Finding and reading messages

Once a discussion gets going, new messages can come in very quickly. To help you keep on top of things, new messages are identified in a number of places.

On your course homepage, the Updates widget lists the total number of unread messages for all discussion topics in your course.

In the Forums & Topics List (found by clicking on the Discussions Tool on your navbar), the number of unread messages appears beneath each topic. To see only topics with new messages, select Topics with Unread from the Display drop-down list. If you have the Discussions List pane visible you can see topics with unread messages in bold.

You can also choose to subscribe to specific discussion forums, threads, or messages and receive an email notification when there is a new post.

Table of contents

1. Reading messages in Discussions
2. Following a discussion forum, thread, or message
3. Managing discussion subscriptions and settings
4. Searching for messages in Discussions
5. Marking a discussion message as read or unread
6. Flagging a message in Discussions
7. Printing messages in Discussions

Reading messages in Discussions

There are two ways to view messages inside a topic—use the Grid Style message list or the Reading Style message list. See Discussions settings to learn how to change your view.

In the Grid Style message list, a list of messages appears at the top of the page, showing the subject, author, and date for each message. Click a message’s subject to read the message; the full message appears at the bottom of the screen or in a new window, depending on your personal settings.

In the Reading Style message list, the full text of every message is always displayed. Click the Mark Read link below a message’s header to tell the system when you’ve read a message.

In either style, use the View drop-down list to switch between Threaded view, where messages are grouped with their replies, and one of the Unthreaded views (All Messages, Unread Only, Flagged Only) where you can sort messages any way you like.

Following a discussion forum, topic, or message thread

You can receive email and SMS notifications to discussion forums, topics, and message threads that you subscribe to. Ensure your Notifications settings are set up properly.

Subscribe to notifications

Click the Subscribe icon for a forum, topic, or message to receive notifications of new posts. In some views, the icon might be a button.

Unsubscribe from notifications

Click the Unsubscribe icon for a forum, topic, or message to stop receiving notifications. In some views, the icon might be a button.

Managing discussion subscriptions and settings

You can make changes to your subscriptions in Notifications, and in the Subscriptions area of Discussions.

Change default frequency of notifications and email address

1. Click Notifications from the personal menu on the minibar.
2. Configure your preferences on the Notifications page.
3. Click Save.

Manage subscriptions for forums, threads, or messages

1. Do one of the following:
   • Click Subscriptions from the tool navigation.
   • At the top of a message list, click Subscriptions from the More Actions button.
2. Modify your Notification Frequency settings, or unsubscribe from any forum, topic or message thread you do not want to follow.

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Searching for messages in Discussions

1. On the Discussions List page, click on the topic you want to search for messages.
2. If the Search For field is not visible at the top of a message list, click Show Search from the More Actions button.
3. Enter the terms you want to find in the Search For field and click Search.
4. To perform an advanced search:
   1. Click the Show Search Options.
   2. Specify additional search criteria from the options displayed beneath the Search For field.
   3. Click Search.

To see all messages again, click Clear Search.

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Marking a discussion message as read or unread

If you are using the Grid Style message list, messages are automatically marked as read when you open them (depending on your site’s configuration), but if you are using the Reading Style message list or you print messages to read them you will need to manually mark messages as read to indicate to the system that the message is no longer new.

In some cases you might also want to manually mark a message as unread—for example, if you open the message from the Grid Style message list but do not finish reading it.

Mark a message read or unread

Do one of the following:

• In the Grid Style message list, select one or more messages from the list and click the Mark Read or Mark Unread icon at the top of the list.
• In the Reading Style message list, click the Mark Read or Mark Unread link below the message header.
• In either view, to mark all messages in the topic read click Mark All Read on the action bar.

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Flagging a message in Discussions

Flagging messages is a good way to mark a message if you want to read it again later or monitor replies.

To flag or un-flag a message, click the Not Flagged – Click to Flag this item or Flagged – Click to Unflag this item icon next to the message’s subject.

You can quickly find your flagged messages by selecting “Flagged Only” from the View drop-down list at the top right of the message list.

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Printing messages in Discussions

If you are using the Grid Style message list, you can view messages in a printable format and send the messages to your printer.

1. In the Grid Style message list, select the messages you want to print.
2. Click the View Selected Messages as Printable icon.
3. Click Print.

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See also

• Setting your notifications
• Posting and replying to messages