Personal Messages at Scrapbook-bytes.com

On the right side you will see your Username, the last time you visited the site and your Private Messages.   To go to your PM Box you simply need to click on top of the words, “PRIVATE MESSAGES”



On the left hand side of the screen you will see a cascading menu with many different selections.   It starts with your control panel.   After the control panel you will see options for your Private Messages.  

     

  On the right side of the screen you will see your PM Inbox.   There are several areas here that I think we should focus on.   The first one, shown above, tells you how many messages you have stored in your inbox.   You can only have 250 messages stored at one time so it is important that you check your messages and keep your box clear.  

Below this area are the messages you have in your inbox.   To open a message you only need to click on the subject and the message will open in front of you.

When you open up your letter it will read just like email.   If the sender has requested that you ‘confirm receipt' then you will need to click a box to let them know you read your email.   (I'll explain more of this in a minute when we discuss sending PM's)

Once you have read your message(s) you can delete them either in bulk or one by one by checking the box next to the message and then selecting delete at the bottom of the screen (see below)



Your messages will sort themselves according to when they were received.   If a message was received several weeks ago it will be lower on the message list than ones received more recently.  

2. Sending a Personal Message

Sending a personal message is very quick and easy!   On the Menu Bar to the left you will see a tab titled: SEND NEW MESSAGE.   Click on this tab and you will come to a blank message box similar to email.  

At the top is the location for the name of your recipient(s).   You can send the same message to as many as 5 people at one time.   So if you have a group of people you email this is a handy option.   What name do you use?   Their SBB Username! Nice and easy!   One tip I can offer: Make sure you have the username spelled exactly how it appears, capitals, spaces and all.  

After this area you will find a spot for your PM title and the message box for your letter.  



After you have finished up your message you will be able to send it along.   Before you submit it you have the option to preview the message first.   This can be a good idea if you aren't sure you typed a link correctly, etc.     Below the tabs for sending your message are a few other options.   You can have a copy of your message saved to your Sent Items folder, you can have your signature (like the one for the forums and gallery) show, you can have it automatically parse links in text and you can have it disable smilies in the text.   These are all options you will want to customize.   I personally like to have a copy of my messages saved in case I need to refer to them later but they do count against your total stored messages so you will want to be sure to ‘clean house' every once in a while and rid yourself of out of date messages.



When you feel everything is ready for sending your letter, click submit message.   At this point a box will pop up that asks you if you would like to Request a read receipt for the message.



If you click “OK” then you will receive a date and time for when the recipient read the note.



If you click “CANCEL” you will receive no notification and the recipient will not be required to click a box to notify you.  

To find this information you can click on the “TRACK MESSAGES” tab located on the menu to the left.


So lets recap a little:

Starting with the menu on the left:

LIST MESSAGES: will show you your inbox and the messages kept therein.

SEND NEW MESSAGE: will open up a blank message box for you to write your note.

TRACK MESSAGES: will open up a list of messages that have been sent and have been verified as read or unread messages.

The last selection in this area is “EDIT FOLDERS”

When you select this option you can add folders.



Lastly I will mention the “SENT ITEMS” area of the PM Box.   If you select to have a copy of letters saved to the “SENT ITEMS” folder you will want to make sure you clean this out regularly.   It is a good idea to keep notes of importance around in case you have to resend them but after a certain amount of time it is probably safe to remove them or copy them to your hard drive for later reference.  

When you first come to your Inbox (List Messages), at the top, you will see:



When you click on the arrow next to INBOX a menu will drop down listing INBOX, SENT ITEMS, and any other folders you may create.   Click on SENT ITEMS will take you directly to that folder.

Another option is to use the method below by selecting the SENT ITEMS folder in the “JUMP TO FOLDER” area.

ETIQUETTE:

Use your PM for sending comments to other members about their layouts, designs, articles, etc.   Use it as an extension to the forums for maintaining the friendships you have made at SBB.   Use it to receive Scrap bonuses and to ask questions.   Just keep in mind that messages sent through the PM box should always adhere to Scrapbook-Bytes posting policies.   

And if you have any questions, PM me!