Q: Odigo: What is it?
A: The Odigo Messenger is the leader in Instant Messaging and online chat, with a strong commitment to cross-platform interoperability. With Odigo, you can locate other users around the world by demographic information, find users browsing the same Web page, establish regular contact with friends, or view the most popular Web sites, all in real time. Odigo allows you to find and make contact with people who have similar interests, as well as contact your buddies on other Instant Messaging tools such as ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger or AIM.
Q: What does “Odigo” mean?
A: Odigo is an ancient Greek word meaning “guide.”
Download & Installation
Q: I am a new user to Odigo. How do I download it?
A: You can download Odigo easily with new Smart Download, which takes care of donwloading and installing Odigo's most recent version as well as Odigo's interoperability plugins. Once you've downloaded the Smart Install tool and executed it, a popup menu will appear, which allows you to choose the language of the Odigo client as well as the relevant interoperability plugins. Note: If you are having any difficulty using Smart Download, you can still download Odigo using the regular install files and download each plug-in separately.
Q: How do I upgrade my older Odigo version?
A: Before you upgrade your version, we suggest you back up the files in your Db directory, where your ID files are kept. On most computers these files will be found in C:\Program Files\Odigo\Db. There will be two files (.odh and .odu) for each user ID you have on Odigo. You can save these files on a floppy disk or elsewhere on your computer. After that, click on the download link from Odigo’s Web site, and install it in the same location as your previous Odigo versions. There are separate upgrade versions that allow you to update Odigo without losing any of your preferences, settings, or friends.
Problems with Registration
Q: What should I do if I have problems completing registration?
A: You may be operating behind a firewall or proxy server. When your registration fails, go back to the second registration window and using the last option in the window, change your firewall settings. If you still encounter trouble, please contact Odigo support.
Portable Odigo ID
Q: Can I access my user ID from another computer?
A: Once you have Version 3.0 running your user ID on one computer, you will be able to logon to Odigo from any computer on which Odigo Messenger 3.0 is installed. When you launch Odigo on a computer, select New from the "Select a User" window. If Odigo is already open, select Tools>Personal>Add New User. When the registration window opens, select "I am an existing user," and fill in your user ID and password.
Finding The On-Site Representative
Q: How do I find the On-Site Representative?
A: An On-Site Representative is signifed by a unique icon in the radar and the tray, as well as a notification ticker at the bottom of the page. You can contact representatives by right-clicking on their icons, as you would with any other user. Moreover, representatives can assist you further by inviting you to a special chat room which they control, and through which they can take you on a guided tour using the "co-surfing" mechanism.
Finding People by Interests & Other Profile Details
Q: How do I find only women interested in basketball?
A: Select the People Finder mode, open Odigo’s wing to choose the age, gender, region, interests, or any other characteristic of the users you’d like to find, and click the “Go” button. The users that match your query will be displayed in the radar on Odigo’s main window. You can save queries for future use by clicking on the asterisk button and choosing “Save as Favorite Query.”
Q: How can I search for users through their personal details?
A: If you know a user's Odigo ID number, full or partial nickname, first name, last name or email address, you can find them with the “Find Users” option from the “Tools” menu. When you find relevant users, you can view their details or contact them by right-clicking on their names.
Finding People Browsing the Same Site
Q: How can I find people who are browsing the same site I am browsing?
A: Click People in Page/Site mode. Users browsing the same site automatically appear in the radar.
Finding People Again/Staying in Contact
Q: I met some interesting people today. How can I contact them again?
A: The easiest way to maintain contact with other users is to add them to your Friends List. In your Communication Center window, click “Add Friend,” and then “Send.” When your friend accepts your offer, a message appears and the user is added to your Friends List. The other user may also "Accept and Add" your offer, which will add your name to the other user’s Friends List as well.
Q: But how do I find someone again if I know nothing about them and they’re not on my Friends List?
