simple messaging / communication between local users

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
i was just looking at a website, and i wanted to send my wife the link. we use the same computer and fast-switch between profiles. i thought for a second, and then sent her an email. a freakin' email. shouldn't there be a simpler way to do this? i mean, i could have dropped something in her public folder, but that's harder than sending an email. maybe there is a way that i don't know of, but it seems like a super-simple messenging system between users on the same computer would be just lovely

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 26
    bergzbergz Posts: 1,045member
    Snaptalk and snapmail are the only ones I know of. Find them on macupdate or versiontracker.



    --B
  • Reply 2 of 26
    Quote:

    Originally posted by progmac

    i was just looking at a website, and i wanted to send my wife the link. we use the same computer and fast-switch between profiles. i thought for a second, and then sent her an email. a freakin' email. shouldn't there be a simpler way to do this? i mean, i could have dropped something in her public folder, but that's harder than sending an email. maybe there is a way that i don't know of, but it seems like a super-simple messenging system between users on the same computer would be just lovely



    edit: can a mod correct the giant typo in the thread title?




    What's wrong with the general "shared" folder. Just drag and drop

    a web adress into that folder, done.
  • Reply 3 of 26
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Vox Barbara

    What's wrong with the general "shared" folder. Just drag and drop

    a web adress into that folder, done.




    yeah, nice. didn't think of that. i plopped a shortcut to the folder on our docks and now all is well. plus, i always forget you can drag around urls by clicking on that icon left of http
  • Reply 4 of 26
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by progmac

    yeah, nice. didn't think of that. i plopped a shortcut to the folder on our docks and now all is well. plus, i always forget you can drag around urls by clicking on that icon left of http



    Don't forget the Services menu in Safari. Under Mail there is "Send Selection", which can be the web link text.



    Safari->Services->Mail
  • Reply 5 of 26
    It would be a neat idea to be able to send a little message to someone's desktop and have it appear as a little floating message window.
  • Reply 6 of 26
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MPMoriarty

    It would be a neat idea to be able to send a little message to someone's desktop and have it appear as a little floating message window.



    i agree. a more elegant solution to this would be very welcome
  • Reply 7 of 26
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MPMoriarty

    It would be a neat idea to be able to send a little message to someone's desktop and have it appear as a little floating message window.



    That's what IM software is for, isn't it? Except I see neither iChat nor Adium have an option to send messages to people who are offline. ICQ and Gaim could do that just fine. Back on Windows, when I used those two apps, I did it all the time and never sent e-mail.



    Another idea. I am not at all sure how you could rig it to work right between multiple users, but Growl http://growl.info/ can be used in conjunction with very simple folder action / Applescript, so that it gives a big visible graphical notification whenever a new item is put into the Shared folder.
  • Reply 8 of 26
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Hmmm. A series of shared folder scripts (do Folder Actions get shared across users if they're attached and reside in /Library? I'm sure not, so they'd have to be attached from within each account, but...) that are attached to each user's subfolder in Shared (or heck, the Drop Box in each user's Public folder) that adds a new Stickie to let them know something new is there?



    It's late. That was garbled. Meh. You'll get it.
  • Reply 9 of 26
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    Hmmm. A series of shared folder scripts (do Folder Actions get shared across users if they're attached and reside in /Library? I'm sure not, so they'd have to be attached from within each account, but...) that are attached to each user's subfolder in Shared (or heck, the Drop Box in each user's Public folder) that adds a new Stickie to let them know something new is there?



    It's late. That was garbled. Meh. You'll get it.




    no



    EDIT: It was early. I mean: yes.
  • Reply 10 of 26
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    To recap, what I suggested was



    - make Applescript that checks the shared folder for new stuff, and if the other user of the computer put something there for you, you get a notification about it

    - use Growl for notification (see website for what this is)

    - both users have their own copies of this script running so they get the notifications



    And Kickaha refined the idea thusly:



    - instead of Growl, use Applescript to make a new Stickie to serve as notification



    Either might work, but I'd wager making a Stickie is more robust.



    With my other idea, to use an instant messenger like ICQ, there is a potential problem of it not being able to run on two users on same computer at the same time. Even if such a problem exists, if you don't use Quick User Switching but logoff/login, this should work perfectly for sending simple messages and URL's and be the easiest way.



