Force Messages to Forget chats & show those red numbers..?

Question

Force Messages to Forget chats & show those red numbers..?

I just upgraded to Mountain Lion and a few things about Messages are driving me nuts.

First of all, I don't want any messages saved on my laptop at work for privacy reasons. I was able to achieve this with iChat by setting it not to save. In messages, even when I disable the following, my chatlog is present when I reopen Messages:

Preferences > Messages tab > Save history when conversations are closed > unchecked!

In Gmail > Chat Settings > In chat rooms show: > unchecked!

And yet, quitting out of Messages doesn't clear my last conversation. I have to manually "x" out a buddy's name and get prompted to delete each conversation. If I wanted those conversations saved, I would have specified that in preferences...

Also, iChat used to have a better way of dealing with messages recieved in the background. I immidiately disabled Messages in the Notifications Center because I don't want anyone seeing my chat notificaitons over my shoulder.

I miss the little red number count iChat used to give me. You know, with numbers like this:

I've set Messages to bounce in the dock when I get a message, but I don't know how many (unread) messages I've gotten in a not-so-distracting way. The Notifications Center was way too distracting.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 5, 2013 6:41 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 6, 2013 2:46 PM in response to ninjaconsultant

HI,

Messages stores chats/iMessages in two ways.

It is possible to Save on Close as you say and this puts them in ~/Library/Messages/Archive by date.

iMessages whether they are closed and not saved are also in ~/Library/Messages/chat.db

This file can be opened in TextEdit although a little messy to read.

It seems this file is responsible for "bringing back" the "History" when you start chatting to the same Contact.

There seems to be no way around this in Messages itself.

It would seem to me that it will be AppleScript or Automator that will need something set up to Delete this file on Quitting Messages.

10:45 PM Wednesday; February 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 2

Feb 6, 2013 6:29 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Automating or scripting my way around something that used to be a feature...? Sounds cumbersome.

How about those little red numbers?

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Answer 3

Feb 7, 2013 11:55 AM in response to ninjaconsultant

HI,

If my Messages app is not the Front App and someone either IMs or iMessages me then the red counter starts counting.

The Main Messages Window then states there are Unread Messages and the List on the left has the Chat involved marked with a blue dot.

and

From your first post you say you are not seeing the red numbers.

As a first step I would try a PRAM reset.

Shut down the computer.

Restart it holding down Apple/CMD ( or ⌘)+ALT( ⌥)+P+R Keys until you have heard three Start Up Bongs.

7:46 PM Thursday; February 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 4

Feb 7, 2013 7:25 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

OK, did the PRAM restart and... still no red numbers!

It's crazy that you get them somehow. I don't know people on iMessage, but certainly testing across Jabber and iChat and AIM users messaging me, the counter never comes up! I tried hiding the app, deleting chats, quitting, and all kinds of different combinations.

The blue dots appear when I'm in the app, haven't had a problem with that.

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Answer 5

Feb 8, 2013 11:58 AM in response to ninjaconsultant

Hi,

It is odd.

My wife iMessage me from an appointment she had to say she would be delayed.

It was sent just before noon when my computer was Off.

My iPhone also did not get it in 3.15 this afternoon.

However when I started the computer Up at 7.00pm I got the Sync from my wife.

It showed the "Unread" title to the Messages window and the blue dot next to the chat AND the red Counter.

In fact I could not get rid of the counter until I closed the chat.

I do have the System Preferences > Notifications set for the "Badge icon" and had presumed this was the Bounce on Received Messages. I have not checked whether it actually effects the Count icon.

7:57 PM Friday; February 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

Reply

Answer 6

Feb 28, 2013 2:00 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Hey! I finally figured this out!

The little red number is controlled via the Notification Center preferences.

In the "Messages" section of Notifications you have to check off "Badge App Icon" or no little red number will appear.

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Answer 7

Feb 28, 2013 2:03 PM in response to ninjaconsultant

Hi,

I must admit to thinking that I thought that setting was supposed to control whether the Dock icon bounced or not.

I can confirm you findings though, that the red number will Appear and Disappear as you toggle the setting in Notifications and have an Unread Message in Messages.

10:03 PM Thursday; February 28, 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 8

Feb 28, 2013 2:57 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Bouncing the dock icon is controlled within Messages --> Preferences --> Alerts tab. Like, you can set it to bounce or make a sound when a certain person appears online, or when messages are recieved.

You cannot contol, from within Messages, the "Badge App Icon" which I previously called "the little numbers in red".

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Answer 9

Mar 1, 2013 11:50 AM in response to ninjaconsultant

HI,

I know what worked with what before, as in iChat.

In fact it is still the case that the app setting in the said Alerts pane will override the Notification Settings for the Sound.

(If you set Messages > Alerts to None for Sound then it does not play them even if the Notification centre says Play Sound).

The App (iChat) previously had three places incoming invites were seen.

Text invites were top right, slightly lower were Audio Only invites and Video Invites were top Centre, of the screen.

These no longer happen with the Notification Centre (even if that is set to None).

A little while ago I had been doing some testing on the Sound issue and on whether Messages actually has any Invite windows any more that would be used if the Notifications were Off. I had checked the Dock icon Bounce but not the Red Numbered Badge.

7:50 PM Friday; March 1, 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