Chapter 6
Using Conference

Getting started (Windows)

Note If you want to use Conference to make and receive voice calls, your computer must include a sound card, microphone, and speakers or headphones. However, you don't need these features in order to use Conference to communicate with a remote colleague.

1. From the Communicator menu, choose Conference.
2. If this is the first time you are starting Conference, follow the instructions in the Conference Setup Wizard. If you don't know what information to enter, ask your system administrator or Internet Service Provider.

Note If you need to change your Conference preferences later, choose Preferences from the Call menu in Conference. (If you later add a new sound card or make other changes to your computer, rerun the Setup Wizard by choosing Setup Wizard from the Help menu.)

Getting started (Macintosh and Unix)

Note If you want to use Conference to make and receive voice calls, your computer must include a microphone and speakers or headphones. However, you don't need these features in order to use Conference to communicate with your colleague remotely.

1. From the Communicator menu, choose Conference.
2. If this is the first time you are starting Conference, enter the requested information. Click Help in the Preferences dialog box for more information. If you don't know what information to enter, ask your system administrator or Internet Service Provider.
3. Click OK.
4. Start Conference again.

Note If you need to change your Conference preferences later, choose Preferences from the Call menu in Conference.

Starting a conference

Note In order to receive Conference calls, your remote colleague must have the Netscape Conference window open or hidden as a desktop icon. See "Receiving a call" for more information.

Finding someone for a conference

Calling from Communicator's address book

1. From the Communicator menu, choose Conference.
2. Click Address Book in the Netscape Conference window.
3. Select the person you want to call. Make sure the person's name and email address appears. Conference can't make the call without them.
4. Click the Call button.

Calling from the Web Phonebook

1. From the Communicator menu, choose Conference.
2. Click Web Phonebook in the Netscape Conference window. Conference displays the Web Phonebook located at the web address listed in the Network Preferences dialog box. (Choose Preferences from the Call menu (Windows and Unix) or Edit menu (Macintosh) and click Network to see the current Phonebook URL. This address is initially set to http:// www.four11.com/conference.
3. Locate the person you want to call by listing the phonebook entries or by using the Search button.
4. Click the Conference link next to the person's email address to place the call.

Making a call

1. From the Communicator menu, choose Conference.
2. Type the email address of the person you want to call.
3. Click Dial. Conference notifies you if the person answers the call or is unavailable. Once the recipient accepts the call, you can begin using Conference's Chat, Collaborative Browsing, Whiteboard, and File Exchange tools.
4. If you or the person you're calling doesn't have an audio-equipped computer, use the Chat tool to start communicating. See "Chatting with text" for more information. You can also use Conference's Collaborative Browsing, Whiteboard, and File Exchange tools even if you or your remote colleague doesn't have an audio-equipped computer.
5. Begin talking within range of your microphone. 

Tip Once you begin talking, it's a good idea to use the Chat tool to ask the other person if they can hear you.

6. To make sure you're receiving sound, adjust the speaker volume if necessary, and check that the speaker button is on.
7. Adjust the silence sensor if necessary. When talking, the bars of the microphone meter should extend to the right of the silence sensor. When not talking, the bars should remain to the left of the silence sensor. See Conference's online help, or choose Troubleshooting Audio from the Help menu for more information.
8. To end the call, click Hang Up in the Netscape Conference window.

Leaving a voicemail message

Note This feature is only available for Windows 95 and Unix versions.

 You can also send a voice mail message at any time by choosing Voice Mail from Conference's Communicator menu.

Receiving a call

 To receive a call:

1. From the Communicator menu, choose Conference.
2. When Conference displays a dialog box informing you of an incoming call, click Accept Call (Windows) or Answer (Macintosh). 

Tip (Windows) To hide the Conference window and still listen for incoming calls, choose Hide Window from the Call menu. A conference attendant icon appears in your task bar tray. Double-click it to display the Conference window.

(Macintosh) To hide the Conference window and still listen for incoming calls, choose Hide Netscape Conference from the Finder's Application menu.

(Unix) To hide the Conference window and still listen for incoming calls, minimize the Conference window.

Setting call options

• From the Call menu, choose one of the following options:
• Always Prompt: You have the choice to accept or refuse each call individually. (This is the initial setting.) 
• Auto Answer: Conference accepts all incoming calls automatically. 
• Do Not Disturb: Conference refuses all calls. However, you can still place calls while Do Not Disturb is in effect.

Important If you have chosen Auto Answer and you're using the Whiteboard while not participating in a Conference session, it's a good idea to save your Whiteboard edits often. Otherwise, an incoming call might cause you to lose your unsaved Whiteboard edits.

Hearing a call

For more information, choose Troubleshooting Audio from the Help menu in the Conference window, or see Conference's online help for information on adjusting audio levels and setting options in the Audio Preferences dialog box.

Ending a call

• Click Hang Up in the Netscape Conference window.

Chatting with text

 Once you've established a call with your remote colleague, you can use the Chat tool to exchange messages. You can also display the contents of a text file and save a transcript of your chat session that you can print to create meeting minutes.