    Does OS X software in general have any problems nowadays running two copies? I think when I tried QUS half a year ago, something just didn't work right.
  • Reply 11 of 26
    Windows has a neat little feature that does this. If two computers are networked and in the same workgroup, you can use the DOS window to send messages accross the network.



    I can remeber the exact command for it, but it something like



    message \\\\OtherComputer "This is the message"



    I'm not sure if any other OSes have that. Haven't seen it in any linux or unix OSes (but im no expert...)
  • Reply 12 of 26
    bergzbergz Posts: 1,045member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MPMoriarty

    It would be a neat idea to be able to send a little message to someone's desktop and have it appear as a little floating message window.



    Snapmail does that.



    cross-platform in-house messaging & file-transfer utility



    --B
  • Reply 13 of 26
    A folder action that creates a sticky note?
  • Reply 14 of 26
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    The Windows message utility does not do this (transmit messages and URL's to another user on the same computer).



    Snapmail looks okay otherwise but costly - probably a bad choice for the intended use.
  • Reply 15 of 26
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gon

    The Windows message utility does not do this (transmit messages and URL's to another user on the same computer).



    Snapmail looks okay otherwise but costly - probably a bad choice for the intended use.




    I know, thats why i said networked computers.



    How about iChat's Bonjour though ? Does that work accross multiple logins on the same computer ?
  • Reply 16 of 26
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BoeManE

    Windows has a neat little feature that does this. If two computers are networked and in the same workgroup, you can use the DOS window to send messages accross the network.



    I can remeber the exact command for it, but it something like



    message \\\\OtherComputer "This is the message"



    I'm not sure if any other OSes have that. Haven't seen it in any linux or unix OSes (but im no expert...)




    it's neat until you connect to the internet. If I remember correctly, it was designed for sysadmins to send notices to users, except advertisers began using to send spam. On my windows laptop, I had to turn the feature off because it was getting messages right and left...



    (note: I think this is the same thing you're talking about, but I'm not entirely sure...anyone?)
  • Reply 17 of 26
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gon

    To recap, what I suggested was



    - make Applescript that checks the shared folder for new stuff, and if the other user of the computer put something there for you, you get a notification about it

    - use Growl for notification (see website for what this is)

    - both users have their own copies of this script running so they get the notifications



    And Kickaha refined the idea thusly:



    - instead of Growl, use Applescript to make a new Stickie to serve as notification



    Either might work, but I'd wager making a Stickie is more robust.



    With my other idea, to use an instant messenger like ICQ, there is a potential problem of it not being able to run on two users on same computer at the same time. Even if such a problem exists, if you don't use Quick User Switching but logoff/login, this should work perfectly for sending simple messages and URL's and be the easiest way.



    Does OS X software in general have any problems nowadays running two copies? I think when I tried QUS half a year ago, something just didn't work right.




    great, thanks a ton. i'll play around with a growl and stickies solutions and see what happens. i'll post the results, of course, but now i'm going out for the evening.
  • Reply 18 of 26
    Quote:

    Originally posted by progmac

    great, thanks a ton. i'll play around with a growl and stickies solutions and see what happens. i'll post the results, of course, but now i'm going out for the evening.



    Well, don't let us in the dark, though...
  • Reply 19 of 26
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gon

    That's what IM software is for, isn't it? Except I see neither iChat nor Adium have an option to send messages to people who are offline. ICQ and Gaim could do that just fine. Back on Windows, when I used those two apps, I did it all the time and never sent e-mail.



    Another idea. I am not at all sure how you could rig it to work right between multiple users, but Growl http://growl.info/ can be used in conjunction with very simple folder action / Applescript, so that it gives a big visible graphical notification whenever a new item is put into the Shared folder.




    Yeah, but the IM software has to be used by both parties. What if the other person doesn't have IM software on their account. And even if they did, if it's not on, they won't get the message immediately. A simple account 2 account messaging system would be nice.
  • Reply 20 of 26
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    okay, the folder notification thing was MUCH easier than i thought it would be. all i had to do was right click on the desktop and go to "enable folder actions" and then right click on the shared folder and click "attach a folder option" and then use the default premade applescript called "new item notification" and now whenever a file is dropped in the shared folder, a notification is made.



    using growl, it is the same deal. after downloading growl, put the example scripts in /library/scripts or ~/library/scripts and then it will use a growl notification.



    i'd really like to do this with stickies, but it appears that stickies aren't apple-scriptable. anyone know anything about this?
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