AIM 6.0 Q&A Volume III
Many people have been having problems with issues on how buddies are shown in the Buddy List. Rather than answering them in a Q&A format, I thought it would be better to cover the Buddy List View menu in more detail.
The Buddy List View menu looks like this:
After the jump you will see an item by item description along with some tips and recommendations.
- Get Buddy Info…
- Opens the Buddy Info window for the last selected buddy. Tip: Once this window is open you can drag and drop buddies from the Buddy List to this window to see their Buddy Info. The Buddy Info window can also be opened by clicking on the i-button that is shown to the right of a buddy when you hover over it.
- Get AIM Page
- Opens the AIM page for the selected buddy. This item is disabled if there is no buddy selected.
- Address List
- Switches the view from the Buddy List to the Address List. This option will change its title to “Buddy List” when the address list is visible. Use it to go back.
- Modules
- This option opens a sub-menu that lets you open the associated module. Modules appear at the bottom of the Buddy List. Currently there are four modules: AOL Mobile, Talk Center, AOL Radio, and AOL Video. You can hide the module area by clicking on the “-” button to the right of the module title. AIM 6.0 will remember the hidden state of the modules area the next time you sign-on.
- Sort Buddy List By
- Here is how you show the buddy list by group or alphabetical order. You can toggle this at any time. This is only a view change. It will not change the order of your buddies within your groups. This item is a sort of misnomer, :), since no sorting goes on when you select by group. Perhaps a better name is “Show Buddy List By”.
- Friendly Names
- Checking this option will show the friendly name instead of the screen names for buddies that have a nickname. Friendly names are always shown in double-quotes to indicate that this is a friendly name and not an actual screen name. Right click on a buddy and select “Edit Buddy…” to set a nickname.
- Away/Idle Buddies
- Check this option to show buddies that are away and idle. NOTE: Be very careful with this option since it will completely hide buddies that are away or idle when it is not checked. If you see buddies disappear and not show up in your offline list or don’t see buddies that you just added, because they are idle or away, it might be because this option was unchecked. My advice: Un-checking the “Show Away/Idle Buddies” option should be considered harmful; don’t do it.
- Mobile Buddies
- Check this option to show buddies that are mobile. This option is also very tricky since mobile buddies will not show up as offline when you un-check this option. My advice: Keep this one checked.
- Offline Buddies
- This option lets you select how offline buddies are shown. You have three options: Within each group, as a separate “Offline” group, or not shown at all. Again, the “not shown at all” option can cause problems if you are trying to add an offline buddy to your Buddy List since you will not see it anywhere. My advice: Pick one of the two visible ones. Now that you can send messages to offline buddies, hiding them makes less sense.
- Buddy List Window Always On Top
- Check this option to keep it above all other windows while you work in another application.
- Show Logs
- This will open the log file on the selected buddy or open Windows Explorer on the logging folder if no buddy was selected or no log file was available.
- Last Seen…
- This item was actually added by the RX-Plugin. You will not see it if this plug-in is not installed. All buddy-centric commands, like this one, that are added by plug-ins will be shown here in the order that plug-ins are loaded. Buddy-centric commands are created by plug-ins for actions that can be applied to a list of buddy names. These options are shown in four places: Here, in the context menu for a buddy, in the actions menu on the Buddy List, and in the People menu of the IM window. See here for an actual description on this menu item.
January 1st, 2007 at 8:56 am
Just an idea, while you brought it up, perhaps you guys could build a frontend to the logging system like deadaims?
That would be neat
January 4th, 2007 at 1:15 am
I can’t seem to find the “link screen names” option in 6.0. Is it in there?
January 4th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Yes. You can access that by opening the Settings window (Press F7 from any AIM window), click on the “Buddy List” tab, and then click on the “Manage Linked Screen Names” link. This will take you to a web page where you can link screen names to your primary account.
January 4th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Man I am so blind, thanks for the help. FAQ is coming out great btw.
January 12th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
how come whenever i link screen names on 5.9 it doesnt transfer over to 6.0? is there any possible way i can link screen names on 6.0?
January 15th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
So, are you telling me you can’t sort by alphabetical order WITHIN your groups. You have to do it manually?. AIM definitely needs to fix that
January 15th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Jaquel, linked screen names are working in AIM 6—I am using them, to say the least ;). The linking information is common to AIM 6 and AIM 5.x so you should not need to associated them separately.
