Posted on March 14, 2013 Written by Sophia Smith

Skype is probably the best instant messaging software out there. Skype is a power house in the world of instant communications. You have Skype voice calls that allow you to dwindle down your international calling expenses to a fraction of what you are generally used to. Then, you have an amazing messaging feature that allows you to instantly find and connect people from anywhere in the world, by searching for name, location or Skype handle. There is group chat, ridiculously easy media transfer facilities and so much more, not to mention that unmistakably easy to use sky blue interface, interspersed with attractive, bright colors like orange and yellow, for a seamless IM Chat experience! To get Skype for Mac, use this free download link.

Below, we will give you some amazing tips and tricks on Skype for mac.

Keyboard shortcuts for Skype – Yes, you can change them!

Skype, by default, is not set up very well when it comes to working with Mac keyboard shortcuts. As an example, when you press cmd+w, like you probably do with many apps on your mac, you will find that you just kick yourself out of a conversation. You have probably done it before and probably continue to do it, out of sheer, frustrating habit.

Thankfully, you can change that. Here’s how you do it.

Changing keyboard shortcuts for Skype on a Mac

• Open up System Preferences
• Select Keyboard and then Keyboard Shortcuts
• Click on the + sign to add in a new keyboard shorcut
• Choose Skype as the application of your choice and then also choose the menu title that you want to change
• Enter your new keyboard shortcut!
• Skype will now respond to your shortcuts, like how you want it to!

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Use alerts smartly

Skype alerts, depending on how populated your contact list it, can be a boon or a bane. Most people that I have talked to have however said that Skype alerts can be rather annoying, with that “Blip” sound popping up constantly and unexpectedly, along with that bright orange bounce that invariably draws the eyes away from maybe what could be more important things to you.

Once again, Skype has given users full control to control the nature of these alerts. If you wish, you can customize the alerts in such a way that you are only notified of new conversations but are not bothered with a boring, useless chat, once it has started in a group. You can also disable sounds or even that orange bounce alert if you choose to. It is all up to you.

Don’t let Skype alerts bother you

• Open up the preferences tab in Skype
• Choose Notifications
• Select a particular event and then change all the notification preferences, according to your needs
• More advanced and particular preferences can be changed by going into the “Details” tab, right next to the overview tab
• Enjoy Skype without unnecessary alerts that bothered you in the past!

Fire up Skype automatically, as soon as your Mac starts

While it is easy for you to have Skype start up automatically when Windows starts, there is no auto-setup for a Mac. However, with a couple of easy manual steps, you can easily set up Skype in such a way that it starts off automatically, every time you start off your Mac. Here’s how you do it.

• Go to applications
• Select System Preferences
• Select the option that says Users & Groups
• Select Login Items
• Select the user account that you use when you login
• Check or un-check Skype from the list of applications, depending on whether you want Skype to start or not

There you have it, what we think are three great tips that you can use to get the most out of Skype for mac. Of course, there might be many more tips or tricks that you might have come across at other sites and you might have your own suggestions as well! If you do, we would love to hear from you. Drop us a line by using the comment box. We will be glad to publish your comment and comment on it as well!