Introduction

Our new messaging system allows you to manage all of your communications with your fellow HomeLink members in one place. It has a number of new features that are unique to HomeLink including 'one click' responses to save you time.  You can do everything that you did previously using your own email account but in addition it has some new features that should aid your home exchange planning.

Instead of using your own personal email account (e.g hotmail.com, btinternet.com etc), every HomeLink member now has their own account on the HomeLink server – a completely separate messaging area solely for communicating with fellow HomeLink members.  This has a number of significant advantages over the previous system:

• It provides greatly increased security of your email address
• It is much easier to send the same message to a number of members
• It eliminates messages ‘lost’ to junk/spam folders and hence an increased response rate
• Listings will be more up to date as members will update their listing while they are on the website
• It enables us to pick up abuse of the HomeLink system very quickly and take appropriate action
• It provides the capability to add new features in future

We encourage you to read both the Getting Started and Detailed Instructions sections to help you make the most of the new system, but if you are in a hurry, the Getting Started section will allow you to send and receive messages without using all of the available features.

Getting Started

Your own email account is only used to alert you when you have received a new message in the HomeLink Message System.  You then need to log into the Message System to read and reply to your new message.

Receiving and Replying to Messages

1. When you receive a new message, an email notification will be sent to your registerd email address similar to the example below.

John & Mary Smith / UK12345
You have 1 unread message in your message inbox at HomeLink International

Subjects:
#1 – Home exchange in Canada

Please log on at http://www.homelinkint.org to read and reply to your messages
Don't reply this email. It has been automatically created by the HomeLink International message system.

2. Click the link and login using your username and password as normal
3. Click on the 'Messaging' button under 'Member Options' on the left hand side, which will take you to your HomeLink ‘Inbox’
4. Click on the sender name (below ‘From’) to open and read message
5. Click on ‘Reply’ to send a message to the member and then ‘Send’
6. If you wish to be brief and are not interested in the request Click on ‘Send quick reply’ (above the message). In this case the message is written for you and all you have to do is click ‘Send’ .

Composing a New Message

1. Login using your username and password as normal
2. Click on the 'Messaging' button under 'Member Options' on the left hand side, which will take you to your HomeLink ‘Inbox’
3. Click on 'New message'
4. Click on 'Choose a member ..>>' to select who you want to send a message to
5. Type your message into the box below
6. Click on 'Send' at the top of the screen.

Detailed Instructions and New Features

Index

1. Inbox 
2. Folder list
3. New messages
4. Notification settings
5. Manage folders
6. Put in folder
7. Templates
8. Message types
9. Receiving and managing messages
10. Creating & using templates
11. Pasting from a word document
12. Troubleshooting
13. Glossary

1. Inbox

The Inbox will be the screen that you see when you enter the Message System.  It will show all messages in your Inbox. To manage the messages in your inbox select the check box next to a message and then click on 'Put in Folder’ ‘Mark as unread’ or ‘Delete’.

2. Folder list

The 'Folder' list’ on the left determines what you see on the right.   The first four folders (Inbox, Templates, Sent, Trash).  You can create additional folders to store and organise your home exchange messages e.g 'Australia', 'France' 'Germany' using‘Manage Folders’.

3. New Message

1. Click on 'New message'
2. Click on 'Choose a member ..>>' to select who you want to send a message to
3. Type your message into the box below
4. Click on 'Send' at the top of the screen.

4. Notification settings

Make sure that you set this as it will govern how often you receive email notifications of messages waiting for you. If you do not set this then you will be notified by default every 24 hours. If you wish to visit the messaging centre more often then of course you are free to do this.

5. Manage folders

Here you will be able to create new folders of your choice. Click on the 'Manage folders' button at the bottom of the Folder list, enter a name in the 'Folder name' box', save it by clicking on the floppy disk icon and it will then appear in your folder list.

6. Put in folder

Select the check box next to the email you want to file, click on the‘Drop list ‘at the top of the screen and your folder list will appear. Select which folder you want to use and your message will be moved - you will see the number of messages in brackets next to each folder in the Folder list.

7. Templates

Templates allow you to send the same message to several members without re-writing the text each time.

Creating a template with a ‘Home Exchange request’ will save you a lot of time. It is also useful to have a ‘Sorry I am unable to Exchange’ Template to politely decline a request.

To create a template, click on 'New message' and write the text you wish to save.  At the top you will see a button called 'Save as new template' .  Click on this and it will be stored in your 'Templates' folder shown on the left hand menu.