A: You can reach a user you had contact with before by checking your “Recent Contacts” list from your “Tools” menu and clicking that user’s name from the list.
Different Ways of Communicating
Q: How do I send a message to a user?
A: From the radar screen, right-click on any user’s icon to see a menu of options. Select “Show Details” to learn more about that person. Select “Send Message” to open a Communication Center window. Type in your message, and click the “Send” button.
Q: How can I have a one-to-one chat with a user?
A: From the radar screen, click on the user’s icon and select “Chat request” tab from the Communicaton Center window that opens. Select “1:1 chat” from the send field, type a message in the window, and click the “Send” button. If the user accepts your chat request, an Odigo Chat window automatically opens.
Q: What is mulit-user chat?
A: From the radar screen, click on the user’s icon and select the “Chat request” tab from the Communications Center window that opens. Select “mulit-user chat” from the send field, choose a name for the chat room (or leave the default name on), type a message in the window, and click the “Send” button. If the user accepts your chat request, an Odigo Chat window automatically opens. You can invite multiple users into your chat room.
Just like in Chat in Page/Site chat rooms, users in this room can surf together through the "Co-surf" option. You can initiate up to 10 private chat-rooms.
Q: How can I have Voice Chat with other users?
A: To use Voice Chat on Odigo, you need to have sound capability on your computer (i.e. a sound card and a microphone). You also need to check the "Voice Chat enabled" box during the registration process. If you did not do this during registration, you can go to the “Tools” menu, choose “Personal…” and then “Update My Details,” and check the box on the second screen.
You can identify other voice-enabled users by their special icon (person holding a megaphone). If you request a chat with these users, you are given the option of written or Voice Chat. When the other user accepts your request, the Voice Chat room opens on your screen. Note that you can add multiple users to this chat session by sending them Voice Chat requests.
Q: How do I find the chat room on a Page or a Site?
A: Select the People in Page/Site tab or go to “People in Page/Site” under the “View” menu. Look for the Chat in Page/Site button (the speech bubble). The number on the button indicates where the largest amount of users are chatting, either on the site or on the page.
You can also hover your cursor over the icon to retrieve this information. Click on the button to open the chat room window on Site or on Page.
If you are in the Popular Pages mode and find an interesting site, you can join the chat room directly by right-clicking on the site’s bar.
Q: What is Co-surfing?
A: Co-surfing is an exciting new feature of Odigo in which users in a chat room can surf together to other sites. When you find an interesting site and want others to join you, browse to the site, open the "Co-Surf" box, select the site from the menu and click the Co-surf “Send” button. Users who have chosen to Co-surf will automatically browse to the site you suggested.
You can attach or detach yourself from the other co-surfers by clicking the attach/detach button, which is located to the right of the “History” button. You can view the icon on the button, or mouse-over the icon to know your current co-surfing status.
Q: What is Sticky chat?
A: Once the chat window is open, you can click the pushpin button, and your chat window will always reflect the site you are browsing on. Once Sticky chat is initiated, one chat window is always open, and its contents and participants change as you surf. Alternately, you may choose to open new chat windows at various sites, only closing them when you've finished chatting.
Q: Can I send URLs and files via Odigo?
A: In every Communication Center window there are URL and File tabs. When you choose the URL tab, the URL field is set with the page your browser is currently open to. You can also type another URL; just make sure that all of the letters are lower-case, and that the address is preceeded by “http://”. Click “Send”, and the URL is immediately sent.
When you click on the File tab you are able to browse to the file you wish to transfer. Select it and click “Send.” Note that the receiver must accept the file transfer request before it can be executed.
Q: Can I send a Wireless message to other Users?
A: If users are configured to have wireless devices and allow other users to send messages directly to those devices, you can send them a wireless message.
Clicking the “Options” button in the Communication Center window opens a "Wireless messaging" window. In this window, you can select the device you want the message to be sent to, type the message and send it.
