It is necessary to establish a connection to the Internet to be able to chat with other participants. When this is done, you should set your status by clicking File+Set Status+Online. This establishes a connection between Kopete and the selected messaging service. After the successful login, you are visible to others.

The main application windows features a list of contacts. You must have contacts to chat with others (see Section 7.2, “Adding Contacts” for more information). When you right-click a contact marked as online, a menu opens with various options. Send that person a message or start a chatting session. A chat allows invitation of additional participants for real-time discussion. Connection to all participants is closed when the creator of the chat session closes it.

Figure 7.3. Chat Window

If you want to see your former chatting session, select a contact and go to Edit+View History. This menu item opens a dialog where you can search and view your chatting sessions with this person.

You can view other options by right-clicking a username. A pop-up menu opens. An important option is Start Chat to start a chatting session. With Rename Contact and Remove Contact, you can run the respective action. The pop-up menu also contains a submenu item with the username where you can block the user or get user information.