Adding Contacts to Your Messenger List
| Overview | A Safe Environment | Importing Contacts | Using the Add to Messenger List Window | Adding From Your Address Book | Adding From an Instant Message |
Working in a Safe Environment
Yahoo! Messenger provides easy, almost instant access to your contacts, while maintaining a secure and safe environment. You must request permission to add people to your Messenger List just as they must request your permission to add your name to their lists. This reciprocal process can involve:
- Requesting permission to add a contact to your Messenger List.
- Accepting a request from another user to add your name to their Messenger List.
- Rejecting a request from another user to add your name to their Messenger List.
Here’s How
To request permission to add a contact to your Messenger List:
When you request permission to add someone to your Messenger List, that person receives a request notification and his or her name or Yahoo! ID appears on your Messenger List in a temporary state, indicated by a gray circle. When the contact accepts your request, the addition becomes permanent, and a smiley face replaces the circle.
If the contact declines your request, Yahoo! Messenger sends you a notice and removes the name from your Messenger List.
To accept a request to be added to a user’s Messenger List:
When a Yahoo! Messenger or Windows Live™ Messenger user wants to add your name to their Messenger List, your Messenger displays the Add to Messenger List Request window. To allow the person to add you to their list, do the following:
If you want to know more about the person, click the View this person’s profile link.
Tip: You can’t view the profile of a Windows Live™ Messenger contact; the feature isn’t supported.
Your web browser opens and displays the person’s profile. When you’re satisfied, return to the Add to Messenger List Request window.
Click the Allow this person to add me and see when I am online option.
Click the Finish button.
You can now communicate freely with this contact.
To reject a request to be added to a user’s Messenger List:
In the Add to Messenger List Request window, click the Do not allow this person to add me or see when I am online option, then click the Next button.
In the next window, choose one of the following options:
Allow the user to continue sending you instant messages, and, if you like, enter a reason for declining the request to have your name added to the person’s Messenger List.
Tip: Anyone can send you instant messages without being on your Messenger List or in your address book and without having your name on their Messenger List.
Ignore all future contact with this person.
This places the person’s name in your Ignore List and blocks all Messenger communications from the person.
Tip: For additional information on blocking unwanted communications from anyone not on your Messenger List, see the Related Tutorials.
Click the Finish button.
What’s Next
To quickly populate your Messenger List with contacts, import them from your Yahoo! Contacts and your list of Microsoft Outlook contacts.
Words to Know
- Contact: a person with whom you interact; someone to whom you might want to send an email or instant message.
- Ignore List: a list of people from whom you don’t want to see or hear anything while you’re using Yahoo! Messenger.
- Messenger List: a list of coworkers, friends, family, and associates who also use Messenger.
- Profile: a public web page provided with a Yahoo! ID that lets others learn something about the person associated with the ID, such as hobbies and favorite links. You and each of your contacts have a profile that others can view. You can have more than one profile and choose which profile others see.
- Yahoo! ID: the name by which a person is known to all Yahoo! networks.