Adding Context to Lync Conversations

The wonderful thing about Lync is that you can initiate communication across all available modalities no matter what application you are currently working in.  While this has been true since OCS, Lync has taken it a step further.

Take the scenario of when you are digging through your emails and need to respond to one.  You know that if you reply with an email, the conversation is going to go back and forth a few times.  So you would rather take care of it in an IM conversation.  By hovering over the presence icon, you can initiate an IM conversation.

When the IM window opens, two things happen.  The IM window is labeled with the same subject as the email and a link is provided for any participants to open up the email that is being referenced. 

This is great because when the recipient gets the IM, they can immediately click the link and read the email in context. 

Users can also define the subject of any conversation.  When starting a conversation, the Conversation Subject can be defined by selecting the options and selecting “Change Conversation Subject”

The user can then define the subject of the conversation:

When the recipient gets the toast, the Conversation Subject is shown:

Now the conversation window will be labeled with that subject: