5 Ways to Better Organize Your Buddy List
Posted on Jan 3rd 2008 1:03PM by Joseph Manna
Filed under: User Experiences, AIM Help, AIM General, Other Stuff, AIM Buddy Blog, Community Info
Many popular AIM users have a common problem -- figuring out how to organize their Buddy List so it's functional and useful for them. I'll describe five ways you can better organize your Buddy List, so not only is it useful, it's cool, too.
~Joseph
- Manage Your Groups
One of the most overlooked features of the Buddy List is the groups. You can create many more groups to sort your buddy list into categories more than just Family, Co-Workers and Buddies. Inside AIM 6.5, you can create a new group for your buddies by clicking on the +/- button and clicking Add Group. Make up a name for this group -- it's alright, only you can see this group. Here is where that menu is:
- Use Friendly Names
Instead of "Buddy024453," you can name your buddies with Friendly Names, which makes it easier to see who they are without thinking about it. It can also save you from sending IMs to the wrong person by mistake. To do this, right-click on a screen name in your Buddy List and click Edit, then enter a nickname for your Buddy. Illustrated below is an example of my screen name turned into a Friendly Name:
- Change Your Buddy List Display Settings
If you don't want to see your Buddies' status messages, you don't have to see it. You can adjust the view of your Buddy List anytime by clicking on the View menu and select Status Messages to hide or show status messages (small text below buddies), Offline Buddies to hide, show or group buddies who are offline into a group and more. You can also sort your Buddy List alphabetically or continue to separate it in groups.
- Control those Buddy Notifications
The key to multitasking effectively while doing the things you love -- like updating your profile, sending an e-mail or posting a blog entry -- is to manage your distractions. One of the ways you can prevent your buddies from interrupting you, is to choose which Buddy Notifications you'd like to receive. To change your Buddy Notifications in AIM 6.5, press F7 (top row of your keyboard), click Notifications on the left side and select just the type of notifications you'd like to receive.
- Link Those Names!
You most likely have more than one screen name, so AIM offers the ability to link up to seven different screen names together so you only need to sign in once to all of them simultaneously. Screen Name linking works with AIM Mail, too. To link your screen names, you can do it via the Web or a link within the AIM software by pressing F7:
~Joseph
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1. Joe my buddy list title has AIM but after reading your article not sure it is the same AIM buddy list...it there a new one?
Would my images show up? I upgraded to 9.1 and my images are now not showing in my buddy list.
Betty
Posted at 2:06PM on Jan 8th 2008 by Betty
2. Betty,
AOL 9.1 includes many new features, among those is the improved Buddy List. This however isn't AIM 6.5 which is a separate application for Instant Messaging.
You can try it out at http://www.aim.com/get_aim/win/latest_win.adp. It's free and works with both AOL, AIM and Registered E-Mail Addresses.
~ Joseph
Posted at 2:08PM on Jan 8th 2008 by Joseph Manna
3. looking for new friends !!! aim me if ya wanna new friends ! love criz
Posted at 7:30PM on Jan 15th 2008 by christina
4. How do you delete an unwanted "buddy" from the buddy list? I have one that appeared (I didn't add it).. don't know who it is... and can't seem to find out how to delete it.
Posted at 10:16PM on Jan 15th 2008 by mholman121
5. i have 2 screen names, is there a way to combine the buddylists?
Posted at 2:47AM on Jan 26th 2008 by andy
6. How do you delete a name in my send mail list.
thanks,
wayne
Posted at 6:05PM on Feb 1st 2008 by Wayne