qTox/doc/user_manual_en.md

qTox User Manual

Index

• Contact list
• User Profile
• Settings
• Groupchats
• Message Styling
• Multi Window Mode
• Keyboard Shortcuts

Contact list

Located on the left. Can be sorted e.g. By Activity.

By Activity sorting in qTox is updated whenever client receives something that is directly aimed at you, and not sent to everyone, that is:

• audio/video call
• file transfer
• groupchat invite
• message

Not updated on:

• avatar change
• groupchat message
• name change
• status change (Online/Away/Busy/Offline)
• status message change

User Profile

Your User Profile contains everything you share with other people on Tox. You can open it by clicking the picture in the top left corner. It contains the following settings:

Public Information

• Name: This is your nickname which everyone who is on your contact list can see.
• Status: You can post a status message here, which again everyone on your contact list can see.

Avatar

Your profile picture that all your friends can see. To add or change, click on the avatar. To remove, right-click.

Tox ID

The long code in hexadecimal format is your Tox ID, share this with everyone you want to talk to. Click it to copy it to your clipboard. Your Tox ID is also shown as QR code to easily share it with friends over a smartphone.

The "Save image" button saves the QR code into a image file, while the "Copy image" button copies into your clipboard.

Profile

qTox allows you to use multiple Tox IDs with different profiles, each of which can have different nicknames, status messages and friends.

• Current profile: Shows the filename which stores your information.
• Current profile location: Shows the path to the profile file.
• Rename: Allows you to rename your profile. Your nickname and profile name don't have to be the same.
• Delete: Deletes your profile and the corresponding chat history.
• Export: Allows you to export your profile in a format compatible with other Tox clients. You can also manually back up your *.tox files.
• Logout: Close your current profile and show the login window.
• Remove password: Removes the existing password for your profile. If the profile already has no password, you will be notified.
• Change password: Allows you to either change an existing password, or create a new password if your profile does not have one.

Settings

General

General Settings

• Language: Changes which language the qTox interface uses.
• Autostart: If set, qTox will start when you login on your computer. qTox will also automatically open the profile which was active when you ticked the checkbox, but this only works if your profile isn't encrypted (has no password set).
• Light icon: If set, qTox will use a different icon, which is easier to see on black backgrounds.
• Show system tray icon: If set, qTox will show its icon in your system tray.
  • Start in tray: On start, qTox will only show its tray icon and no window.
  • Minimize to tray: The minimize button on the top right, will minimize qTox to its tray icon. There won't be a taskbar item.
• Auto away after (0 to disable): After the specified amount of time, qTox will set your status to "Away". A setting of 0 will never change your status.
• Default directory to save files: Allows you to specify the default destination for incoming file transfers.
• Autoaccept files: If set, qTox will automatically accept file transfers and put them in the directory specified above.

Chat

• Play sound: If checked, qTox will play a sound when you get a new message.
• Open window: If checked, the qTox window will be opened when you receive a new message. If you use the multiple windows mode, see Multi Window Mode for details.
  • Focus window: If checked, the qTox window will additionally be focused when you receive a new message.
• Show contacts' status changes: If set, qTox will show contact status changes in your chat window.
• Group chats always notify: If set, qTox will notify you on every new message in a groupchat.
• Place groupchats at top of friend list: If checked, your groupchats will be at the top of the contacts list instead of being sorted with your other contacts.
• Faux offline messaging: If enabled, qTox will attempt to send messages when a currently offline contact comes online again.
• Compact contact list: If set, qTox will use a contact list layout which takes up less screen space.
• Multiple windows mode: If enabled, the qTox user interface will be split into multiple independent windows. For details see Multi Window Mode.
  • Open each chat in an individual window: If checked, a new window will be opened for every chat you open. If you manually grouped the chat into another window, the window which hosts the chat will be focused.

Theme

• Use emoticons: If enabled, qTox will replace smileys ( e.g. :-) ) with corresponding graphical emoticons.
• Smiley Pack: Allows you to choose from different sets of shipped emoticon styles.
• Emoticon size: Allows you to change the size of the emoticons.
• Style: Changes the appearance of qTox.
• Theme color: Changes the colors qTox uses.
• Timestamp format: Change the format in which qTox displays message timestamps.
• Date format: Same as above for the date.

