Deucefour

Q: Messages App Contact Picture Wrong!?

Can someone please tell me where Messages is getting the picture its using to represent me? The one at the far right of the screen shot... Cause that is wy wife not me at all and I have made sure all my contact cards are correct and it still has not changed it. Thanks for the help! This is really annoying. Screen Shot 2012-09-28 at 4.16.31 PM.png

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Sep 28, 2012 4:22 PM

Close

Q: Messages App Contact Picture Wrong!?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 Next
  • by macjack,

    macjack macjack Sep 28, 2012 4:25 PM in response to Deucefour
    Level 9 (55,682 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2012 4:25 PM in response to Deucefour

    Check in System Preferences > Users & Groups.

  • by Deucefour,

    Deucefour Deucefour Sep 28, 2012 4:55 PM in response to macjack
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Sep 28, 2012 4:55 PM in response to macjack

    Yeah I had checked there a million times as well. My USER photo is completely different as well. Thanks for the suggestion though!

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),Solvedanswer

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Sep 29, 2012 2:59 PM in response to Deucefour
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Sep 29, 2012 2:59 PM in response to Deucefour

    HI,

     

    By Default Messages will pick the pic that was in place in iChat (In the Buddy Lists)

     

    The next choice and a New Fresh set up is to pick the User and Groups pic which also get put on the Contacts  > My Card (Formerly the Address Book).

     

    However after set up you can change all three places independently.

     

    In Messages you have to have another Account Enabled (the Bonjour one will do)

    This will put a Buddy List up (and list it in the Window Menu).

    The Buddy pic here is a drop down to Recent Pics  (your Wife may have altered it ?).

     

    In the Contacts list find the My Card (it should be the one with the Head and Shoulders icon.

    This should be your details (and not your wife's).

     

    The pic may be being pulled from here if none was set in Messages (And there is no historical one from iChat)

     

     

    So  from a new set up it could be User and Groups > Contacts (Address Book) > Messages.

    It could be a Change to the Contacts > My Card prior to launching Messages

    It could also be an historical pic from iChat

    It could be your wife changed it in your Messages Buddy list.

     

    If you have her Account set up in Messages (I.e AIM or Jabber) and only iMessages for "yourself" then it is possible it is pulling the Buddy Pic from the server.

    You can set pics At AIM or GoogleTalk for instance (Local Apps tend to override this.)

     

     

     

     

     


    10:59 PM      Saturday; September 29, 2012


    Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
     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

    "Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

  • by Deucefour,

    Deucefour Deucefour Sep 29, 2012 8:41 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Sep 29, 2012 8:41 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Messages actually has a "Change My Picture..." option under the "Messages" drop down menu, and thats where you change it. Still not sure where it was getting the original photo from though.. Hmm. Owell. Thanks for the help!

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Sep 30, 2012 12:31 PM in response to Deucefour
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Sep 30, 2012 12:31 PM in response to Deucefour

    HI,

     

    As I said someone could have put it there.

     

    In Messages you now get 4 sub sections

    Defaults which are pulled from two sources (the Mac Accounts pics and the iChat Icons (the Flags and stuff lower than those)

     

    Recents

    These are those that have been there and these are then stored in.

    Hard drive (name)/Users/(your account)/Library/Images/iChat Recent Pictures

     

    Faces taps in to iPhoto

     

    Camera launches the camera (A bit like Photo Booth or the Mac Account Option at this point)

     

    What you used to be able to do here was select Edit and navigate anywhere on your hard drive for a new pic.

    Now you cannot.

    However you can drag any pic to the Buddy Pic spot and then edit that.

     

     

     

    for the points   Correct tick

     

     


    8:31 PM      Sunday; September 30, 2012


    Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
     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

    "Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

  • by andrewwynn,

    andrewwynn andrewwynn Mar 8, 2013 9:33 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Mar 8, 2013 9:33 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    I just had this same problem and this thread was helpful in solving my problem, i'm posting because the last comment is no longer accurate; you can in-fact pic any photo with the latest version of Messages.app

     

    You simply pick the 'Other' option In the change my picture window shown below.

     

    SShot 2013-03-08 at 11.24.58.5.png

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Mar 8, 2013 11:44 AM in response to andrewwynn
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Mar 8, 2013 11:44 AM in response to andrewwynn

    HI,

     

    Actually the "Recents" items is also out of date now.

     

    That position is still there if you upgraded from Lion or earlier to Mountain Lion and Messages as it is the place iChat kept it's "Recents".

     

    The Address Book  or Contacts as the front end is now called also keeps a similar folder in /Users/(your accounts)/Library/Caches/com.apple.AddressBook

     

    Someone did post where the combined "Recents" items was held but I have forgotten already.

