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Changing how your IM messages are formatted in 9.0 Beta

[posted November 7, 2007]

In the new Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta, we changed how your messages are displayed in the IM window. Not everyone has been thrilled with the change, so this page explains how to use a simple keyboard shortcut to change to your preferred format.

There are three options for your IM conversation format:

Option 0
This format mirrors version 8.1. Every message sent has its own line and the sender’s name in front of it.

 Option 1
This is the current format that ships with 9.0 Beta. Messages are grouped and the first message starts on the line after the sender’s name.

 Option 2
This is a hybrid of 0 and 1. Messages are grouped but the first line of someone’s message appears on the same line as their name.



If you like option 1 the best, there is no need to make any changes. Option 1 is the formatting that’s already built into Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta.

If you would like to use 9.0 but prefer either option 0 or 2, then follow the directions below to enable 9.0 to format your IM conversations accordingly.

1. Sign into Yahoo! Messenger 9.0

2. Click on a friend to open a new IM window. Start your conversation so there are a few lines of text.

3. Click your mouse in the message area ABOVE where you type in your text. It will feel strange because nothing will really happen, but just click up in that area where the conversation is listed.

4. Then use the following key combination on your keyboard to activate your preferred format: ctrl + shift + # For example, if you want option 2, hit ctrl + shift + 2 on your keyboard.

5. You’ll see the text format change right there in the window. You can try each one to see how it looks. Whichever one you do last will be the format used.

Whatever you select will be persistent between sessions, conversations etc. If you want to change to one of the other formats in the future, just follow steps 1-4 above and use the appropriate option number in your key combination.

Note that for these key combinations to work, your version of Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 may need as much as 24 hours to reflect the change. If you don’t see the IM format change right away, wait a day and try again.