Communicator Help: Chapter 1 What Is AOL<sup><font size=-2>®</font></sup> Communicator?

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What Is AOL® Communicator?

AOL® Communicator is a set of advanced communications applications that make it easy to

- Manage all your e-mail and instant messaging easily and conveniently.
- Tune in to your favorite Radio@AOL stations and share them with your buddies.
- Quickly check the news, weather, and financial information that you've personalized with My AOL.

Instant Messenger for AOL Communicator
AOL Communicator Mail
AOL Communicator Address Book
Radio@AOL for AOL Communicator
My AOL Today for AOL Communicator

If you need help with any aspect of AOL Communicator, see Getting Help With AOL Communicator.

Instant Messenger™ for AOL® Communicator

Tutorial movie:
Track New Mail from Buddy List Window

AOL Communicator combines the AOL® Instant Messenger™ software and e-mail software for added convenience.

Your Buddy List®window shows you that new mail is waiting and links you directly to e-mail messages from your friends, families, and colleagues:

There's no need to leave your Buddy List window to check for new mail.

Note that most of the buddies are displayed by Friendly Name—that is, their first and last names rather than their screen names. Your Buddy List window gets this information from your AOL Communicator Address Book.

For example, when your AOL Communicator Address Book has an entry with the screen name "mr1smth", the first and last names "John Smith", and the e-mail address "mr1smth@aol.com," you can view that buddy by Friendly Name and monitor his e-mail messages from your Buddy List window.

Your AOL® Communicator Address Book is automatically synchronized with your AOL®® Address book when you first set up your AOL® account. If your buddies' names and e-mail addresses are already available in your online AOL Address Book, your Buddy List window will display both their Friendly Names and information about recently received e-mail messages.

- Double-click the envelope icon beside a name in your Buddy List window to read the most recent e-mail from that person.
- To send e-mail to one or more buddies, select their names, right-click the selection, and choose Write Mail from the pop-up menu.
- To list a buddy by Friendly Name and track his or her e-mail messages from your Buddy List window, right-click the buddy's screen name and choose Add to Address Book from the pop-up menu.

Related topics:

Installing and Setting Up AOL Communicator
Using Instant Messenger for AOL Communicator

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AOL® Communicator Mail

Tutorial movie:
Explore AOL Communicator Mail

AOL® Communicator Mail lets you organize your e-mail messages the way you want:

- Manage messages from all your AOL®, POP, or IMAP e-mail accounts in a single window. No more logging in to multiple accounts and e-mail applications to check various mail accounts.
- Browse easily through e-mail messages, with the ability to see text from individual messages displayed right alongside your message list using a flexible three-pane window design.
- Use state-of-the-art spam filtering to automatically sort out unwanted mail, displaying spam messages in a separate color for quick review and one-click delete. As you "train" AOL Communicator Mail to recognize messages that you consider to be spam, the spam filter gets even better.
- View or save attachments you receive from others easily by clicking links or icons within a message. It's also easy to add attachments right inside your message.
- Set up filters to separate out messages from a specific sender.
- Store messages into folders to keep them organized.

Related topics:

Getting Started With Mail
Using AOL Communicator Mail

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AOL® Communicator Address Book

Keep your contact information up-to-date and at your fingertips with AOL Communicator Address Book integrated address book.

- Manages all your buddy info for both e-mail and instant messaging.
- Synchronizes your contact information with your online AOL Address Book.
- Works with online directories.

Related topics:

Getting Started With Address Book
Using AOL Communicator Address Book

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Radio@AOL for AOL® Communicator

Radio@AOL for AOL® Communicator is a great new way to listen to music, no matter what kind of Internet connection you have. Highlights include:

- See what's playing now or what's coming soon on your favorite stations.
- Get more than 125 originally programmed AOL® stations
- CD quality sound (for broadband connections only, 128Kbps).
- Share the station you're playing with your buddies.

Radio@AOL for AOL Communicator places today's stars and your favorite music styles right at your fingertips—including rock, pop, hip-hop, classical, jazz, country, inspirational, world music and more.

Related topic:

Using Radio@AOL for AOL Communicator (page 195)

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My AOL Today for AOL® Communicator

My AOL Today for AOL Communicator gives you two quick ways to access your customized My AOL information:

- My AOL Today is a screen saver that displays dynamic, full-screen, interactive content. You can click streaming images at any time to display more details.
- My AOL Today Ticker provides a continuous stream of up-to-date information across the top of your screen. You can click streaming headlines at any time to view the whole story.

Related topic:

My AOL Today for AOL Communicator (page 205)

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Last Updated September 16, 2003