Yahoo messenger for Mac stopped displaying Real names, showing only ID's

Question

Level 1

4 points

Yahoo messenger for Mac stopped displaying Real names, showing only ID's

I recently developed this issue: my YM client no longer wants to display the Real names of my contacts but only the ID's. That is quite frustrating given the fact that it is almost impossible to remember everybody by their ID's.

I had seen another post of a somewhat similar issue with iMessage and YM, and I tried the solution given there: Go to System Preferences>Security&Privacy>Contacts and there I unchecked the tick from Yahoo Messenger. After doing that, my YM client behaves strangely: it gets stuck on "Connecting" yet people are able to message me (obviously always seeing only the ID). As soon as I check back the YM client in Contacts, it works again (that is being able to see the contact list and all).

If anyone faced this issue before or heard of it, please let me know.

PS: It seems that now it only works if I leave that box un-checked (still seeing only ID's)...very weird

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

Posted on Jan 5, 2013 8:52 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 5, 2013 1:52 PM in response to Claudiu V

HI,

This is a Menu things that gets applied window by window.

In this case the Buddy List has been the "Front" window when you have gone to View Menu > Buddy Names and chosen "Handle".

It used to apply in iChat to individual Buddy lists but now they tend to act together even when displayed separately.

It still applies to the Buddy lists and the Messages Window which can be set differently.

The Messages (Chat) window is also effected by the View Menu > Messages > Show Statues.

9:52 PM Saturday; January 5, 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

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Answer 2

Claudiu V Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 5, 2013 3:49 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

To be honest I didn't quite understand... I ran a test however on my 2008 MBP with the same version but on Snow Leopard OS and it seems to run just fine. On Mountain Lion it looks like something is preventing it to retrive the real names associated to the ID's from address.yahoo.com. Thefore I guess it is OS related somehow but I cannot figure out what. I even copied all .plist files from the 2008 MBP into the Retina 2012 MBP but the problem persists.

I even disabled the Yahoo account in iMessage just to make sure that doesn't interefere.

I am still open for suggestions.

Thank you

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Answer 3

Jan 6, 2013 11:06 AM in response to Claudiu V

HI,

The iChat and Messages apps do not call the full names from Yahoo.

Lets say you create a Buddy List and that you add Buddies.

As you add Buddies you are given the option to add First Name Last Names that create an Address Book entry or link to an existing card to add the Screen Name or ID to that card.

The Setting in the View Menu > Buddy Names controls what you see.

Here is a combined pic of the View Menu > Buddy Names in drop down next to a Buddy List and the Address Book entry

You can see I have Set Show Short Names.

I have also shown the Address Book Entry to show the First Name, Last Name of this Buddy so you can see the Last Name is not shown.

If there were a Nickname that would be the default name for Short Names.

"Handles" are Screen Names or IDs depending on what service you have logged in to.

I know the AIM service will also send "Display Names" which will override the Handle/Screen Names if the person has set a a Display Name. (this is where the AIM User tends to adds Spaces and Upper Case characters to make their Screen Name look more like a proper name).

7:05 PM Sunday; January 6, 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

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Answer 4

Claudiu V Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 6, 2013 10:16 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Maybe I was not explicit. I am not talking about iMessage...the problem is with Yahoo Messenger client. Why is everybody replying about iMessage?!

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Answer 5

Jan 7, 2013 1:36 PM in response to Claudiu V

HI,

I am the "everyone".

Sorry about that.

My version of the Yahoo for Mac Beta is version 3.0.2

I found that no-one had a "Real Name" listed in my Buddy list.

This seems to be because I have never linked the app to the Contacts app.

I linked one ID/Buddy to a Contact Card.

The Name display as First Name, Last Name without any problems.

9:33 PM Monday; January 7, 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

Reply

Answer 6

Claudiu V Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 10, 2013 11:24 AM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Ralph,

I apologize for my last reply, no harm was meant.

Now, I'd like to review what I have done recently.

1. After checking that access box in Privacy>Contacts for Yahoo Messenger application, allowing the application to access the contacts, it seems that this app is somehow connecting without me being able to actually see anything but the never-ending screen of the "connection in progress". So this is bad (I have to leave that unchecked).

2. I tried to sync the "Contacts" OS Mountain Lion application with the Yahoo Address - no success, it just cannot connect. Importing all contacts from Yahoo would be of no use since the application cannot access the Mountain Lion Contacts.

What amazes me is that on the 2008 MBP which has Snow Leopard installed, the Yahoo Messenger is perfectly able to render the Real names instead of the ID's (for e.g.: I can see "Joshua Bell" instead of josh127. When connecting, all contacts appear with their ID's then after 2 seconds all change to the Real names - that my contacts themselves chose in their own profiles), whereas on my retina MBP with Mountain Lion this capability is gone.

