Communicator Help: Installing and Setting Up AOL<sup><font size=-2>®</font></sup> Communicator

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Installing and Setting Up AOL Communicator

Setting Up AOL® Communicator Address Book

To notify you when mail from your buddies arrives, AOL Communicator needs each buddy's screen name, Friendly Name, and e-mail address.

Much of this information may be provided automatically, since AOL Communicator Address Book is populated with the contents of your AOL Address Book when you first install the program. You can also provide the information manually by creating Address Book entries for your buddies.

- Synchronization with the AOL Address Book. AOL Communicator Address Book continuously synchronizes stored contact information with the AOL Address Book for your screen name.
- Adding a Buddy's Friendly Name and E-mail Address. If after synchronizing address books you still have some buddies without corresponding AOL Communicator Address Book entries, you can easily add entries for them.
- Adding a New Buddy. When you add a new buddy to your Buddy List window and include information about the buddy's first and last names, category, and e-mail, an Address Book entry for the buddy is automatically created at the same time.

You can also configure a corporate or institutional LDAP directory (for example, when you run the Account Wizard) to provide your buddies' names and e-mail addresses automatically.

Related topics:

Setting Up a New Directory

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Synchronization with the AOL Address Book

By default, AOL Communicator Address Book continuously synchronizes stored contact information with the AOL Address Book for your screen name. The screen name used for this purpose is the one you specify for the first AOL account you set up in AOL Communicator.

What Address Book Synchronization Does

AOL Address Book synchronization ensures that whenever you are online and using AOL Communicator, the changes you make in the AOL Communicator Address Book are immediately copied to the AOL Address Book.

Synchronization also ensures that you can use your Buddy List window to monitor e-mail messages from any of your buddies whose entries in your AOL Address Book include both a screen name and an e-mail address.

Synchronization occurs when you first install AOL Communicator and every time you launch it. Synchronization also occurs whenever you are online and you make any change to your AOL Communicator Address Book, such as adding a contact or a group or editing an existing entry.

Your Screen Name and AOL Communicator Address Book

By default, the screen name used for synchronizing your AOL Communicator Address Book is the same as the screen name used for the first AOL member account that you set up.

Unless you have specialized needs, you should not change the screen name used by AOL Communicator Address Book.

The screen name and password specified for synchronizing your AOL Communicator Address Book is also used when you sign on to Radio@AOL and My AOL Today.

Where Synchronized Entries Are Stored

If you have been using the AOL Address Book available in some versions of AOL client software, the synchronized entries in your AOL Communicator Address Book appear in the same categories as in AOL client software (such as AOL® 9.0 Optimized or later versions).

If AOL Communicator can't determine which categories to use for synchronized entries, it places them in a category called General. To move such entries, simply drag and drop them over the name of the category where you would prefer to keep them.

Changing Your Synchronization Settings

You can turn address book synchronization off and on. For details, see AOL Synchronization Settings.

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Adding a Buddy's Friendly Name and E-mail Address

If a buddy's screen name has no corresponding entry in Address Book, that buddy can't be displayed by Friendly Name and you won't be able to monitor mail from that buddy while you're using your Instant Messenger software.

To add a buddy to the Address Book from your Buddy List window:

1. Open the MyIM menu and choose "View my buddies by".
2. Make sure Friendly Name has a checkmark beside it in the submenu. If it doesn't, select it to add the checkmark.
3. Look at your Buddy List window and identify a buddy who is still listed by screen name rather than Friendly Name.
4. Right-click the buddy's name.
5. Choose Add to Address Book.
   If Add to Address Book is not visible in the pop-up menu, the buddy already has an entry in your AOL Communicator Address Book.
6. Fill in the following information:
   First Name: Enter the first name that you want to be displayed in your Buddy list window as part of this person's Friendly Name. Example: John
   Last Name: Enter the last name that you want to be displayed in your Buddy list window as part of this person's Friendly Name. Example: Chapman
   E-mail: Enter the person's e-mail address. Example: jnm@example.net
   Category: Select the category from the drop down list where you want this information to be stored in your Address Book.
7. Click OK.
   The buddy should now be listed by Friendly Name. The entry you just created shows up in Address Book under the category you specified. The default category is General.

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Adding a New Buddy

To add a buddy to your Buddy List window and AOL Communicator Address Book at the same time, follow these steps:

1. From the Buddy List window, open the Actions menu and choose Add Buddy.
2. Provide the following required information:
   Screen Name: Enter the buddy's screen name.
   Group: From the first drop-down list, select the group to which you want to add the buddy. If the group doesn't exist yet, click New Group and type its name.
3. To display the buddy's Friendly Name and e-mail status, provide the following optional Address Book information:
   First Name: Enter the first name that you want to be displayed in your Buddy List window as part of this person's Friendly Name. Example: John
   Last Name: Enter the last name that you want to be displayed in your Buddy List window as part of this person's Friendly Name. Example: Chapman
   E-mail: Enter the person's e-mail address. Example: jnm@example.net
   Category: Enter the name of the category under which you want this contact information to be stored in your Address Book.
4. Click OK.

The new person's name appears in the Buddy List® group that you selected (or under Offline if the person isn't currently online). If you filled in the name and e-mail address, the Friendly Name shows up in your Buddy List window, and a mail notification icon appears beside the name when mail arrives from that person.

At the same time, the new contact information appears under the Address Book category you specified. The default category is General.

To set start taking advantage of some of Communicator's other features, see Getting Started With AOL Communicator.

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Last Updated September 16, 2003