Skype has 300 million monthly public users. With a customer base that large, you bet they offer those millions of users lots of features.
If you’re using Skype for personal reasons or for business, there is a lot more you can do with the software than simply make video calls.
Even if you only make video calls, there are a few ways in which you can get more out of the program.
Interested in learning how? Keep reading for nine interesting and useful Skype hacks that will allow you to get more out of the VoIP program.
1. Use Skype as a Security Camera
You can spend hundreds of dollars on an in-home security camera or you can simply use Skype!
This is one of the most helpful Skype secrets if you have children or pets at home that you need to keep an eye on while you’re away at work.
To turn your Skype camera into a security camera, you’ll need to have two accounts and two devices. One device and account will be for wherever you are and the second account and device are going to be for your home.
The second account will be your “security” account. To set it up as a security camera, you need to change the settings so that it answers incoming calls automatically.
This will ensure that it doesn’t ring or alert anybody, it just opens the call.
To do this, you’ll go to Tools > Options > Calls > Call Setting > Show Advanced Options. Now, you’ll turn on Answer Incoming Calls Automatically.
Position the device so that it’s in an ideal place to view whatever space you’re trying to keep an eye on. Then, call it from your Skype account remotely whenever you need to check on something.
2. Correct Sent Messages
Have you ever been chatting with a client or coworker over Skype and realized that you misspelled something extremely important? Perhaps you wrote their name wrong or wrote the wrong date.
Don’t worry, you can correct it!
To correct sent messages on Skype, you just need to right-click on the message and look at the pop-up menu that appears. You should see options to edit or delete the message.
If you realize that you don’t want them to see the message at all, then simply delete it. However, if you just want to edit it, you can choose that option and change whatever you need to change.
If you’re using Skype on your smartphone, Android and iOS both allow you to edit messages as well. Tap on the message you want to edit and hold down until the menu pops up.
The same options will appear and you can edit or delete the message.
3. Rename Your Contacts
If you use Skype for business purposes, chances are that you have a lot of contacts in your messenger. Sometimes, you don’t remember the name of a person but rather their position in a company or some other detail about them.
If you have lots of contacts, it can help to rename them so that you stay organized and remember as many details about that person as possible.
This means that you can change the name “Jan Moriscombe” to “Jan FedEx LA Office” to make life easier for you and remember exactly who a person is when they message you or when you need to message them.
If you download Skype for Mac products or are using an Android phone, then this function is going to be in the conversation window. You should see the name of the person in the chat and then a pencil icon on the right.
Click on that to edit the person’s name. Don’t worry, they won’t be able to see what you’ve changed their name to.
4. Share Your Screen
Screen sharing is becoming increasingly more popular as a way to share information during conference calls.
It’s also one of the most helpful Skype tricks if you’re working on a school project with someone and need to share visuals of certain things.
You can select a contact or group from your messages bar and click the plus (+) button on the taskbar. A pop-menu should appear and you should see the option to Share Screens.
To share your screen on Skype you don’t need to be in a group conversation, but you can be. Skype supports the share screen function in groups of up to ten people. This makes it a valuable business tool.
Once you’re done sharing your screen, you simply select Stop Sharing and the call will go back to normal.
5. Access More Emojis
Learning how to use Skype isn’t that hard, but it’s come under fire for not providing its users with a wide range of emojis to use during chats.
However, it turns out that Skype does have a lot of emojis, it’s just that they’re hidden! To up your Skype conversation game and be more expressive, you can access tons more emojis by using the right text code.
That’s right, Skype doesn’t make these emojis public as part of the normal emoji menu. Instead, you’ll just have to take a look at the full emoji list and learn how to type them out in the text bar.
Typing in (canyoutalk), for example, shows a ringing green phone emoji. If you type in (letsmeet) you’ll see a calendar emoji.
Make sure to head to the hidden list that Skype provides, as you can see some really interesting ones, like a Santa mooning your screen.
Learning the shorthand for these emoticons is helpful anyway, as it can save you time in heading over to the drop-down menu and searching for what you need.
6. Search Within a Chat
If you have lots of long chats with people, whether business-related or not, it helps to be able to quickly find a piece of information from days, weeks, or months ago.
When it comes to Skype tips, the ability to search within a chat is probably one of the most helpful and most-used.
Most people know the Ctrl + F function to find information on a webpage or in a document. Well, it works the same in a Skype chat!
Once you click on a chat window, simply push Ctrl + F and a search bar will appear. Type in a word, name, date, or whatever you’re looking for.
If you don’t find it the first time, then it might be because it’s misspelled or because you used shorthand to write it out. Try to spell it differently or search for something similar that you remember talking about around that same time.
7. Forward Calls to Your Phone
If you receive lots of Skype messages for work, then setting up call forwarding is going to ensure that you never miss another call again.
To set up call forwarding on your Skype account, go to Tools > Options > Calls > Call Forwarding.
Under the Call Forwarding menu, you might have a few options. You will be able to tick the box that says “Forward My Calls To” and then enter up to three numbers.
These numbers can be landlines or mobile phones, which is great if you want to forward calls to an office landline.
It’s also important to note that you can forward a call to another Skype account. This is helpful if you work at a company that operates remotely.
Whenever you go out to lunch or aren’t available, tick the box to forward the call to your coworker’s Skype account so they can easily receive it for you.
8. Update Your Notifications
There are a lot of notification features that a lot of Skype users don’t seem to know about.
You can basically use Skype hacks to receive notifications for pretty much anything, like when a certain person logs on, has a birthday, or sends you a file.
You can also turn off your notifications for certain events, which is helpful if you’re trying to get work done or need quiet time to focus on a big project.
To alter your Skype notifications, just go to Tools > Options > Notifications. You can disable or activate whatever you want from the menu that appears.
9. Transfer Large Files
Perhaps one of the most helpful Skype tips and tricks for businesses is the ability to transfer really large files within the office. If you’re a remote worker and send lots of large files, this can help you too!
When you send files over an email server, there’s usually a size limit. If you’re using Google, this can often mean that you have to send the files over Google Drive, which then brings up issues with access and edit/view settings.
Save time and hassle and enjoy the fact that Skype doesn’t have a size limit when it comes to file sharing.
Instead of sending a large file or document to your coworker over email, open up Skype and select “Share a File” after clicking the plus (+) button. Or, simply drag the file into the chat window.
Getting the Most Out of Skype Hacks
Skype hacks can help you get the most out of the popular video conferencing and chat tool. However, getting the most out of these hacks means that you’ll have to ensure that you’re using them in the right way.
Make sure you’re always focused on using these tools to increase productivity and save time, not make things harder on yourself.
Interested in learning how to increase your working productivity in other ways? Head over to our business section for more tips and tricks that can save you time, stress, and money.