Using Finch

1. Getting around
   1. Abbreviations
   2. How do I switch between windows?
   3. How can I close a window?
   4. How can I show a window's menu?
   5. How can I pop up a widget's context menu?
   6. How can I enable the mouse?
   7. If I enable the mouse, I cannot select text from the terminal any more.
   8. My arrow keys are not working. What can I do?
   9. How do I see the parts of a large window that fall below the screen?
2. Buddy List
   1. How can I add a buddy, or a chat, or a group?
   2. How can I auto-join a chat?
   3. How can I expand/collapse contacts?
   4. How can I move buddies/chats into another group?
   5. How can I show offline buddies?
   6. I closed the buddylist. Can I get it back again?
3. Conversations
   1. In chats, can I see the list of users in the chatroom?
   2. In a conversation with a contact, can I select which buddy the message …
   3. Can I select multi-line texts/urls from a conversation window?
4. Others
   1. Is there a pounce/debug/file-transfer/preference/plugins/status window?
   2. How do I get the mouse working in screen?
   3. In screen, when I press esc, there is a huge delay, how can this be …

Getting around

Abbreviations

M-<chr> means hold the META or EDIT or ALT key down while typing <chr>. If there is no META, EDIT or ALT key, instead press and release the ESC key and then type <chr>.

How do I switch between windows?

You can press M-n/M-p to go to the next/previous window, or M-N where N is 1-9. You can also press M-w to bring out a list of all the windows. In the window list, you can select a row and press return to go to that window.

How can I close a window?

Press M-c.

How can I show a window's menu?

The default key-binding is F10. Note that not all windows have a menu.

How can I pop up a widget's context menu?

The default key-binding is F11.

How can I enable the mouse?

In ~/.gntrc, set mouse = 1 under [general]. If you use screen, read more.

If I enable the mouse, I cannot select text from the terminal any more.

When the mouse is enabled, hold shift to use your terminal's mouse selecting.

My arrow keys are not working. What can I do?

Make sure there is a correct terminfo setting for your terminal. For example, try setting $TERM to "screen" instead of "screen.linux".

How do I see the parts of a large window that fall below the screen?

Press alt+ctrl+j to scroll down, and alt+ctrl+k to scroll up.

Buddy List

How can I add a buddy, or a chat, or a group?

• Select a group in the buddylist.
• Press F11 to bring out the context menu. Select "Add Buddy" or "Add Chat".

How can I auto-join a chat?

• Select the chat in the buddylist.
• Bring out the context menu. Select 'Auto-join'.

How can I expand/collapse contacts?

• Select the contact and press Space.

How can I move buddies/chats into another group?

• Select the buddy/chat you want to move in the buddylist.
• Press 't' to tag the buddy/chat. You can tag more than one buddy/chat at the same time if you want.
• Select the buddy/group you want to move the tagged buddies to.
• Press 'a' to attach. The buddies will be attached to the selected contact. The chats will be attached to the current group.

How can I show offline buddies?

• In the buddylist, press F10 to bring up the menu.
• Select 'Options' | 'Toggle offline buddies'

I closed the buddylist. Can I get it back again?

Yes! Press alt-a to bring out the actions menu, select 'Buddy List'.

Conversations

In chats, can I see the list of users in the chatroom?

Yes. Use the /users command. (after 2.0.0. Until then, press tab and all the users will be presented in the tab-completion dropdown)

In a conversation with a contact, can I select which buddy the message is sent to?

Yes. Bring out the menu for the conversation window. Select the buddy from the 'Send To' menu. (after 2.0.0)

Can I select multi-line texts/urls from a conversation window?

Yes. First, enable the mouse. Then click+drag the mouse to select the text. This will copy the selected text into the internal clipboard. You can then press alt+shift+c, which will show the text from the internal clipboard at the top of the screen. You can then select the text using your terminal's mouse selecting. Press alt+shift+c to close the clipboard container.

Others

Is there a pounce/debug/file-transfer/preference/plugins/status window?

Yes! Press alt-a to bring out the actions menu. Select the window you want to see.

How do I get the mouse working in screen?

You can do a bunch of things with the mouse in finch (after putting "mouse = 1" in ~/.gntrc), including selecting text over multiple lines in conversation windows, which is hard to do with the mouse selection in your terminal - so having the mouse enabled in finch can be advantageous. For at least a few people, screen is missing the kmous capability entry in its terminfo. Here's how to add it:

From the terminal in which you run screen, and while not in screen:

infocmp | sed -n 's/.*\(kmous=[^,]\+\).*/\1/p'

(from what I've read, for this to work in ncurses, the value "must" be "\E[M"?) Within screen:

infocmp > tmp

Open tmp and add the kmous entry from above, save and close and do:

tic tmp

In screen, when I press esc, there is a huge delay, how can this be reduced?

Finch adds its own small delay after pressing esc, to allow pressing esc then <whatever> in quick succession for alt-X shortcuts where your alt key may be missing. Screen also does this, so to avoid having both applications add the delay: maptimeout 0 into ~/.screenrc Alternatively, type C-a :maptimeout 0 while in screen.