Dear Apple Big Sur users:
I have not been able to open messages that-in say, Catalina-were archived on my laptop. I would search the archive folder and pull-up a saved message.
For some reason, this not possible in Big Sur.
Anyone else having this issue? Any solutions?
Btw, I have the preferences to keep the messages forever.
Cheers!
-Merlin
MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 11.0
I have called apple on this and their response is that it is intentional. Archive messages are no longer supported. not only are they not supported the /Users/yourname/Library/Messages/Archive folder is emptied once you upgrade your OS to BigSur. The only way you can get your archived messages is if you backed them up prior to BigSur upgrade.
I have called apple on this and their response is that it is intentional. Archive messages are no longer supported. not only are they not supported the /Users/yourname/Library/Messages/Archive folder is emptied once you upgrade your OS to BigSur. The only way you can get your archived messages is if you backed them up prior to BigSur upgrade.
Rod,
If you wanted to copy your text message history from a Time Machine backup, what I did was go directly into the backup using finder, and drill down in the library to messages folder. I then copied the entire messages folder onto my desktop, and left them there. Only problem is that the ichat files can't be opened by the current version of message - so that's a huge drag. Alterantively, you could try restoring your messages folder into the existing one in library, but you wouldn't be able to open them, and it's possible that when that folder may get emptied by the current operating system. So, either way, they can't be opened at least by native apple programs. Maybe there is a piece of software out there that would open them.
Did you say though that icloud is eeping a copy of your messages that you can access through iOS? Steve
Steveowitz,
Sorry for the delay, but if you look above in one of my responses, I have identified how to go about retrieving the older messages.
Ah...here it is...from 18Dec2020:
Dec 18, 2020 10:31 PM in response to steveowitz
Okay,
I just opened my Time Machine, and I was able to view & download the archive folder my current desktop.
The messages file extension is .ichat, and I wonder if anyone has been able to open these files in any program OTHER THAN iMessage? MS Word just gives a lot of character strings along with the texts, so this is a tough sell. But, if another program can open and read them, then this may be one way to archive the older (pre-Big Sur) messages.
But as far as from November onward, I have no idea.
For what it's worth, my archive folder is empty, but its last modified date was 15Nov2020 at 4:21.
Cheers!
-Merlin
This may have already been posted so apologies if it has. I was tinkering with this and found a way to access I think.
First, go into terminal and type in
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles true; killall Finder
This will show all your hidden folders. Then go into your backup, Users, [Your username], Library (should be grey), Messages.
This should have attachments and chat.db files
also Big Sur will not open archived iChat messages (wherever you restore them from).
Since it appears that deleted text messages are not being archived any longer, I'm curious about these settings:
The way I see it, this setting enables icloud to save a copy of current text messages to icloud?
This setting would seem to indicate that *all* text messages (even deleted) will be saved for the duration listed. It doesn't make sense to be that it could mean anything else, unless it is referencing existing messages, which doesn't make sense. Unless deleted messages are being archived in a different folder than previously. In addition, even if I restore a previosuly archived ichat file, the current version of messages can't open it.
Same issue, and the odd thing is that ALL of the attachments to messages are still there, in the Attachments folder just below the Archive folder. I also have always had my messages set to SAVE FOREVER, but noticed that when I go to Time Machine save file before the switch to Big Sur, the Archive only dates back to when I started using this MBP - I guess the messages before are only archived on my old MBP and didn't sync even with iCloud/Apple ID on all devices?
Another issue I have is that there's no way to search iMessage by date, or if there is, please someone tell me! I've had an iPhone since 3G, have over 22 GB of text messages saved on my current phone, but if no Archive there needs to be a better way to search through messages than text string.
I am having this same issue. Since updating to Big Sur all of my archived messages are gone and I also cannot open chat.db. Help!
Good afternoon,
The issue is not related to Mail, rather the iMessages (or Messages, on the MBP).
I pasted two images below...notice the "Save history when conversations are closed" is missing in Big Sur.
This should be placed back into Big Sur, imho.
Not so much as archiving, but you could access the messages either directly form the Finder, or using spotlight to search the name or phone number.
This did work on the macOS, but not with Big Sur.
Apple should place this function back in to the operating system.
One other thing: I recently found out (sadly) that, in Big Sur, if you do search-and find-a message/phone number, simply clicking on the file, it will disappear!
Tim,
have a look at the screen cap I attached. this is from Time Machine backup. Those ichat files are not longer in my archive folder on my Big Sur Macbook. And I used to be able to open using the imessages app, but not only are not there, they don't open anymore.
Exactly!
The same thing occurred with me as well!
Now, I also use CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner). The question is: can I see those files there? I know that the Library folder is hidden, but can CCC allow the user to see them?
thanks for that info. I figured as such. Not happy about not having those available. However, the preferences selection for text messages is confusing. What exactly is the box "keep messages: forever" mean then?
Think of that setting as an auto delete setting. Your messages will auto delete the oldest message based on that setting. Anything older than 30 days or older than a year will be deleted. Forever doesn't auto delete anything. You still have the option of manually deleting any of them from your messenger app no matter what that setting is at.
on no :( i've been searching for a resolution for this for days only to finally find this out. i switched computers & was so confused as to how i could scroll back to messages within the app from as early as 2018 but i couldn't find the actual archived messages so i could open them by date like i used to. thank you for this update.
i wonder if there is a way to manually back the messages i do have up into an archive?
Archived messages not found