To use a template,  go to 'Templates' on the left hand side and click on 'Use this template' on the right.  A new pre-filled message will appear.  Just find the member you wish to send it to (and preferably personalise the message) and click 'Send'.

8. Message types

So that you can see at a glance what type of message has been received, each message will have a symbol next to it:

Symbol	Message Type
	Regular message
	Information message
	No thanks to exchange request
	Positive reply to exchange request
	Exchange request

You can select which symbol you wish to add to your new message by clicking on the drop down 'Type' list at the top of a new message. If you are unsure of the Type of message just let your cursor hover over the symbol.

9. Receiving and managing messages

When your Inbox opens you can see at a glance who the message is from, what the subject is and what date and time it was sent.

Click on the senders name to open your message.

You have now have several options:

1. View the enquirers HomeLink listing by clicking on their location
2. Click ‘Reply’ to open a new message form for you to write a personal response
3. Use the Quick reply optionsat the top by simply clicking on ‘send a quick reply’.

10. Creating & Using Templates

You may want to create a Template for a standard ‘Sorry I can’t exchange’ message or perhaps a longer one to describe your home and surroundings.

To create your first Template:

1. Click on Template.
2. Click on ‘New Message’ in the Template windows tool bar and compose your message in the body of the message.
3. Choose the ‘Type’ of message in the drop list
4. Give your message a ‘Subject’
5. When you are finished click ‘Save as new Template'.

When you want to contact several members with the same message using a template:

1. Open the Templates folder
2. Locate the template you wish to use and click on 'Use this template' on the right hand side
3. This will pre-fill a message with your previously saved text
4. Click on 'Choose a member' to locate the member you wish to contact
5. Personalise the message
6. Click Send

11. Pasting from a Word Document

If you want to paste from a word document into your message you will get a ‘Pop up’ asking “Do you want to allow this Web Page access to your clipboard. Click ‘Allow Access’ twice and your message will be pasted.

12. Troubleshooting

If you have any problems with the new system that are not covered here, please contact me at caroline@homelink.org.uk . 

13. Glossary

Cancel 
This will cancel what you are doing and return to the previous screen

Choose a member 
When you are sending a new message, you will see ‘Choose a member’ in the ‘To’ box of the message. Click on this (or Click’To’) Type the name or membership number of the member in the pop up and click ‘Search’ Your members name will appear. Click and it will go to the ‘To’ line as an address. If you have forgotten the full name you can still find the member.

Date 
Date the message was sent

Delete selection 
This will delete the message you have selected and put it in ‘Trash’. The trash can is automatically emptied every 24 hours.

Formatting 
The formatting section has all the usual functions plus some you may not be familiar with

• Paste from Word
• Smilies
• Special characters
• Universal Keyboard

Inbox
This is where your new messages are stored 

Manage Folders 
Here you can create a new folder or delete one you no longer need. Give it a name, remember to save it and it will appear in your folder list.

Mark as unread 
If for some reason you want to delay reading a message you can click ‘Mark as unread’ so you can clearly see the unticked message next time you visit

New Message 
Click for a new message form

Notification settings 
Click to set the frequency with which you wish to receive email notification of new messages. Please note: if no notification is set then the system will automatically notify you every 24 hours

Put in Folder
Select your message. Click ‘Put in folder’ to organise your messages.

Read 
When you have read a message a tick will appear below this.

Search 
Click ‘Search’ when you have put a member number or name in the ‘Search’ box

Select 
Click the check box below ‘Select' in order to ‘Put in folder’ ‘Mark as unread’ or ‘Delete selection’

Send a copy to my Organiser 
You will see this check box on new and return messages. Please think about this and only use when it is very important for your Organiser to see it .

Sent 
Click the ‘Sent’ folder in the Folders list to view the messages you have sent. You can also file these using the 'Put in folder' button at the top.

Subject 
This is to inform recipients of the content of your message

Symbols 
You will see a Symbol below ‘Type’ on each message. Let your cursor hover over it to see what it indicates. Symbols used are as follows:

• Exchange request
• Information
• No thanks to an exchange request

Template 
Create and save standard messages here for re-using later.

To 
Click ‘Choose a member’ to add a member to this box

Trash 
You need to ‘Select’ a message in order to put it in the ‘Trash’ when it is no longer needed.  It is automatically emptied every 24 hours.

Type 
Type of message. See the different ‘Types’ used under ‘Symbols’