Ralph Johns

iChat Preferences

iChat In Pictures >> You are in Folder 3_iChat Prefs >> Page : Alerts

4[6]

4 Alerts Preferences

02-10-2006

This is the Alerts Preferences screen. In here you can set Sounds and Spoken Texts to specific Actions/Events on a Global level (for everyone). In iChat 4 the option to type your own phrase has disappeared. The voice for these is the one chosen in System Preferences.

Sounds/Alerts can be set in Individual Buddy Info cards as well.

The Event drop down has several things that you can add sounds to, that will play when that thing happens. It tends to always show the "When I Login" option when you arrive at this screen. Those with a "Speaker" next to them have Sounds set.

The drop down to select the sound will show the iChat sounds, all the System sounds and, if you have added any, your own sounds. The list is subdivided in the way I have described them here - see the picture in the info column to the right.

Your Sounds should be preferably .AIFF files recored at the lowest rate of 44100Hz as iChat will not play high rates. They are put in your Home Folder/Library/Sounds. ( Copy and Paste this, ~/Library/Sounds , in to the Finder's Go to Folder item in the Go menu )

One last thing, to hear the Alerts/Sounds you have to make sure System Preferences > Sound > Sound Effects tab has the Alert volume turned up adequately as it can be set as a proportion of the main System Volume and iChat Alerts are played as if they were System Alerts and so that controls the volume.

Summary

Select action in top item (Events).
Choose a Sound in the second - it shows list far right >
If a sound is already lnked to an Action/Event then the top list as shown in second pic gets a loudhailer.
Up to ichat 3 you can type your own phrases for some actions, iChat and after you cannot. The voices is the one set in System Preferences.
The @ symbol will say the Buddies Name in versions you can type in.
You can make the DOCK icon bounce to bring things to your Attention if sound is not your thing or you have some other Sound app like iTunes playing.

Next:- Video/Audio

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© 2005 Ralph Johns: Edited 24/9/2005, 5/5/2006
Updated September 2006
Updated October 2008. Reviewed and Updated to HTML 5 October 2024

Information Block

This site is about iChat from Version 1 through to iChat 5.x.x
Mostly this is kept as an Historical Document. Some small tense changes have been made but the content is by and large untouched.

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About This Page

The Alerts Preferences. The sounds iChat makes when something happens (your choices) - A Buddy coming On-line, going Off-line, Invites arriving, Files being sent or received - that sort of thing.

Apple label the Pane as Alerts - then they call the first Drop down "Events" - then in their own documentation at the time they refer to Actions. The only consistent thing is that they play at the Volume set in System Preferences > Sound And the Alerts settings there and also link to the System Alerts sounds and any you have of your own. See picture below.

Extra Picture

An extra long pic placed here to flow better

Compatibility

Much of this page has been altered to be as HTML 5 compatible as possible. This may cause issues with any of the Browser below.

I have tested in Safari 18.1, Firefox 130.x and 131.0, Vivaldi 6.9.3447.48 and iCab 6.2.3 (All Mac Browsers) I don't have access to a PC let alone multiple browsers to test on.

Previously confirmed to work with Win/IE 5.5 and later (should work in 5.0, but not confirmed), Firefox 2, Safari 3, Opera 9, iCab 3.02 and later, Mac/IE 5, Netscape 6 and later

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