How to open new IM in Empathy (instead of having to clicking envelope)?

Question

Is there a way to configure Empathy so that when a new IM arrives I can open it using a keyboard shortcut rather than having to click the envelope icon of the Indicator Applet?

Answer 1

It isn't exactly what you want, but in Empathy there is an unfortunately-labelled box in preferences: “Display incoming events in the notification area.”

Make sure that isn't checked and new messages will open right away in the background.

Answer 2

This answer to another Empathy question might meet your needs.

Answer 3

You can do it using the xdotool package.

1. Make sure xdotool is installed
   sudo apt-get install xdotool

2. Open a new bash script called messaging.sh, and paste the following code into it.

   #! /bin/bash  
   mp=$(xdotool getmouselocation | sed 's/x:\(\w\+\) y:\(\w\+\) scr.*/\1 \2/')  
   xdotool mousemove --clearmodifiers 951 10 click --clearmodifiers 1 mousemove --clearmodifiers $mp
   

3. Save it, mark it as executable (you can do this in the file properties).

4. Bind it to a hotkey of your liking (you can do this by going into "Keyboard Shortcuts" in the main menu).

All it really does is move the mouse on top of the icon, click the icon, and move the mouse back where it was. I have it bound to F11 and so far it's great.

Important: the number 951 inside the script depends on the resolution and will not work on your monitor. It is the x coordinate of the messaging menu icon in your screen, you have to tweak it until it works.

Answer 4

The solution I ended up using is as follows:

1. Launch empathy.
2. Right click on the launcher in the navigation bar
3. Select "keep launcher".
4. Finally remember the position where the laucher is (lets say 3), and whenever you want to focus on Empathy just press WIN+3. If the chat window was not on focus last time in that workspace you can just press WIN+3 twice till you see the chat window.

N.B.: The options name may differ as my actual version is not in english.

Answer 5

I think the default shortcut for the messaging menu is Super+M (Super = Windows-key).

There is at least one Compiz extension that uses that shortcut too. In that case you have to remove that shortcut in Compiz, and then restart the indicator-applet (e.g. log out & back in).