Q: Messages Menu Commands Greyed Out

Hi,

The "fix" that used to work in iChat (any verison) and Messages 7.x.x does not seem to work in Messages 8 in Mavericks.  (deleting the com.apple.ichat.plist)

Has the .plist been recreated ?

Messages 8 is subject to the Sandboxing features of Mavericks.

This means that the app Reads  and Writes to the .plists via a different route than you just looking at them in ~/Library/Preferences.

The com.apple.ichat.plist should be Written (recreated as you start up the app) as it needs to hold the bandwidth (Internet Speed portion the computer has and the app has compared with other activity).

In a Finder window use the View Menu > Show Path Bar.

Now use the Go Menu whilst holding down the ALT key and Select the Library that appears.

Now navigate to Containers/com.apple.ichat.Data/Library/Preferences

Most of the items here are Aliases back to the ~/Library/Preferences items directly.

Right Click the Preferences folder in the Path bar and Select the Get Info option

At the bottom of the Info Panel check your are the owner and have Read and Write Permissions.

Your Shortname should be in the list with the (Me)  part and you should have Read and Write Permissions

Using the cogwheel type icon you should see the greyed out message if you already Own the folder

Repeat the check moving through the folders to the left in the Path Bar (Library, Data, com.apple.ichat, Containers and in fact the actual ~/Library itself)

You should have Read and Write permissions all the way through.

It is late where I am and it will be a while before I pick up on any replies.

10:02 pm      Thursday; March 27, 2014

Hi,

It is fairly standard that some Menus items are greyed out depending on the windows you have open and the function you are doing.

This is my Buddies Menu after starting up:-

I have 10 Buddy Lists logged in (including Bonjour) and the main Messages window on Show  with one "active" chat in it at present.

No Buddy or name in a Chat is highlighted so none of these Menu items apply (other than being able to Add a Buddy to a List if you know the details)

If I have  Buddy List to the fore and highlight a Buddy then the options change

However you should always be able to Access the Preferences in the Messages menu.

Re-reading your original Post I am not sure I follow the path or list of actions to proceed that you list.

Preferences>General>Buddy List>Account Status,

The Preferences optin does show the actual Preference panes and General is one of them.

However Buddy List is not one of the things in that Pane.

In the Message Menu is a reference to Status but it refers to the "Front"- most Buddy List.

Here I have changed it to one called "Main AIM".

Can you add some clarity to the "path" or Action list I quoted  and what windows are visible and which of them is front-most please ?

The Menu items you list are clear:-

Buddies>Show in Buddy List, plus Buddies>Invyt to Video Chat>Share my Screen

These are as above.

With No Buddy actually highlighted the menu items are inactive

Screen Sharing will only work if you have an AIM (or AIM Valid) Screen Name added as an Account in Messages or if you have  Jabber Account - which could include Google talk or Facebook Chat IDs - as long as the Buddy is also using iChat or Messages.

7:59 pm      Friday; March 28, 2014

I was experiencing the same issue (greyed out Menu options, including Preferences, and conversations not loading). I trashed all the ichat Container files and Preference files. I then reinstalled Mavericks. Messages and accounts are working as they should now.

A simple solution...

After much troubleshooting, I have isolated the issue with the greyed out "Messages" app menu. The problem is due to the truetype font Apple Gothic missing which is required for the AppleID login window when you first launch Messages. You can just hit skip when the dialog box comes up, but until you do so the full messages menus are not available. So to fix, just drop AppleGothic.ttf in <bootdrive>/Library/Fonts and Messages 8.x should launch correctly. Apple should have really included this font in <bootdrive>/System/Library/Fonts since it is required for one of their Apps

Many people in the prepress or graphics arts fields will likely run into this issue when they customize fonts.

Yes, reinstalling the OS will fix the problem but is totally unnecessary.

Rob

What does it mean to drop the apple gothic.ttf font??

I'm VERY new to the MAC and have no idea what you mean... lol

Also, I'm also having this same problem with my new MacBook.  I tried the "read & write" search above and mine are all listed with me as allowed to do that as well... so, I don't think that's the problem.

Any other helpful ideas??

Hi,

This is a Location:-

<bootdrive>/Library/Fonts  Not everyone calls or continues to call their Hard Drive Macintosh HD so the <bootdrive> is to represent what you call yours.

Once you open the "folder" that is the Drive you are faced with some standard folders:- Applications, Library, System and Users for most people.

You open the Library and then th Font Folder.

If you do  not have the AppleGothic.ttf font then you need to obtain it and then "install" or literally drag and drop (let go) in to this Fonts Folder.

7:21 pm      Friday; July 11, 2014

This was the solution for me. Rob you hit the nail on the head when describing this being a problem with a graphics station. I pare down the pre-installed fonts on my builds to try and avoid problems with font conflicts and so on. I've found several apps that require certain fonts in order to load such as Lucida Grande, what the **** devs? At least put them in the main System/Library folder.

Oh my goodness! You saved my life! This is the solution! I turned off some of the Apple system fonts in font book because it was unnecessary for my design work, and it worked for quite a while until I used Onyx to clean my system. Then suddenly iMessage stopped working and all the menus greyed out. Enabling Apple's gothic fonts made it work again! I logged into these forums just to thank you.

I see that for some of you the gothic font solved the problem.  However in my case the status greyed out problem was not due to the font, because I checked and it was there. The reason I am leaving this reply is that on another forum I found a solution that I worked for me and I wanted to leave a note here for the poor souls who are struggling with the same problem.

In my case bonjour messaging was added as an account, but it was disabled.  This was probably due to being transferred through icloud settings from my laptop where I used it before.  I had to enable bonjour so that I can set availability.

I hope it helps someone at some point.

Hi,

This thread is about the whole of the menu items being greyed out.

The most important being the Preferences option. (And being able to access any account to turn it On or  Off).

The Status issue is ling known about.

iMessages as such does not have a Status.

The Menu item only refers to any Account that has a Buddy List (Anything but the  iMessages one.)

Once any account has been Enabled then the status Menu item is active (like it would  have been in iChat which did not have the iMessages account)

This Thread in the Messages beta Community probably predates other forums.

In fact many if the Menu items across the different menus  are greyed out at different times depending on whether you have Accounts that can do certain functions such as Video and Audio Only chats, which affects whether you can Add Buddies or Block people (AIM only.

7:24 pm      Thursday; July 24, 2014

Thank you Rob.  This solved my issue with Messages app having all menu items greyed out, leaving me unable to log back into iMessage.

I would never have guessed that there was a font issue since I don't ever play with the fonts on the Mac.  But I guess some program must have.  In my case, the AppleGothic was still there, just disabled for some reason.  I re-enabled the font and all is good.

-Mike

I can also confirm that coping the appleGothic font into system//library/fonts folder solved this issues.

Interesting.

Whilst the person posting about it did suggest that, as a Font needed by an Apple app, Apple should have put it in System/Library/Fonts I did not see any indication in the Post that he had in fact moved it himself.

However in other placed I have seen the Re-enabling it Off and making a copy and even renaming it seems to work so I am not surprised that a simple move also seems to work.

7:51 pm      Saturday; July 26, 2014