I hope this time I explained the entire situation and steps taken.

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Answer 7

Jan 10, 2013 1:20 PM in response to Claudiu V

Hi Claudiu V,

I have launched my Yahoo Mac Beta 3 version as detailed above.

In the App menu > Preferences > Privacy I don't seem to have a box to allow the Contacts (or Address Book) to be accessed.

However the Window Menu does list "Address Book" with some Keystrokes which launches a Web Page to Add Contacts to.

I used this method to enter the First Name, Last name to a second Yahoo ID I sometimes use and this appeared in the Buddy List the same are the other name I uses the local Contacts App for in the earlier post.

I notice in System Preferences > Mail, Contacts and Calendars the Yahoo option here was only set for Messages.

I have enabled Contacts as well and Little Snitch (an utility to tell what app is calling where) wants to connect to Yahoo.address something or other.

I checked the web page I went to earlier but I don't see evidence of syncing my whole Contacts list (From the Mac).

If I launch Yahoo on the Snow Leopard computer it shows me the "Buddies" the same way as I now have then on my iMac running Mountain Lion. (One from the Mac's Contacts list and one changed at the Web Site).

It's not an app that I am that familiar with.

9:19 PM Thursday; January 10, 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

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Answer 8

Jan 25, 2013 7:28 AM in response to Claudiu V

Hi Claudiu,

Exactly the same issue here - showing only IDs and if I check the box in System Preferences - Security and Privacy - Contact - Yahoo Messenger, it keeps showing that it connects although it seems to be connected.

Please let me know if you figure this out.

Thank you

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Answer 9

Claudiu V Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 26, 2013 1:17 PM in response to JuniorPRO

Hi JunionPRO,

So far, the only temporary solution I could find was to enable the Yahoo account on iMessage. Thus, when you connect, your contacts' Real Names will show up instead of ID's.

As for the infamous YM client, I was recently asked to add a new contact, which displayed the Real Name in the first place, and after the final click, it still shows only the ID, and worse, that cannot be changed because even if you click "Get info" and try to modify there nothing happens after you press ok. Everything goes into this air and all fields reset to nothing.

I will keep searching but without an "official" reply from Yahoo and/or Apple we are in the dark.

Cheers,

Claudiu

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Answer 10

cj_quest

Level 1

10 points

Feb 11, 2013 6:08 AM in response to Claudiu V

Hello Everyone. I have the same issue as well. I had yahoo messenger on my old imac, upgraded to lion osx and it works well and I can see the contacts name. I just bought a brand new mini the other day, did a fresh install on everything with no restore or something like that. Yahoo messenger app 3.0.2 will not show my contacts name at all. I don't want to mix my apple(icloud contacts) with those from the ymess but I can't think of any way at all. As far as I see this version hasn't been upgraded at all in a long time. Perhaps we should sign a petition or something for Yahoo to bring us a new version of the up and more support. I've been using Yahoo Messenger on windows for more than 10 years and I really don't want to start using 3rd party apps now.

Keep in touch, Adrian

Btw, Claudiu: Hai noroc!

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Answer 11

Jul 14, 2013 9:25 PM in response to Claudiu V

I had the same issue and just figured out how to workaround.

1) System Preferences > Mail, Contacts & Calendars, add your Yahoo account. Since I do not wish to blend my personal info in company laptop, I only check Contacts & Messages.

2) In Mac Contacts, setup this Yahoo account address book as default.

3) Now you can launch Yahoo Messenger, and you should be able to see your contact nick name in contact list.

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Answer 12

Claudiu V Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 16, 2013 2:13 PM in response to wkatapple

Tried that, didn't work... (Mac contacts is it Address book?)

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Answer 13

Aug 17, 2013 11:32 AM in response to Claudiu V

HI,

In Mountain Lion the Address Book is called Contacts.

It has the same icon as the previous Address Book but uses the same com.apple.addressbook.plist (i.e. under the hood it is still the Address Book.)

7:32 PM Saturday; August 17, 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

Reply

Answer 14

Jan 31, 2014 11:30 AM in response to Claudiu V

so..i don't get it...has anyone found a solution to this problem yet?

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Answer 15

Jan 31, 2014 12:49 PM in response to riciiblitz

Hi,

In the Contacts App Menu > Preferences > Accounts which accounts (if you show more than one) is active ?

As the Yahoo for Mac app is a third Party app have you tried reinstalling it ?

8:48 pm Friday; January 31, 2014

 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

Message was edited by: Ralph Johns (UK)

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