How to Detect Offline Gmail Contacts

Gmail is a web-based email application that also has an instant messaging (IM) component. If you want to IM another Gmail user, the user must be logged on. If the user has their status set to invisible, they will still receive your message. If the user is truly logged off, the message will not be delivered.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Gmail account

1. Log on to your Gmail account. Scroll to the contacts section on the left side of the Gmail page.

2. Look for any gray circles next to the name of the contact. This indicates that the user is either off-line or has set his status to invisible.

3. Click on the user's name. Type a message into the chat box. If you receive a red message in reply, the user is off-line. If you do not receive a reply message, the user has his status set to invisible.

Tips & Warnings

• This method of detecting off-line users will also work in the Gtalk desktop application.

References

• Detect Invisible User on Gtalk

Resources

• Gmail