Skip to search.

Breaking News Visit Yahoo! News for the latest.

×Close this window

Protecting Your Privacy

OverviewMaking Yourself InvisibleChanging Your Stealth SettingIgnoring a Contact

Ignoring a Contact

You can ignore a specific contact and stop all communication from the contact. You also appear offline to that contact’s Messenger List. She can initiate communication from her computer, but you will not see or hear anything from her while using Yahoo! Messenger. This is the right choice to make when you really don’t want someone interacting with you. To use this feature, the contact’s name can’t appear on your Messenger List. You can ignore contacts specified in your Ignore List or anyone who isn’t on your Messenger List.

Tip: You can ignore up to 300 contacts.

This task shows you how to:

 

Here’s How

To add people to your Ignore List using the Messenger Preferences window:

  1. Be sure the contact’s name isn’t on your Messenger List. If it is, right-click the name, and then select Delete from the displayed menu.

  2. Open the Messenger Preferences window by selecting Preferences from the Messenger menu in your Messenger window or from the Conversation menu in your IM window.

  3. In the Preferences window, select the Ignore List category.

  4. On the right side of the window, select Ignore anyone who is not on my Messenger List, or Ignore only the people below.

    Select Ignore anyone who is not on my Messenger List or Ignore only the people below.

  5. To add a contact to your Ignore list, select Ignore only the people below, then click the Add button.

    Click the Add button.

    The Ignore a User window opens.

  6. Enter the Messenger ID of the contact you wish to ignore, and then click the Ignore button.

    Enter a contact's Messenger ID, then click the Ignore button.

    The Ignore List in the Preferences window updates to show the added contact.

    Updated Ignore List.

  7. Click the OK button.

    You will no longer receive communications from the contacts you added or from any contact that isn’t on your Messenger List, if you chose that option.

 

To add people to your Ignore List using the IM window:

Depending on your settings for messages in the Messenger Preferences window, messages from contacts who aren’t on your Messenger List appear in the same window or in separate windows. Both windows allow you to add a person to your Ignore List.

  1. If messages from unknown people appear in the same window, select a message in the upper pane, and then click the Ignore button.

    Select the message, then click the Ignore button.

    Yahoo! Messenger adds the contact’s name to your Ignore List.

  2. If messages from unknown people appear in separate windows, click the Ignore button in the IM window.

    Click the Ignore button.

    Yahoo! Messenger adds the contact’s name to your Ignore List.

 

What’s Next

To remove a contact from your Ignore List, return to the Ignore List category in the Messenger Preferences window, select a contact in the list, and then click the Remove button.

 

Help Topics

 
 

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 ID: the Yahoo! ID a person uses to sign in and use Yahoo! Messenger.
  • Messenger List: a list of coworkers, friends, family, and associates who also use Messenger.