Sharepoint Messenger is meant to fill a gap in the social domain of Sharepoint. Sharepoint is an all in one solution however it is not a full experience without real-time private messaging out of the box. There are great social tools for Sharepoint but I felt this was lacking.

There are solutions out there that are great for chat sites, having all messages visible or relying on an external SQL database but this project is encapsulated by Sharepoint completely. You don't need to set up any external tools. Sharepoint Messenger is designed to simplify the user's experience by not having to leave Sharepoint to chat with other users. I want to make direct communication quick and painless using Sharepoint.

Utilizing jQuery, AJAX, WCF Web services (RESTFUL) and a single Sharepoint Webpart you can view the available group contacts, private messages (multiple via jQuery UI) and message in realtime. Messages are held in a Sharepoint list and secured with permissions on conversations (SPFolders).

Note: Sharepoint Messenger has been tested with Sharepoint 2010 Foundation. I haven't worked with 2007 or 2013...yet. I would be interested to know if the install does work on 2013 if any one has the time.

Sharepoint Messenger is made up currently of two features. One handles creating content types, custom fields, permissions, roles and the webpart that you will utilize. The other handles creating the list, folders and other files. It is extremely simple to set up. Four step process:

Activate Site Feature

Activate Web Feature

Add users to the Sharepoint Messenger Group

Add Webpart to whatever location you want

Start Messaging! :D

For the time being this is a one man crew and I would like to grow not only in becoming a Sharepoint master but also sharing my knowledge as I grow and Sharepoint Messenger grows. (hopefully) :)

Please contact me for more information, questions, add issues/bugs etc. I am also very open to new functionality ideas and will have a document up for Future Features.