 Follow these steps to start chatting:

1. Establish a call with your remote colleague. See "Making a call" or  "Receiving a call" for more information.
2. Click the Chat button in the Netscape Conference window.



3. Begin typing (or paste some text from the clipboard).
4. Click the Send button to transmit the message to your remote colleague. (Windows and Unix) Alternatively, press Ctrl-Enter to transmit your message.

(Macintosh) Alternatively, press Return to transmit your message.

Including a text file

1. Begin typing in the Conference Text Chat window.
2. (Windows and Unix) From the File menu, choose Include. (Macintosh) In the Text Chat window, click the Folder button.
3. Locate the text file, and click Open.
4. Click the Send button to transmit the message to your remote colleague.

Saving a transcript

• (Windows and Unix) In the Text Chat window, choose Save As from the File menu. (Macintosh) In the Text Chat window, click the Save button.

Browsing together

1. Establish a call with your remote colleague. See "Making a call" or  "Receiving a call" for more information.
2. In the Conference window, click the Collaborative Browsing button.



3. Click Start Browsing. If Navigator is not running, it automatically starts when you click Start Browsing.
4. Switch to your Navigator browser and begin browsing. As you move from one web page to another, your remote colleague's browser updates to the same page. However, scrolling within a page or resizing your browser window does not cause your remote colleague's browser to update. You might want to use the Chat tool or a voice conversation to tell your colleague to scroll down on the page or resize their browser window to see a particular part of the page.
5. You or your remote colleague can take control of browsing at any time by checking Control the Browsers.
6. To end the browsing session (but not the Conference call), click Stop Browsing, then click Close. If you want to close the Collaborative browsing window while you continue to browse with your colleague, just click Close instead.

Note Collaborative browsing provides limited support for web pages that contain frames. The person in control of the browsing session sees all the frames the page contains, but the person who's not controlling the session only sees the page's active frame.

Editing an image together

Using an image stored on your computer

1. In the Netscape Conference window, click the Whiteboard button.



2. From the File menu, choose Open.
3. Choose the file type you want to open.
4. Select the file you want and click Open.
5. Click a location in the Whiteboard to place the image.

Capturing an image

1. From the Capture menu, choose one of the following:
• Capture Region: captures a portion of your screen 
• Capture Window: captures the contents of a window 
• Capture Desktop: captures your entire screen
2. To capture a region, drag the cursor to select a portion of your screen. To capture a window's contents, click in the window. To capture the entire window, including the frame and title bar, click the window's title bar.
3. Click a location in the Whiteboard to place the image there.

Working with the Whiteboard

 The Whiteboard has two distinct layers, the markup layer and the image layer:

• The markup layer contains the drawings you make using tools from the toolbox, including circles, squares, lines, and text, as well as items pasted from the clipboard.
• The image layer contains images you've opened from your hard disk, or images you've captured using commands in the Capture menu.

Using the pointer

1. Click the Pointer tool.
2. To place the pointer, click the spot on the Whiteboard that you want to draw attention to.
3. Click another spot to move the pointer to that spot.

Clearing and erasing the Whiteboard

1. From the Options menu, choose Erase markups.
2. Click the Eraser tool.
3. Drag the eraser across a markup.

1. From the Options menu, choose Erase Images.
2. Click the Eraser tool.
3. Drag the eraser across an image or markup.

• From the Edit menu, choose Clear Markups.

• From the Edit menu, choose Clear White Board.

Zooming in and out

1. From the View menu, choose a zoom-in level.
2. Click the spot in the Whiteboard that you want to zoom in on.
3. From the View menu, choose a zoom-out level to reduce the size of the Whiteboard.
4. From the View menu, choose Original size to restore the original Whiteboard size.

Exchanging files

 Follow these steps to send a file:

1. Establish a call with your remote colleague. See "Making a call" or "Receiving a call" for more information.
2. In the Netscape Conference window, click the File Exchange button.



3. (Windows and Unix) From the File menu, choose "Add to send list." (Macintosh) Click the Add button.
4. Locate the file you want to send.
5. Click Open.
6. Repeat steps 2 through 4 to choose additional files.
7. Click the Send button in the File Exchange window. 

Windows and Macintosh users You can drag a file from a folder on your desktop and drop it into the "Files to send" window.

Setting up your business card

 You may have already entered some of your business card information through the Setup Wizard. You can enter additional information or change the existing information in the business card if you want.

Note Although you don't need to enter all the information in the business card, you must enter your name and email address in order to use Conference.

1. (Windows and Unix) From the Call menu, choose Preferences. (Macintosh) From the Edit menu, choose Preferences.
2. Click the Business Card tab in the Preferences dialog box.
3. Choose a photo and enter the information you want. For more information about setting business card preferences, click the Help button.
4. Click OK.
5. Restart Conference to have your changes take effect.

Seeing your remote colleague's business card information (Windows and Unix)

• Click your remote colleague's photo.

Seeing your remote colleague's business card information (Macintosh)

1. Click the remote colleague's window to activate it.
2. From the Tools menu, choose the About command for your remote colleague's name.