R&Q allows to store the contacts locally on your PC or on the ICQ server.

Also your contact list can be mixed, i.e. it can include both local and server contacts. You can add local contact to the server or delete it from the server anytime by right-click on it and choosing the necessary point of menu.

Using the server contact list you can reach your contacts from any PC and through different ICQ-clients.

Near the local contact appears the following icon:

Using the local contact list has its advantages.
Firstly, nobody can remove himself from your contacts.
Secondly, your contact list is more protected: even if your server contact list is broken for some reason, you forgot your password or somebody has stolen your UIN, your contact list can always be restored. For this go to Main menu/Preferences/Special/Export to ICQ contacts file. As the result a file *.clb will be created — you only need to import it to any ICQ-client supporting this format.
Lastly, the added contact won't receive auto-alert that you added him, what is very important for your confidentiality.

In order to add a new contact right click on the name of the group or on online/offline separator of the contact-list and choose the necessary menu point:

The contacts on the server can be stored only in groups.

If there's no point "add to server" in the menu, most probably the group where you are trying to add the contact is local. In this case you must add the group itself to the server: right-click on it and choose the necessary menu point.

If you want to save the contact only on your PC check the point "locally", enter the UIN and push the button "add". If there are several groups you must choose the necessary one:

To work with server contact-list (SSI) you must turn this option on in preferences.

Why is authorization needed?

Authorization is the permission for other users to add you to their contacts.

You can ask for authorization in preferences and other users will be able to add you to their contacts only by your permission. When authorization is off you can be added anytime.

Order of authorization:
— the user sends you the authorization request;
— if your reply is positive (authorize) you are added to his contact list;
— if your reply is negative (deny) or you didn't reply you are not added.

What does no-authorization mean for your contacts?
— the users of official client won't be able to see your status, you will be always offline for them in the group "Awaiting authorization", though the messages will be delivered;
— the R&Q users with SSI will also see offline status and the icon "not authorized";
— for the R&Q users with local contact list no-authorization means nothing.

What does no-authorization mean for you?
— the icon "not authorized" (when SSI);
— contacts are always offline;
— you won't see the IP-address (the old ICQ-clients allow to see IP-address to all the users in contact list)

If the contact was removed from your contact list the authorization is also lost. Adding it back you will have to request authorization again.

Lately more and more ICQ-spam goes through the authorization requests. So if you disable the authorization and ignore authorization requests the quantity of spam attacks will be decreased considerably.
Anyway it's no use to reply to the spamer requests, just close the authorization request window.