You can verify that your linked screen names are associated in AIM 6 by following the instructions in my previous comment.
Let me know if you continue to have problems.
January 15th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Ben, Agreed. This is an often requested feature and I have seen many requests about it on AOL’s beta and message board sites. So, its clear that AOL knows this is an area that could be improved.
January 22nd, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Ok, I have been trying to figure this out for ever! When you go away and you come back, and you see the Im’s recieved is like 3 or any number, how do you check those I.m’s without deleting them. This has been a very annoying problem that I have constant trouble with!
PLEASE HELP ME!
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Tiara, The IMs you receive while away on AIM 6.0 are stored in the grouped IM window. The Away Status tab is shown on top of them while you are away. You can view these IMs, without altering your away state, by clicking on the tabs on the left. To return to the Away Status tab simply click on it at the top-right of the grouped IM window. To be clear, clicking on any of those tabs will not erase any IMs or alter your away status.
January 24th, 2007 at 11:07 am
My “People” menu is dimmed on my new AOL 6.0 download, and I no longer have access to the “Find a Buddy Wizard” to add buddies by email address. Why can’t I use this feature?? Help!
January 24th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
When I have my away message on my own buddy list i dont turn idle. But when I dont have away message I see that I am idle? do others see me as idle while away? or is there something i am missing?
January 27th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Okay so I don’t understand all of the linking screennames thing because when I go the “Buddy List” tab nothing about “Managing Linking Screennames” shows up. What do I do?
January 27th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
sadgirl, Thank you for reporting this issue. I can reproduce it. While it shows you as just being away on your buddy list, it appears to be reporting you as away and idle to others.
January 27th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Taylor, I assure you that if you are running AIM 6.0, you should see a hyper-link named “Manage Linked Screen Names” at the bottom of that page in the “Buddy List” tab of the Settings window (Press F7 from the Buddy List window). Please note this link is actually grayed-out even thought it’s an active link. Just click it and it will open a browser window from which you can add or remove linked accounts.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
can someone please tell me how to open a specific group in a buddy list so i could sort them manually? i cant seem to open a complete group in my buddy list as they are never online at the same time. thanks
January 29th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
I know how to link screen names, but when ever I try to. It wont let me. Like I click on the manage linked screen names and it doesn’t do a single thing?
January 31st, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Can someone tell me how to transfer a buddy list to another screen name/computer for AIM 6.0? I can’t seem to do it on 6.0…
February 1st, 2007 at 2:20 am
Why doesn’t an idle auto-awaymessage show up when I am idle on AIM 6.0? On the old aim, I had the settings so people couldn’t actually see when I am idle or not, but if I forgot an away message, an idle message would still be sent to people if they tried to IM me when I wasn’t around. I liked it because even though it didn’t say I was idle, it didn’t look like I was ignoring my friends’ IMs. Is this feature gone on the new AIM? And if not, why is it no longer working and how can I fix it?
February 1st, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Molly, See AIM 6.0 Q&A Volume I question 4 there is a plug-in to save and load a buddy list.
Kelly, I think the auto-away message was tied to the idle disclosure. I’ll take this back to the team to see if this can be changed.
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:54 am
I am having the same problem that Tiara (1/22) had. But how do you display the grouped IM window to display the Ims you received while away without altering your away state…I can do it if the away window is minized but not if it is closed with the hide im feature activated. If I return from away, I also lose the ims before being able to read them.
February 5th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
hey.
well i have reently learned how to link screennames on 6.0 but i cat figure out how to send my buddy list from my old screenname that is linked to my new one.
so can you PLEASE HELP.
mkay. thanks
February 5th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Gretchen, Thank you very much for your comment. You bring up a very good point. This is actually too overly hidden (bonus)
The only way I know you can open the the IM windows is by double-clicking on the tray icon (the one with the yellow note pad) in the bottom-right of your screen.
You get a gold start for this comment
I’ll pass this issue on to the team. We need to surface this better somewhere.
February 6th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I need help! Um.. when linking screen names will other people know it’s the same person on?? I want to link screen names but i’m afraid that if i try anything tricky over the im that people will know im the same person on both screen names. Will they? And how can u tell which screen name is which when lookin at the buddy list.
February 8th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
once u get ur old scrrenname on ur manage buddy list, how do u actually transfer it??
