How do I send a private message?

[#1]

Question

How do I send a private message to someone in the community?

Answer

Introduction

First, what is the Private Messenger?

Private Messenger enables you to send individual notes to other community members. Private Messenger has two significant advantages over email:

• You don't have to know the other member's email address to send the note. (Also, you don't have to reveal yours.)
• You can read and send private messages without leaving the community, making it easy for a quick conversation with another community member.

To use the Private Messenger, you must be registered and signed in.

You'll see a Private Message icon at the top of your page, as demonstrated in the photo below.

If you have any new messages, you'll see the number of unread messages next to the envelope icon. Click the message count or envelope icon to go to your Private Messages Inbox (see Private Messages example below).

How to Send a Message

We have two ways of sending private messages in the AARP Online Community.

Option 1:  From your AARP Online Community Inbox

1. Sign in to the community.
2. Click the message count or envelope icon to go to your Private Messages Inbox (example below).   
3. Click the New Message yellow button at the top (example below).   
4. Enter the recipient's username in the Send to area (example below)   
5. Enter the subject for the message in the Message Subject area (example below).
6. Type the reply in the Message Body editor (example below).
7. Click Send Message (example below).   
8. You can look for the messages you've sent by clicking on the Sent tab in your inbox (example below).

Option 2:  From a User's Profile Page

1. Sign in to the community.
2. Do you see a reply from a user you would like to respond to via private message? If so, click the username or photo icon (see example below). Clicking the username will take you to that user's profile page within the AARP Online Community.   
3. Look in the right sidebar of the user's profile page for the Contact Me area. Here you can send a private message to a user as long as they have not turned this feature off. You will not see this feature if the user has turned it off.   
4. Click the Send this user a private message link (see below). Doing so will open your inbox and put this individual username into the Sent To field.
   
5. Fill in the Message Subject and Message Body. Then click the yellow Send Message button at the bottom (see example below).

[TinycatM787305]

Thanks

[AARPLynne]

Need to enable Private Messenger? Here's how:

go to My Settings | Preferences | Private Messenger | check "Turn on private messages" | check "Receive email notifications for new private messages" | Save

[sl6369316]

i did not know about this Thanks!