# Deleting merged contacts in AIM, Trillian

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-merged-contacts-in-aim-trillian/261029>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 23, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-merged-contacts-in-aim-trillian/261029 "2004-08-23T00:52:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-merged-contacts-in-aim-trillian/261029/1 "2004-08-23T00:52:09Z")

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I use AIM on one computer, Trillian on another and Fire/iChat on a third. I recently deleted many inactive contacts from my list on AIM. When I logged in on Trillian on another computer, the removed contacts were re-added as merged contacts. So I went and deleted them there too. When I logged back into AIM on the other computer, they showed back up. It seems no matter how many times I delete them from all the different computers and chat programs I use I can’t get rid of them now. Is there any sure-fire way to delete them or am I stuck with them forever?

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-merged-contacts-in-aim-trillian/261029/2 "2004-08-23T01:37:24Z")

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Try deleting on AIM proper, then going here (before opening Trillian):

C:\Documents and Settings\YOURCOMPUTERUSERNAME\Trillian\User Settings\YOURTRILLIANUSERNAME

(you may not have a YOURTRILLIANUSERNAME if you do not have Trillian set up with a login…I do because I share trillian with my brother)

Look for “buddies.xml” and open it in Notepad

Delete all the contacts you just deleted from AIM.

Then load up Trillian see if they’re still there. Trillian is loading stuff from your local machine AND AIM. So if you delete them from your local machine before loading up, they won’t load from the AIM service since you deleted them there.

Make sense? let me know if I need to clarify.

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**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deleting-merged-contacts-in-aim-trillian/261029/3 "2004-08-23T02:57:30Z")

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Aha! Thank you!