     

     

    EDIT 7:42 PM

    Found it.  It is here

    ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.ImageKit.RecentPictureService/Data/Library/Images /Recent Pictures

    3Sigcopy2.png
    7:39 PM      Friday; March 8, 2013


    Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.2)
     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

    "Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

     

    Message was edited by: Ralph Johns (UK)  7:44 PM

  • by MarcoEgizi,

    MarcoEgizi MarcoEgizi Aug 4, 2013 8:49 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 4, 2013 8:49 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Is there anyway to set the Messages picture to whatever your current contact picture is? It changes frequently sicne I have my card linked to facebook.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Aug 9, 2013 11:49 AM in response to MarcoEgizi
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Aug 9, 2013 11:49 AM in response to MarcoEgizi

    Hi,

     

    Sorry about the delay as I have been away for a few days.

     

    By default the app, be it iChat or Messages, will take the pic from the Address Card indicated by the Head an Shoulders icon (My Card) in the Address Book or Contacts app in Mountain Lion  (At first this will also be taken from any Pic you choose as the Login Pic)

     

    Particularly with iChat and Buddy lists the Buddy Pic is then the Pic used in Messages.

    (This does mean that you can set the Login pic the Contacts App Pic and the Buddy List pic within Messages to be different pictures).

     

    In Messages All the Buddy Pics such as the Facebook one will have the same pic.

     

    Now you can have several computers and each could have a different Buddy Pic.

    In this case the last one to log in will be the one the Buddies see.

    The same is true if you have different App capable of logging in to the relevant server.

     

    So your Buddy Pic may change, as far as you Buddies are concerned as a different app is putting up the Pic.

    However as soon as  Messages logs  in it should revert to the one shown in Messages.

     

    One thing I cannot check is the System Preferences > Mail Contacts and Calendars pane > Facebook link option.

    I am not sure if this pulls the latest Account pic and uses that in Messages  over the Buddy Pic you have chosen.

     

     

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png
    7:49 pm      Friday; August 9, 2013

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.4)
     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

    "Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

  • by J Bertram,

    J Bertram J Bertram May 19, 2016 8:50 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple TV
    May 19, 2016 8:50 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Obviously, if we've chosen a particular photo for our own contact card, we should be able to use the same for Messages, yet it is not available in any of those options.

     

    Editing a recent photo will however allow you to drag an iPhoto, Aperature, or Photos photo into the edit window without having to export it from that application.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) May 20, 2016 1:34 PM in response to J Bertram
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    May 20, 2016 1:34 PM in response to J Bertram

    Hi,

     

    It should be in the Linked section

    Screen Shot 2016-05-20 at 21.27.06.png

     

     

    The User and Groups picture, the My Card in the Contacts app and the Messages Buddy List can all be different.

     

    Pictures_for_accounts.png

     

    The Linked one only seems to show  the current My Card picture.

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    9:34 pm      Friday; May 20, 2016

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (El Capitan)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     iPhone and an iPad (2)
  • by J Bertram,

    J Bertram J Bertram May 20, 2016 2:05 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple TV
    May 20, 2016 2:05 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    I'm using Messages 8.0.  There is no "Linked" option and the photo I'm using for my contact card is not in recents.  I have to either drag a photo onto the active edit widow or actively export a photo out of the photo application so Messages can call it up.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) May 21, 2016 1:29 PM in response to J Bertram
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    May 21, 2016 1:29 PM in response to J Bertram

    Hi,

     

    Mountain Lion where this Thread is has Messages 7.x x  (there are sub number sets)

    Mavericks version is called version 8 all the way through despite some changes to  the app (it never gets update number sets)

    Yosemite also calls it Messages 8 even though there are further changes to the one in Mavericks.

    El Capitan starts with version 9 - has Version 9.2 at the OS X 10.11.3 update - makes un-numbered changes at OS X 10.11.5

     

    Sorry about the picture confusion

    Yours probably looks more like this set from 2013

    Three pics.png

     

    It used to be that as you set up the Mac you chose a Pic for the Account (the Rose in this picture)

    That would be pulled through to the Contacts > My Card unless you changed it. (as in the Planet in this pic)

    That would then in turn be pulled automatically to Messages.

     

    The iMessages account does not have a picture you can change directly - it will use the Contacts App > My Card.

    However when you enable the Bonjour Account (Or AIM, Jabber or Yahoo as well)  and create a Buddy List you can edit a picture for that and the iMessages account will then use that.

     

    From what you post for "Messages 8" is probably correct in that you have to find the pic and drag it to the selection/edit point

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    9:29 pm      Saturday; May 21, 2016

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (El Capitan)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),
     iPhone and an iPad (2)
  • by J Bertram,

    J Bertram J Bertram May 21, 2016 1:36 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple TV
    May 21, 2016 1:36 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    No problem.  I see this thread is about Mountain Lion.  I'm on Mavericks, with Messages 8.  The options are Defaults, Recents, Camera and Other.

Page 1 Next