Buddy List symbols and icons in AIM 6.1

Throughout the day, you may notice different symbols come up on your Buddy List window that you don't recognise. This document contains those symbols and their meanings.

Hi Symbol
Bye Symbol
(2/5) Group Count
Arrow Symbol
Yellow Notepad
Mobile Phone Icon
ZZZ Icon
ZZZ on Yellow Icon
Bell Icon


Hi symbol

A Hi symbol appears next to the screen name of the person on your Buddy List window who has most recently signed on. The icon disappears within a few seconds.

Bye symbol and offline Quicknote

A Bye symbol appears next to the screen name of the person on your Buddy List window who has most recently signed off. The icon disappears within a few seconds.

(2/5) Group count

This number tells you how many people in a Buddy List window group are online out of the total number of screen names in the group. For example, (2/5) means two of the five people in a group are currently online.

Arrow symbol

You can minimise a Buddy List window group if you don't want to display all the people that are currently online. Double-click the group name, and all the screen names listed underneath will disappear. You can tell which groups are minimised by the arrow symbol next to the list name. Double-click the group name again to redisplay all the screen names.

Yellow notepad

A yellow notepad icon appears next to the screen name of any member who currently has an 'away message' turned on. If you send an IM to one of these people, you'll get an automated reply.

Mobile phone icon

A little mobile phone icon indicates that your online friend is on a mobile device such as a mobile phone or a PDA.

ZZZ Icon

A ZZZ icon indicates that your online friend is currently idle.

ZZZ on yellow icon

A ZZZ icon on a yellow background indicates that your online friend is idle and away.

Bell icon

A bell indicates that you have set a buddy alert for your online friend when they return from being idle or sign on.