The post described 3 excellent apps for recording calls, managing history and using a whiteboard in call. But there are lots more things you can do with Skype apps, such as launching multiple accounts, adding spell checks, translating chats and initiating calls with one click.
Some Skype apps require permission through Skype itself. For a full explanation on how to do this, check out Tina’s post. And now, let’s check out some awesome Skype apps!
Multi Skype Launcher
If you’re regularly using more than one Skype account on the same computer, and you’re tired of constantly signing in and signing out of different accounts, Multi Skype Launcher is going to come in mighty handy.
Simply download the app, add all your Skype accounts, and you’re read to go. Whenever you want to launch more than one account, open Multi Skype Launcher, and launch the accounts you wish to use. For each account you add, you can choose to auto login when the computer starts, and whether it starts minimized or not.
Note that if you choose to auto login, you should disable Skype’s native auto login option from Tools –> Options – > General Settings to prevent confusion.
The app works seamlessly, and I was able to use both my Skype accounts at the same time without a hitch.
Ursa Spell Checker
In today’s world, it’s becoming harder and harder to write without those built-in spell checkers we’re so used to. They’re everywhere, and we rely on them to catch embarrassing typos and even more embarrassing spelling mistakes. Skype chat, however, doesn’t have one. Ursa Spell Checker adds this functionality to Skype, complete with suggestions for correct spelling in a context menu.
Ursa Spell Checker works on an individual user basis. You set up hotkeys to enable and disable it, and whenever you want it to work, simply hit the activation hotkey you set up in the preferences. If you’re chatting to several users at the same time, you will have to enable it for each and every one. This is both a down side and an up side, depending on how you look at it.
You can download multiple languages to Ursa and enjoy a spell checker for different languages. I only tried Ursa with English, so let us know in the comments how it fares with other languages.
Clownfish for Skype
If you need more than a simple spell checker, or if Ursa is not what you’re looking for, give Clownfish for Skype a try. This app offers live translation and text-to-speech, on top of a multi-language spell checker.
The app’s context menu is a bit intimidating at first, but once you brave its sheer size, it’s not that complicated to navigate through.
For translations, you can choose between several different dictionaries, and then set them up for the languages you want to use, or simply let Skype auto detect the languages. You can also encrypt messages, set up the spell checker (which you will have to download dictionaries for), set up text to speech and more.
This is a really useful little app that can make your life easier if you often chat in different languages and need to constantly copy and paste into Google Translate. As I’ve mentioned earlier, the app’s interface is a bit hard to swallow at first, but don’t give up, there are some real gems to be found.
Click.to
Click.to is a brilliant time-saver which is not meant for Skype only, but personally, I find that it’s especially useful when used with Skype. What Click.to does is take data from your clipboard and then lets you use this data in other applications. So how does this help us with Skype? Simple. Say someone just gave you a phone number in an e-mail or a chat, or you’ve found a phone number you need to call in a customer service website. Instead of copying, opening Skype, and pasting, you can use a Click.to shortcut.
When you first install Click.to, you can choose which services it will offer to use. I chose only Skype.
Then, when someone give you a phone number anywhere, simply highlight it, copy it to the clipboard and a set of buttons will appear. If you click the Skype button, a call will immediately be initiated. Simple, and very very useful.
You can easily change things like what shortcuts it offers, the icons’ size and location and whether it offers these shortcuts automatically.
Conclusion
If you use Skype a lot, you’re going to enjoy the enhancements these apps provide. But there are many other apps out there that can enhance your Skype experience. Know of some really good ones? Let us know in the comments, so we know what to try next!
No comments:
Post a Comment
[Please do not advertise, or post irrelevant links. Thank you for your cooperation.]