Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
Hi
is there a way to delete multiple messages in the Messages app? I can only delete one at the time and I also wish there was a way to not have the deletion confirmation every time. Better yet, deleting multiple messages across all devices would be the ideal 🙂
thanks
nick
Hi Sig,
Yes. That seems to work.
I can highlight an item in a Chat, seeming placed there by the "history" process, and highlight it and then others with Shift + Click then use the Backspace key.
This generates the Pop up asking if you want to proceed.
However when I tried this earlier I am sure that the process deleted the whole conversation (as I stated in my original reply)
Opps. Spotted what I did. I used the Menu items that lists CMD + Backspace that is for Deleting Conversations and not individual IMs (or iMessages).
9:33 PM Wednesday; April 24, 2013
iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.3)
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
Hi Nick,
Can I check we are all using the same language for the same items ?
In the File Menu of Messages is the Delete Conversation with the keystrokes of CMD + Backspace is listed.
If you highlight an individual IM in the Chat window side then whole conversation will be deleted after you confirm deletion.
There is no Menu item for removing individual IMs or iMessages from such a chat/conversations.
However, as I eventually understood Sig to be saying, you can highlight items in the chat window side and use the backspace (delete) key and remove those individual items from the chat/Conversations.
As Messages is iChat+ and has iMessages added to what iChat could do I refer to Buddy List connections as "IMs" for individual parts and "Chats" for the whole thing.
Whereas I say "iMessages" for individual parts and "Conversations" for the whole thing for the iMessages connections you have going on.
I stated this in my original reply
In an open Conversation or Chat individual IMs or Messages also cannot be selected to be deleted.
Highlighting one message and then using CMD + Backspace will produce the Pop up to delete the whole Conversation/Chat.
As I have posted to Sig I made the mistake of using the File Menu keystroke for deleting a Conversation/Chat when trying to delete individual IMs/iMessages and informed you incorrectly about this.
I apologise for any confusion this has caused.
9:50 PM Wednesday; April 24, 2013
iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.3)
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
hey Ralph
thanks for sticking with me...looking back at my original question I guess what I meant is to ask is if I can delete multiple conversations NOT messages in the chat side of the window.
So deleting a conversation is easy enough by clicking on the X, what I was hoping is to delete multiple conversations at once, and wish we could turn off the delete confirmation pop up every time
Hope this makes sense
nick
HI,
As I said in my first reply you cannot Shift+Click the List of Chats/Conversation on the left of the Messages (Main) window.
In Messages Menu > Preferences > Messages I have the Save option selected.
For me using the X when mousing over a chat/Conversation only seems to close the items rather than Delete it.
It is of course removed from view in the Main Messages window.
I would use this Feedback page to make suggestions about the app.
I have pointed you to the iChat feedback page as Messages is iChat+.
It is built on the iChat engine and is identified to the system as iChat.
You will have to put your Version and OS version in the free text field as the drop downs for the version Numbers and the OS are out of step.
8:13 PM Thursday; April 25, 2013
iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Mountain Lion 10.8.3)
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
I'm from the future, I come from the date May 23 2016. The world has changed so much since this question was asked, but there is a constant. I time traveled back 3 years and 3 OS's to tell you...YOU STILL CAN NOT DELETE MULTIPLE CONVERSATIONS AT THE SAME TIME. During my travels I met a man with over 3,000 conversations in is iPhone. I dare you to tell him, 1 by 1 sir... I must return to my time now. Farewell 2013, you have some scary but wonderful times ahead.
P.S. Why hasn't anyone created a script for this problem? Seems like it could work.
Technically, not true. You cannot do this with the "Messages" app on the Mac.
You may be thinking of another app on the Mac. You can't do this within the "Messages" app on the Mac. Mail, yes, Messages, No...
Hello again from the future, I come from the date June 3 2017. It's apparent to me that suggestions/feedback like this are not taken seriously.
billyscho! Thank you! This was a simple trick that saved me hours deleting messages on OS X. Awesome!!!
You realize this doesn't work, right? Is there a way we can have this removed.
How do I delete multiple messages in OS X
