Sunday, May 10, 2009

Pidgin - Invisible Mode in Google Talk

One of the most glaring drawback with Google Talk is probably the lack of proper updates and new releases being integrated into the software. I do not use the chat option inside Google Mail. Therefore, one aspect I find particularly irritating with Google Talk is not to be able to appear as invisible.  As I mentioned in my last post I use Pidgin for IM. Here’s how you can appear invisible in Google Talk using Pidgin.

  • Go to Tools-> Plugins. Scroll down the list of available plugins. Install the plugin called XMPP Console.
  • Now go to Tools->XMPP Console->XMPP Console.
  • Type the following in the console and send the message.

<presence type="unavailable">
<priority>5</priority>
</presence>

  • Now you will appear as invisible to all your friends. Remember you need to resend the message every time you relogin to Google Talk, i.e., this is a per-session notification.
  • In case you need to appear available to specific friends, you can sent them custom notifications about your availability using the above plugin. Open XMPP Console as above and click on <presence/>. In the following pop-up dialog box, fill in the necessary details and send.

Seems troublesome, eh? Then why bother with all this crap. Add the Google Talk invisible plugin to Pidgin. Go to http://fahhem.com/pidgin/ and follow the instructions.

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5 comments:

Debmalya Sinha - দেবমাল্য সিংহ said...

Nice post there. Yep, that is a real pain :P. I was wondering if that process can be automated using a script!

Unknown said...

Hey, this is the Fahhem that you linked to. I've updated the code to work with multiple accounts (with help).

I hope that helps a bit, and it also lets google know to continue sending notifications.

Asish Punnoose said...

Guess What I found this article on my first page of a google search on "Google Talk". Interesting to see your article come up there - All made possible through Google's social circle search http://www.google.com/s2/search/social#socialcircle

Nice article, I will try to install the Pidgin, any idea if my Skype account can be merged in. Did not find any convincing plug-ins which wont's import my phone book contacts and only the IM contacts. Let me know if you find one! Alz fine, I suppose?

Anonymous said...

nice and simple - how to go back from the invisible mode to the normal mode?

Unknown said...

Changing the status manually from Pidgin status dropdown should work.