February 10th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
i posted earlier on jan 24, on how i dont turn idle when i am away on my own buddy list. is this problem going to be fixed? if so, when? its kind of inconvienent. i would like to know when i turn idle on my own buddy list
February 11th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
ok. dloaded AIM 6.0 a while ago and now i want a new sn…i made one so that part is all set, and i have the two sn’s linked however, i am unaware of how to save my buddylist to my computer from one account and then load it into the other. I know this feature was available on the previous version of AIM and ive checked the help section (it tells me to go to “My AIM” which I have been unable to find in any of the menus) So if you can, mind telling me what to do XD
February 11th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
i have been looking in aim 6.0 in the buddy list but the manage linked screen names isn’t there what would be the problem
February 15th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
ejsac20, You can see my post on this here.
February 16th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Has anyone had this problem?
I’ve tried to link one of my screennames to my aol screenname, and it says that it has done it successfully, but then when I close/reopen and sign in aim again on my aol screenname, it’s not linked, and when I go back to check it says I don’t have any linked screennames. Also, it doesn’t seem to let me link my aol screenname to another screenname. Why not?
February 16th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
for months now i have been trying to figure this one out…i have adjusted my settings several times to see if it will work but nothing ever does. i have it set so that others can see that i am idle, but those little green “zZz” that are supposed to come up never do. i’ve even gone as far as deleting aim and re-downloading it. i’ve tried everything! i would really appreciate some help on this one. thanks.
February 19th, 2007 at 5:03 am
Is there an option to hide the buddy list window by getting rid of the taskbar button and just having the tray icon?? it was in previous versions, I’ve looked but can’t find it. when i select hide buddy list window from the AIM menu it signs me off.
February 21st, 2007 at 5:00 am
is there any way i can hide the aim log files on aim 6.0 so only i know where to find them? i realized each time somebody else uses the computer they keep erasing what they dont want me to see. id like to be able to keep that feature more secretive so that i actually know whats going on.. on my computer. kthanksbye. =]
February 23rd, 2007 at 12:34 am
sorry to post AGAIN but I have another question…is it possible to alphabetize the names within the groups or is it just complete alphabetical order of ALL ur buddies?
Thanx for ur time
-Ethan
February 23rd, 2007 at 8:34 am
Ethan, Thanks for asking, this feature is in the AIM 6.1 beta 2.
February 23rd, 2007 at 8:45 am
Da DaDJ, There is a setting that controls what AIM does when closing the buddy list. Open the settings window (Press F7), then Select the Sign In/Sign Out tab. Uncheck the “Sign me out of AIM when I close my Buddy List window” option.
February 24th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
I got a new screen name and i linked it to my previous one with my buddy list. How do i transfer my buddy list from my previous screen name to my new one without having to manually type in all 200+ screen names on my new screen name’s buddy list?
March 4th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
if i link screen names, how do i change expressions for a certain one?
March 5th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
how do u go idle?
March 8th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
How do I get a new AIM screen name? It keeps telling me that the field isn’t complete when it is! HELP!!!!!!!!!
March 12th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
I tried linking my screen names and followed the steps in another comment of yours. I signed out of my name and then signed back in and my linked screen names were not there! what do i do?? please help me!
March 12th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
When I go away or return from away it doesn’t update the icons next to my name ( I have myself on my buddy list. ) This is really annoying to me, the only way is to change my buddy info and save it and then my buddy list updates to reflect if I’m really away or not. Anyone help?
March 14th, 2007 at 9:44 am
When my computer goes in idle my aim automatically signs me off. As soon as I push a key or move the mouse it signs me back on. Please help!
March 14th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Donna, Try changing your power saving modes in Windows. AIM 6 might be getting confused into thinking that your machine is entering sleep/hybernate mode when it goes idle. This would cause it to sign off. Hitting a key or moving the mouse would wake it back up. Let me know if this fixes it.
March 15th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
I still need help with getting a new screen name! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 16th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Im having the same problem as steve, about 4 posts up. Away messages dont appear next to my s/n when im away either. Any help?
March 19th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
does anyone no anything about the screen name problem? Please HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 19th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
does anyone know how t osend buddy lists to other screennames using 6.0 or how to at least save them?
March 19th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Lyndsey, See my post on this subject here.
March 19th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Ally, you can get a new screen name here. Just click on the “Get A Screen Name” ribbon; which is located to the right of the blue circle labeled “Mail”.
