Is it possible for me to share photos, pdf files, word docs or other data files with my friends via Skype? Or is Skype just video and text chat?
Certainly the original design of Skype is as a video chat service, but lots of people have realized it also offers a secure text chat service too. Secure? Well, at least more secure than Facebook chat or Yahoo Instant Messenger, as far as I have been able to ascertain. Of course, if you’re not sharing state secrets then it might not be that big a deal, but still, it’s nice to know that it’s darn hard for third parties to sneak into the conversation.
Skype explains it thusly, if you’re curious:
“All Skype-to-Skype voice, video, and instant message conversations are encrypted. This protects you from potential eavesdropping by malicious users… For instant messages, we use TLS (transport-level security) to encrypt your messages between your Skype client and the chat service, then AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) between the chat service and the cloud platform.”
Got it?
Now, on to your question, because it’s a good one!
On the face of it, Skype really looks like just a text messaging service, there’s no “add file” there’s no paperclip icon (like LinkedIn), nothing. Just a small entry box and a smiley face to add an emoticon or two.
But drag an image file over that box and something interesting happens:
Can you see? The “+” icon has shown up, indicating that it’s ready to make a copy (in standard Mac icon language).
This is a chat window at the bottom of a discussion with one — or more! — other people.
Once you “drop” the file icon onto the window, it uploads:
Then on the other side they’ll need to accept the file transfer. It looks kinda like this:
Click on “Decline” and the file never appears on your computer. But hopefully Derick will click “Accept”.
Looks like he’s going to, as Skype indicates that something’s happening:
Then it’s done successfully:
So that’s all there is to it. Why there’s no “drop zone” area, even a tiny one, I cannot explain, but just remember, if you need to transfer a file securely, Skype is your best friend. Just drag and drop it.