In order to enjoy the experience of using Skype, TFJ highlights top eight interesting features that you need to know about.

Getting keyword notifications: It is possible to only get Skype notifications that are based on certain phrases. This will happen whenever someone mentions a certain predefined parameter in a conversation. To activate this feature, go to the specific chat window and select “Conversation.” From here, go to the “Notification Settings” option and proceed by checking the box named “Notify me only if these words are mentioned.”

You must be very careful with the choice of your keywords since any word that is left out will not be featured in the notifications. In short, it means that having this feature active will disable all notifications from other conversations that come without the specified keywords.

Enabling keyboard hotkeys/shortcuts: There are high chances that you use certain functions more often than others. If this is true, you can set a customized keyboard such that accessing these functions can be easy. To do this, go to the main Skype window and select “Tools>Options>Advanced>Hotkeys” and then check the “Enable keyboard shortcuts” option.

Pausing animated emoticons: Skype comes with animated emoticons that are aimed at adding a little spice to your conversations. However, not everyone is a fan of this feature and if you are one of them, then you can easily stop these little characters from moving. To do this, go to “Tools>Options>IM&SMS>IM Appearance” and then proceed by unchecking the “Show animated emoticons” option.

Hiding the moving pencil: When typing a message on Skype, it is possible for the person on the other end to tell when you are writing. If you don’t want the recipient to know when you perform any editing in the text box, you can disable the moving pencil by hiding it.

To do this, go to “Tools>Options>IM&SMS>IM Settings>Show Advanced Options” and then proceed with unchecking the “Show when I am typing” option.

Clearing chat history: Clearing of your chat history is one way of freeing up space on your device. Furthermore, Skype allows users to set a predefined time that messages can be stored on your device. This will again require you to navigate to the “Show Advanced Options” via the Tools option and then choose to clear chat history.

If you want to set the time that chat messages will last on your device, look for the “Chat history storage time frame” from the menu that drops down while in the “Show Advanced Options” menu.

Editing a sent message: It is possible to send someone a message with an error. It is also possible to edit such a message on Skype and resend it again. When you press the Up arrow key on your keyboard you’ll see the last sent message popping up. Make the necessary changes and resend it again.

Making direct calls from contact list: You can make Skype calls by directly double-clicking on a contact’s name. To achieve this setting, you’ll have to go to “Tools>Options>General Settings” and then check the “When I double click on a contact start a call” option. However, activating this setting will disable another setting, which is opening an IM window by double clicking on a contact name.

Transferring Skype contacts: It has now been made possible to create a backup of Skype contacts and save them in a single file. These contacts can then be transferred into another Skype account. To do this, go to “Contacts>Advanced>Backup contacts to file” and a .vcf file will be generated which you can then import into any Skype account.

In order to import the contacts, log in to the account you want the contacts transferred to and go to “Contacts>Advanced” and just under the option of creating a backup contacts file, select “Restore Contacts from file.”