Q: Question about Messages notification sound

HI,

I have several threads on this in thre Mavericks forum.

As of yet I have not worked out a complete set of answers.

What I do have.

Alerts as they were called are no longer a separate option in the Preferences.

You cannot turn off the sounds for actions like Invites (Text and A/V), File Sending or Receiving, Screen Share Invites.

You can in the General Section of the Preferences change the Message Received sound to None or any Syste Sound or any Sound you have in ~/Library/Sounds (your User's Sounds Folder)

You cannot switch it to any of the iChat/Messages sounds that are contained within the app.

You also cannot apply a sound to a Specific Action for a Specific Buddy ins a Specific Buddy list as you cannot call up their Info Card any more (Highlighting a Buddy and doing Get Info (CMD + i keys) no longer works).

I did manage to change the Messages Received Sound to one I had in my own Sounds folder.

It worked for that session.  ( I "hid' the app behind a Browser and iMessages myself form my iPhone)

The next day (I quit apps before shutting down and Start fresh the next day then launch the apps I want) I still had the sound set but it was not playing when I sent new messages (hidden or not).

I checked the .plist and the info is not written to it.

Part of the .plst shown and the corresponding Preferences

As the Video Invite item also shows it remembers what I had set before but plays the Ringer sound instead.

As I said I don't have much of an answer beyond this.

I would use the http://www.apple.com/feedback/ichat.html page as Messages is built on the iChat Engine

put your full specs in the Free text area as the Version numbers drop down is miles behind (I does not even list iChat 6)

8:04 pm      Sunday; November 3, 2013

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

for the   Points

8:38 pm      Monday; November 4, 2013

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mavericks 10.9)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 Couple of iPhones and an iPad

Rocky M - were you able to resolve this, as I have the exact same issue.

The only time I hear an audio alert for an incoming chat Message is when the Messages app is in the foreground as the "active" app. (Which is also when I need it the least.)

When the app is running in the background and any other app is running in the foreground, no audio alerts come through.

Appreciate any insight you (or anyone) has to offer!

Thanks!

-B

Hi,

Nothing has changed for me in the OS X 10.9.2 update that did change/add the Block fetaure to the iMessages account (in previous version of Messages and iChat this would have been enough for a sub number to the app).

The best results I have are still changing the sound to something not in the Messages app itself.

The "AlertClose" in the pic is a riff from Jimi Hendrix held in my ~/Library/Sounds folder.

8:45 pm      Friday; March 7, 2014

I don't know if this precisely addresses the issues you guys are having, but you may find this article interesting:

Using AppleScript to restore missing functionality from iChat to Messages in OS X 10.9.x Mavericks

http://tech.iprock.com/?p=11095

you rock!!!!!

Yiu do indeed Rock. I need to read all of the script ot see if I can restore the function I miss most: speaking the text of incoming messages. I often have iMessage open behind something else or on another screen and don't notice that I have received a message.

Hi,

In the Apple Script drop down that is already in the General Section of the Preferences Enabled the "Speak Events" one.

8:01 pm      Sunday; April 20, 2014

If you were anywhere near my environs I'd buy you a beverage or two my friend. That fixed it right away. I had searched preferences and a few forums (including here) where most posters said that feature had been removed.

I was having trouble where I didn't hear any alert sounds from Messages in Mavericks 10.9.5.

After much figuring I finally realized that somehow my System Preferences-> Sound had Sound Effects set to play through Soundflower instead of "Selected Output Device".

FYI in case anyone else is having this problem.