Connection Settings

• Enable IPv6 (recommended): If enabled, qTox will use IPv4 and IPv6 protocols, whichever is available. If disabled, qTox will only use IPv4.
• Enable UDP (recommended): If enabled, qTox will use TCP and UDP protocols. If disabled, qTox will only use TCP, which lowers the amount of open connections and slightly decreases required bandwidth, but is also slower and puts more load on other network participants.

Most users will want both options enabled, but if qTox negatively impacts your router or connection, you can try to disable them.

• Proxy type: If you want to use a proxy, set the type here. "None" disables the proxy.
• Address: If you use a proxy, enter the address here.
• Port: If you use a proxy, enter the port here.
• Reconnect: Reconnect to the Tox network, e.g. if you changed the proxy settings.

Privacy

• Send typing notifications: If enabled, notify your chat partner when you are currently typing.
• Keep chat history: If enabled, qTox will save your sent and received messages. Encrypt your profile, if you want to encrypt the chat history.

NoSpam

NoSpam is a feature of Tox that prevents a malicious user from spamming you with friend requests. If you get spammed, enter or generate a new NoSpam value. This will alter your Tox ID. You don't need to tell your existing contacts your new Tox ID, but you have to tell new contacts your new Tox ID. Your Tox ID can be found in your User Profile.

Audio/Video

Audio Settings

• Playback device: Select the device qTox should use for all audio output (notifications, calls, etc).
• Playback: Here you can adjust the playback volume to your needs.
• Capture device: Select the device qTox should use for audio input in calls.
• Microphone: Set the input volume of your microphone with this slider. When you are talking normally, the displayed volume indicator should be in the green range.
• Filter audio: If enabled, qTox will try to remove noise and echo from your audio input.

Video Settings

• Video device: Select the video device qTox should use for video calls. "None" will show a dummy picture to your chat partner. "Desktop" will stream the content of your screen.
• Resolution: You can select from the available resolutions and frame rates here. Higher resolutions provide more quality, but if the bandwidth of your connection is low, the video may get choppy.

If you set up everything correctly, you should see the preview of your video device in the box below.

• Rescan devices: Use this button to search for newly attached devices, e.g. you plugged in a webcam.

Advanced

• Make Tox portable: If enabled, qTox will load/save user data from the working directory, instead of ~/.config/tox/.
• Reset to default settings: Use this button to revert any changes you made to the qTox settings.

About

• Version: Shows the version of qTox and the libraries it depends on. Please append this information to every bug report.
• License: Shows the license under which the code of qTox is available.
• Authors: Lists the people who developed this shiny piece of software.
• Known Issues: Links to our list of known issues and improvements.

Groupchats

Groupchats are a way to talk with multiple friends at the same time, like when you are standing together in a group. To create a groupchat click the groupchat icon in the bottom left corner and set a name. Now you can invite your contacts by right-clicking on the contact and selecting "Invite to group". Currently, if the last person leaves the chat, it is closed and you have to create a new one. Videochats and file transfers are currently unsupported in groupchats.

Message Styling

Similar to other messaging applications, qTox supports stylized text formatting. Formatting follows Markdown syntax, thus:

• For Bold, surround text in double asterisks or underscores: **text** or __text__
• For Italics, surround text in single asterisks or underscores: *text* or _text_
• For Strikethrough, surround text in single tilde's: ~text~
• For Underline, surround text in single dashes: -text-

Additionally, qTox supports three modes of Markdown parsing:

• Plaintext: No text is stylized
• Show Formatting Characters: Stylize text while showing formatting characters (Default)
• Don't Show Formatting Characters: Stylize text without showing formatting characters

Note that any change in Markdown preference will require a restart.

Multi Window Mode

In this mode, qTox will separate its main window into a single contact list and one or multiple chat windows, which allows you to have multiple conversations on your screen at the same time. Additionally you can manually group chats into a window by dragging and dropping them onto each other. This mode can be activated and configured in settings.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The following shortcuts are currently supported:

Shortcut	Action
Arrow up	Paste last sent message
CTRL + SHIFT + L	Clear chat
CTRL + q	Quit qTox
CTRL + Page Down	Switch to the next contact
CTRL + Page Up	Switch to the previous contact
CTRL + TAB	Switch to the next contact
CTRL + SHIFT + TAB	Switch to the previous contact