March 20th, 2007 at 8:11 am
how do u link a screen name
March 20th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Brendan, Just open the settings window from the Buddy List by Pressing F7. Then click on the text labeled “Manage Linked Screen Names” in the Buddy List tab.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:07 am
i have a new sn but i cant get all my buddies from my old sn to my new sn!!
how do u do it
March 28th, 2007 at 11:09 am
ally, go to aim today and u will see get a sn
March 29th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
How come my screen name is never accurate in my buddy list. If I’m away it doesn’t show it. The same thing happens when I’m away and idle. Now my screen names is stuck on idle. I’ve been IM’ing people all day and is says that I’ve been idle for over a day??
April 2nd, 2007 at 7:07 am
I am having the same problem as some of the others here. When I go to put up an away, the notepad icon doesn’t appear next to my sn. The only way that it does appear is if I do something to my buddy info.
April 10th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
I have the same question as Kelly on 2/1/2007. I would like to not to be shown idle, yet for my computer to respond with an automatic message, as was possible with the previous versions of AIM. Has there been any progress made on this? Please let me know!
April 11th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
thanks for the help
April 14th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
how do u send ur old buddylist to ur new sn……i just got a new sn and want to get my buddylist from my precious sn to the new one…do i have to retype all of my old screen names intto my new buddylist?
April 14th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
how do u send ur old screen names’s buddylist to ur new screen name
April 14th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
My computer signs me out of AIM when i log of my desktop. it signs me off when another person goes on a diferent desktop. this is a really annoying situation that i hope you can fix.
April 15th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
I recently downloaded AIM 6.0, only for the message logging ability. It only logs the last instant message I exchanged with someone! What’s up with that?
April 16th, 2007 at 5:24 am
Carol, you need to install the Buddy List Ops plugin. You can get more details here: AIM 6.0 Q&A Volume VI.
Grace, try just switching users; Windows + L key. Logging off will exit all of your applications.
Rebecca, I am not sure what could be the problem. Check your settings and make sure you have enough free space on your hard drive.
April 16th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
I have been trying to link my screen names since Triton with no luck. I’ve tried through AOL VR software, OpenRide, aol.com mail, and AIM settings. Everytime I type the sn and pass to link I get an error reading screen name not successfully linked. It’s very annoying. Also, since getting the free version of AOL I can’t manage my aol screen name accounts. There used to be a page where you could manage all 7 screen names in one place (change/store passwords, delete, restore, create, etc.) where has that gone? I go to keyword: screen names or names and I get a page reading must sign on with master sn. I do that but I can only edit settings for the master name (formatting), no other name is listed. It’s like AOL has entered the twilight zone, or I have. Is there a difference between screen names created years ago with a paid AOL account and using those same names on the free account vs. using them on AIM? Everything used to be so simple. AOL’s sites are scattered and confusing, signing on, chatting, and checking email is like a chore. It’s so frustrating I wish I was still on dial-up and using 3.0 lol
May 1st, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I’m currently having some issues with the “Friendly Name” feature. I set a few of them, and then I tried to set some others, and none of them will show up. Help please?
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I need help. When I go away, i close the away status box, and when i return, i see that I have (for example) 2 IMs recieved. I try to find out who IMed me, but my away status box doesnt show it. i double click on the icon tray twice, nothing happens, just my buddy list pops up. I cant find out who IMed me!
May 5th, 2007 at 7:44 am
Whenever I put on an away message and walk away, if someone leaves me a message, it signs me off as soon as i get it. Ive looked through the settings and can’t seem to find the probblem. Does anyone know why this happens or how i can fix it.
May 8th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
I recently added a buddy to my buddy list and everything was working fine. But now for some reason it says that my buddy is always off line when I know for a fact the person is online and vice versa. Only thing I could think of was checking to make sure we hadn’t blocked each other by accident and we hadn’t. Is this a bug or did we just mess up settings somewhere?
May 26th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
If you log into ur AIM 5.9 and sort your buddy list groups alphabetically and then log back into 6.0 it will be alphabetically by your groups and not just your buddy list. I know it’s annoying, but for now I guess it’s the only way.
June 5th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
this is so lame. how do u send ur buddy list or save it so when u make a new sn u can add it. i just downloaded some plugin thing cause it sed that wood help but it didnt.
help much?
June 5th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
The old versions of aim let you set your linked screen names to automatically sign online as invisible. Is there any way to do that with 6.0? Or do you just have to manually make each one invisible after you sign on each time?
June 19th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I’ve been using AIM for a really long time and I’ve been IMing people all month long.. But it says I’ve been idle for 43 days. Whats the problem with that?
