By George Norman
Added on 14 Dec 2009(29578 Views)



Imagine this scenario if you will: you are going about your usual business when you remember you forgot to tell Bob something very important. So you double click the Yahoo! Messenger icon from the System Tray to launch the instant messaging application and contact Bob. While I will admit that double clicking an icon is not that much of a bother, you might like it better if you could activate Yahoo! Messenger via a keyboard shortcut.

In Yahoo! Messenger you can enable a system-vide keyboard shortcut that will activate the Yahoo! developed instant messaging application. You can use Win + Y to activate Yahoo! Messenger; and you can use Win + Shift + Y to change your status message.

Here is what you have to do:

Step 1. The first and obvious step is to launch the Yahoo! Messenger application and sign in. If you’re already signed into Yahoo! Messenger, just skip to step 2.

Step 2. For users that prefer the mouse: from the list of menus at the top, click Messenger -> from the dropdown menu that appears click Preferences.
For users that prefer keyboard shortcuts: press Ctrl + Shift + P.

Step 3. In the Yahoo! Messenger Preferences window click General, under Category.

Step 4. From the right hand side of the window, check the box next to Enable system-wide shortcut keys to activate Messenger.

Step 5. Click Apply -> Click OK and you’re done.

Tips and warnings
  • Win refers to the Windows or Start key. It’s the key on the keyboard that bares the Microsoft logo.
  • There are a multitude of keyboard shortcuts you can use in Yahoo! Messenger. A detailed list is available here.
  • At the time of writing this, the latest version of the instant messaging application is Yahoo! Messenger 10. If you’re still on Yahoo! Messenger 9, then I advise you to upgrade. You can upgrade with ease by following the instructions presented here.




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Tags: Yahoo!, Yahoo! Messenger, IM, Instant Messaging, Keyboard Shortcuts

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