Forgive me if this has already been stated above but :
I have discovered we can PM (aka DM) users if we don’t want to share wider, which is useful BUT
I am not receiving an email to let me know someone has replied, only a Green count button on the top left of my icon when I next return to the computer.
I was expecting to receive emails about replies like we do in this Forum.
Is there a setting I’ve missed?
Is the option “Send me an e-mail when I receive a message” activated? I thought this one would work when you receive an answer too…
I never set anything and I do get emails when somebody PMs…
Thanks @Onesmy, I got told about this reply as it’s in the open forum.
I’ve had to have a look and there doesn’t seem to be an option for PMs, although I see @hydroptere does get notified.
@DW7, I think @Onesmy called it [almost] correctly. There is a checkbox for “send me an email when someone messages me” in the preferences area. That’s the one you need to tick. 
I’m not sure I really understand what you meant… Doesn’t that option work? This is just a screenshot of my settings, but shouldn’t that work? I feel a bit confused as to what you were talking about, actually… 
Thank you both @alanh & @Onesmy, however that has been ticked (all the time) and sends me emails about posts in the Forum but it seems that it hasn’t send me an email about a PMs.
However I do have the last box un-ticked (“Send me email notifications even when I am active on the site”) so perhaps if I am on-line it doesn’t send me an email and I have to rely on looking at my icon.
I’ll tick that and see what happens.
As I don’t get many ‘private’ messages, it’s not a thing I can test easily. 
That was very clever @Onesmy, putting a red box around the choice.
Did you manipulate the image in a photo program?
Am I reading sarcasm here? 
I’m sorry if you found that stupid, that’s a bad habit I obtained after a lot of confusing screenshots where not having the mouse on screen was a bother. Thanks to that, I became really proficient at using Paint and can now draw perfect red rectangles. I’m still struggling with the perfect red circles though, so unfortunately these will have to wait until I’m done training.
Hi @Onesmy, oh dear, have I understood you correctly?
I am never critical (sarcastic), I really wanted to know how you made such a clear image so I could learn and copy the technique in future.
I thought your image was excellent and very helpful, so thank you.
To answer your question about circles:
In professional programmes (which I no longer have access to), to draw a perfect circle you hold the control key down while dragging a circle (possible having first selected the circle/ ellipse tool).
Sorry for this reply. I wasn’t really sure how to read your message so I assumed the worst (such a big word for sarcasm). Since I just used Paint to paste and modify my screenshot, I thought you might be making fun of me for trying too hard to get a clear image of something that might not have needed these few seconds of drawing a red rectangle.
Next time, I’ll know better and won’t assume that you are being sarcastic when you are merely asking something. Sorry for that. 
Edit: Wow. I’m not sure Paint would have this feature, but Gimp probably does. Well, it would feel like using a bulldozer to kill a fly to use Gimp to modify a screenshot… Thank you!
I just tried that. Holding down Shift works
On-topic perhaps: private messages on Discourse, the software that this forum runs on, are not so private: staff can open the messages as easily as they can open a thread. I’m sure they won’t, or perhaps don’t even know they can yet, but still.
So pleased my tip worked in helping you draw a true circle.
I had a steep learning curve when I was given professional programs at work to produce high quality work. However now, at home, I am left with just Irfanview (which I love and and is excellent) and Gimp (which I’ve downloaded but hardly used).
PS Edit - YES! Irfanview now allows items like draw a circle but one holds the shift key! I cannot recommend that free program more highly!
Re PMs, I learnt a long time ago that nothing electronic is private. But I would hopefully never write anything to offend anyone. My failing is trying to be too helpful (if you have seen some of my posts).
Hi @Onesmy & @Arete_Hime , as this thread is about “Private Messaging”, and we have drifted (although very helpful to each-other), do you think we now ought to delete our other posts?
But it has been nice to have space to discuss our issues and help each-other.
For what it’s worth, no, no! Don’t delete! I’ve found your discussion useful and am noting down these tips for future reference. Other people might like them too 
Also, I just tested the forum ‘search’ option from the main ‘Categories’ page and it works in bringing up these posts when you search, say, ‘Irfanview’ or ‘rectangle’. So therefore the information is still useful and accessible even when buried in an apparently unrelated discussion.
That’s useful to know as it means the forum threads don’t have to be absolutely tidy!
Hi @Parrac, thanks for those supportive and helpful comments.
How interesting that you looked in this thread even though you weren’t previously a contributor (and so weren’t notified). It proves this community works.
Actually what I think could be done (but it is probably not worth the effort) is for any bits that are not about PMs to be moved to a new thread with an appropriate title. Ie the points are preserved but in a more appropriate place and this thread is only PMs as it was intended.
But I don’t mind what happens - but I won’t delete them, then. Thanks again for your comments.
i like private messages i already give idea to memrise team to make chatroom option for good future
I really need to msg someone… but I don’t think that person will be able to message back… or see my message even if I am able to sent it… this is imho a pretty bad system.
@darkbrowncardinal What is leading you to think that the person that you send a PM to will be unable to see it or send a message back?
