Kopete's Protocols
Kopete calls different IM systems 'Protocols'. When you add an account, it is specific to a single protocol. Although Kopete tries to make instant messaging appear the same, no matter what protocol you use, there are some differences in the level of support for advanced features such as file transfer and multimedia.

Protocols

AIM
AIM supports chatrooms. Use the Join Chat... command on the AIM account menu to join a chatroom. Contact pictures and custom emoticons are also supported.

ICQ
ICQ has an Invisibility feature which allows you to hide from selected contacts. You may also search the ICQ user folder when adding a contact. A wide range of contact details can be set using the Properties option.

MSN
MSN supports the sending and receiving of webcams, if your camera is supported by the Video4Linux 2 (v4l2) standard. To view someones webcam, right click on their MSN butterfly icon and select View Contact's Webcam. File transfer and multi user chats work. To transfer a file, drag the file from or the desktop into the chat window. To invite someone else into a chat, drag them from the Contact List into the chat window. The File menu also contains these commands. In addition, MSN supports custom emoticons.
To use file transfer or a webcam, make sure port 6891 is forwarded to your computer.

Yahoo
Yahoo can send and receive webcam video. It also supports Yahoo mail and the Yahoo address book from the account menu. Conferencing is also possible.

Jabber
Jabber, also known as XMPP, supports file transfer, conferencing and any other services supplied by the Jabber server. For example, many Jabber servers have a user directory, and some provide transports to other messaging systems. To access services, use Services... on the account menu. Jabber file transfer can work without port forwarding, but enjoys better performance where a direct connection is possible. By default, port 8010 is used for port forwarding, but this is configurable in each account's settings.

Google Talk
Since Google Talk is based upon Jabber, it is well supported in Kopete with the exception of voice chat, which is worked upon.
To configure Kopete for Google Talk: Use your complete Google Mail address as the user name. Check Use protocol encryption (SSL), Allow plain-text password authentication and Override default server information. The server is talk.google.com or gmail.com and ports 443 or 5223 should be used.

Novell GroupWise
GroupWise Messenger is an enterprise messenging system from Novell Inc. The full range of features are supported, including privacy, group chat, rich text and user search.

Gadu-Gadu
Gadu-Gadu is a chat system originating from Poland. At present, Kopete supports basic chat functions.

WinPopup
WinPopup is a way to use Kopete to send and receive messages with computers on the local network. The WinPopup protocol only supports single, plain-text messages.

Other protocols
As well as the protocols named above, Kopete has support for several other protocols. In most cases, this is not enabled by default or an additional plugin must be installed. Meanwhile, SMS, Skype and SILC are provided in this way. See http://kopete.kde.org for details, however, the Kopete team are not responsible for these protocols.