June 19th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Beth, I have to ask, what version of AIM are you using and what version of Windows are you running?
July 4th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I need help! I just linked my screen name going to edit, settings, manage link screen names, and i got linked. but where is the buddy list from this name? i have no idea where to acces that. I would loooove some help asap. thanks a bunch
July 4th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
I can’t hide the AIM buddy list window when I minimize it. The older versions of AIM would let me hide the buddy list to the icons on the lower right of the screen, taking it off the task bar. There used to be an option that said “Hide Buddy List Window When Minimized” and I can’t find that window anymore. Does anyone know how to hide the window?
July 5th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
I am either having the same problem as Becky or Chris (2/16). regardless, when i try to link my screen names in aim 6.0 it claims that it is successful, but it doesn’t work. i don’t know if i’m just not seeing the buddy list, or what. however when i try to link them again (cause of course it didn’t work) my linked sn doesn’t appear to be linked. basically when i sign out like you’re supposed to to activate the linked sn, it erases the fact that i linked them at all. any ideas?
July 12th, 2007 at 6:58 am
Is there a way to automatically apply an away message from the master screen name to both it and the linked screen name? I have seen it used for other people but cannot figure out how to do it myself.
July 12th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Also, I downloaded that thing to save and load my buddy list and I have the program on my computer but can’t open/ do anything with it.
July 15th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
How come when I go on AIM like an hour later it signs me off automatically then signs me back on?
July 16th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
yeah, i see MANY of the same problem as me… but NEVER an answer…so ill be sure to post if i figure it out…. otherwise, PLEASE SOMEONE ELSE TELL IF YOU KNOW! lol
Problem: Managing Linked Screen names
Aim version: 6.0 and/or 6.1 (happens on both for me)
error: In edit, settings, buddy list - NO BUTTON OR LINK FOR ‘Manage your linked screen names’
- when i go to the site manually and add them, it doesnt save them either.
PLEASE HELP! thank you!!!!
July 17th, 2007 at 11:06 am
ok nvm. for some reason, i got it… i signed in on my other aim screenname instead of the usual one…. so it linked them w/ that screen name for some reason… but not my original..owell. XD cya…
July 18th, 2007 at 3:23 am
Hi Gus, great post.
I have been an avid AIM user for a very long time and I have upgraded to the new AIM (although I have gone back to 5.5 with the AIMutation plugin).
My question is this: will there be a plugin soon that will allow a buddy list to be updated on a linked screen name? I constantly have linked sns but it’s getting to be a real hassle to either clone AIM or sign off and back on just to update a buddy list thats not on the main screen name.
I feel like AIM has been seriously lacking though, and I’ve tried other IM clients. None of them have it. I know for a fact that it would be greatly accepted into the AIM community.
Thanks!
July 28th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
i have multiple pc’s so i usually have aim signed on 2 pc’s and signed on with airaim
lets say that only 1 pc is online with aim (the one with aim 6.0)
lets also say that i was only online a few hours on aim
when airaim kicks me off after 7 days, it wont say online time: 7 days 1 minute;; it will say online time: 14 hours
August 9th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
I have the same issue with the new AIM as Bryant, I have since gone to trillian to avoid all the pains of new aim, but the thing that really angered me was that the old aim could minimize to the system tray, there was an option that when you minimized aim it would “minimize to tray” for those of us who didn’t want it hogging up limited taskbar space. Can the new aim do that? if not, why not? and in future versions will you bring that option back?
August 11th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Minimize to tray!?!?!?! I just upgraded to 6.1 and you can’t minimize it to the tray. That frankly is a step backward. Also, I want certain buddies to be able to automatically download files from a folder that I have specified. I think it was one of the 4.x versions where you could do that. This is so useful for school. Being able to log on to aim and allow group members to share files like that automatically without the extra work of clicking around was extremely handy. Is that coming back? or can I just find a vista compatible version of the earlier aim?
August 16th, 2007 at 1:49 am
How can I transfer buddy lists from an old sn to a new one on Aim 6.0 w/o adding them one by one?
August 28th, 2007 at 12:30 am
Michelle -
Go to the plugins on the AIM website and there is a Buddy List option plugin you have to install on your computer. Weird, I know but that’s how you do it.
August 31st, 2007 at 4:47 am
Hey folks, I probably should have done this a while ago, but I am now closing the comment on this post. Look for a more recent post to ask your questions in. Thanks.