from the message page.

From the main AIM page, select the screen name in the Conversations list to display the Message page. Then, type your response or choose Quick Reply to insert a pre-defined message.

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Use a Quick Reply

Quick Replies include smileys, simple greetings, and common phrases. You can access the Quick Reply option from the Message page. After you select a reply, you can continue typing additional text in the message. More information on using a Quick Reply.

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Change your Status or Password

Access AIM Options from the AIM menu. There are two AIM options: Set My Status to Away Change Password

Select Set My Status to Away to stay online but indicate to other AIM users that you are not available to receive messages. When you set your status to Away, the Buddy and Message Alerts are turned off and others will see an Away icon next to your screen name. They will also receive an auto-reply message. While your status is set as Away, you will still receive messages, but you will not be notified when they arrive.

Received messages can be read once you select Set My Status to Available. A page displays the number of new messages you received while you were away.

To change passwords, select Change Password. More information on changing passwords.

If your phone does not have softkeys, you may see the Buddy List option—select this to return to the main AIM page.

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Sign Off

Once you have signed on, the AIM service session remains active until you select Sign Off from the AIM menu, or until the service automatically signs you off after 26 hours of inactivity. If you don't sign off the service (or are timed out), you will stay signed on even if the browser is not being used or if the phone is turned off. This way, you can receive messages without incurring Web charges while on standby, talking, or doing other activities with the phone.

When you are done sending and receiving messages, it is recommended that you sign off the service so that other AIM users know you are offline. If you do not sign off, you remain signed on until you are timed out, and your screen name will appear as online to other AIM users.

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Get Help using the AIM service

To get Help using the AIM service, select Help from the AIM menu, and then navigate to the topic you want. To return to the main AIM page, select Done. For phones with softkeys, you can select the Info softkey option to access a list of Help topics.

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Text Entry Modes

Select the appropriate input mode before you start typing:

• Multi-tap (usually indicated as alpha/ ALPHA and abc/ABC)
• T9 Text Input (often indicated as T9, Quick, Word, Predictive Text, etc.)
• SYMBOLS (often indicated as SYM)
• NUMBERS (often indicated as NUM)

It is typically easiest to type screen names and passwords using "multi-tap" mode, which is usually indicated as "alpha" or "abc" mode for lowercase letters. Uppercase letters are usually indicated as "ALPHA" or "ABC." Most phones default to the multi-tap mode. For typing text messages, T9 is twice as fast as multi-tap mode. On many phones with T9 Text Input, you also can save your screen name and password in the user dictionary for quicker re-entry. Learn more about using T9® Text Input.

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