Trillian Software Guide

Trillian is an instant message account aggregator. It allows users to contact us from one place using any one of many IM accounts. For our purposes this is an ideal feature as it allows patrons to use their preferred IM account to contact us. We have IM accounts in AIM (AOL IM), Yahoo, MSN, and Google. (Presently, Trillian is only being used at the East Info Desk. In the event of a prolonged IM Collaborator outage, Trillian can be launched on the West Desk as a back-up. Detailed instructions for doing this can be found at the Info Desk.)

To launch Trillian, simply click on the Trillian icon on the desktop of your workstation. As Trillian launches, a small window will open. This window can be seen below on the right. This window does not need to be open for Trillian to function. If you prefer, to close this window, click on the button (with the downward arrow) on the right end of the blue bar.

The other Trillian window, to the left, is an IM window. This will open when a patron sends you a message. You will also notice that words in your IMs may happen to link to articles in Wikipedia (see below). You can hover your mouse pointer over this text in your messages to see an entry such as the one below. Keep in mind that Wikipedia is useful if you need to have a quick look at a topic, but it is best to always refer patrons to library sources.

G:\Reference\INFOMAN\2009-2010 pdf\2009-2010\SECTIONE\VRSoftwareGuide.doc Last updated 7/2009 cmp

Multiple Patrons– Multiple Tabs As you conduct an IM, be watchful for new patrons. A tone should sound. New IMs appear as tabs in your taskbar.

While Trillian is running it will tell you the status of its connections. Note (to the left) that “Snapfiles” is only partially connected. Just below that, you can see that only the red light is glowing and the others, (blue, green, yellow, etc.) are grayed out. Each of these lights represents a connection to a different IM account. You can hover your mouse pointer to see which light goes to which account.

If you have the window to the left closed, you can also tell if Trillian is fully connected by the small Trillian icon by the clock on the bottom right corner of the screen. When fully connected, the icon should look like the below:

If the orbs in this icon are obscured, then a connection to one or all the accounts is down. You would then need to perform a “Global Reconnect.” (see next page)

G:\Reference\INFOMAN\2009-2010 pdf\2009-2010\SECTIONE\VRSoftwareGuide.doc Last updated 7/2009 cmp

To perform a Global Reconnect, use the Trillian drop-down menu pictured below, selecting “Global Reconnect” from the “Connections” menu.

G:\Reference\INFOMAN\2009-2010 pdf\2009-2010\SECTIONE\VRSoftwareGuide.doc Last updated 7/2009 cmp