If I have the Idle option activated, I know that if one of my contacts is Online and is inactive for whatever the time it is that they set for their status to change to Away, I'll see them as Idle. However, will I see the Idle status if the contact was not Online but any other of the status (except for Offline, obviously)? I mean, if they were Busy or Be right back, for instance?

Also, the 'inactivity' Messenger registers is only inactivity of one user, right? I mean, say the required time of inactivity is 30 minutes. For status to change to Away/Idle, the user cannot send any IMs for 30 minutes. But if they're sent an IM from some of their contacts, does this count as activity or not?

I know these questions are kinda weird I hope they make sense though. Thanks in advance!

a:if they are away/busy/lunch etc. idle status will not trigger

b:no, it's only if they are moving the mouse or otherwise using the computer

Provided the user has enabled "change my status to away when I'm inactive for x minutes" in the Messenger options:

By default, the special away status (named 'Idle') is only triggered when the user's status is 'Online'. When the user has any other status, the idle status will not be triggered.

It stays active as long as the user doesn't do anything. This includes not sending any IM to any of his contacts, not moving the mouse, etc. So yes, sending an IM also counts as an activity.

When the user does some activity while he has the Idle status, his/her status will always be reverted back to 'Online'.

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But note that there are addons, plugins and/or Messenger Plus! scripts which can change all this behaviour.

So it isn't impossible that you see an 'Idling' contact chatting with you. Nor is it impossible to also set the idle status after a period of inactivity regardless of what your current status is (even with 'Appearing Offline'). And the return status, which will be set when you do some activity again, can also be changed with such tools...

I see.

Both replies answer both of my questions, so thanks a lot, you too!

On a side note, Idle can be activated whenever you choose with Idle on Demand.

Hahaha, alright ^_^ Thanks!