Messages Conversations Disappearing with Mavericks Update

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Messages Conversations Disappearing with Mavericks Update

Prior to installing Mavericks, I would encounter an error where, from time to time, one or two of my G-Chat conversations (via Jabber) would suddenly be blank in my conversations list. It was an annoying but forgivable hiccup.

Now, NONE of my Messages conversations are saving after quitting out of the application. They're all there and I can re-read the entire conversation until I quit out of the application. Everytime I reopen the application, I can see some of the conversations in the left column preview but as soon as I click over to the actual messages, the conversation dissappears and I'm left with a blank window.

As you can see in the attached image. I just loaded Messages and Kofi's box is entirelly blank - even though, prior to quitting the program, we had an extensive conversation.

I do have "Save History When Conversations Are Closed" checked in the Messages preferences menu but am not sure what other settings might be causing this issue - or how to proceed if it's an unintended error. As I mentioned, the problem only rarely creeped up as a minor bug prior to installing Mavericks but is now a persistant and predictable problem.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 25, 2013 10:08 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 27, 2013 11:58 AM in response to iambenk

I am having the exact same issue.

I have tried removing the "Messages" directory under ~/Library/Messages completely, restaring my Mac, running Messages and letting it create its own Messages directory there again. This did not fix the issue. Non-iMessage messages are not saved in the history.

I definitely have the option checked to save history when closing.

Super frustrating!

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Answer 2

Oct 27, 2013 1:12 PM in response to iambenk

I fixed the issue.

It looks like the problem was caused by an old "Archive" folder from the old Messages app hanging around in: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages. Once I deleted the "Archive" folder from there (after backing it up), Messages now stores the history properly.

I found the issue by running Messages through the Terminal and having it report out log levels. This is the command I used: /Applications/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages -errorLogLevel 7

The first line spit out when Messages executed was something to the effect of:

2013-10-27 15:59:16.465 Messages[666:507] Chat history path /Users/username/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Archiv e Status: 3 totalExpected: 162740 countProcessed: 29344, forcing an import.

It looks like when Messages in Mavericks detects and Archive folder in that path, it expects it is upgrading from a prior version and forces an import of that old data. Since the new Messages app does not use that Archive folder, it wasn't reading the new chats that were saved under the new path (~/Library/Messages/chat.db).

See if that Archive directory is there for you, too. If it is, move it somewhere else and run Messages and let's hope it fixed it!

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Answer 3

Oct 27, 2013 1:29 PM in response to iambenk

Here's the exact steps for fixing the issue:

Run Messages through Terminal (Desktop -> Go -> Utilities -> Terminal) with the following command: /Applications/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages -errorLogLevel 7
Confirm that an error similar to this appears: 2013-10-27 15:59:16.465 Messages[666:507] Chat history path /Users/username/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Archiv e Status: 3 totalExpected: 162740 countProcessed: 29344, forcing an import.
If so, quit Messages.
Move the Archive folder in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages to your Desktop
Run Messages with the same command above.
That log should now contain this instead: Status: 0 totalExpected: 0 countProcessed: 0, forcing an import.
If so, quite Messages.
Open the Archive folder you moved to your Desktop.
Copy all of the contents of the Archive folder on your desktop and paste them in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Archive
Run Messages and confirm your prior history is present and new history is being saved.

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Answer 4

iambenk Author

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Oct 27, 2013 4:16 PM in response to Michael Singletary

That did the trick! Seems to be working correctly now! Definitely appreciate the assist. I was losing my mind trying to troubleshoot it.

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Answer 5

iambenk Author

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Oct 27, 2013 4:53 PM in response to iambenk

Actually, upon restart the problem returned. However, deleting instead of reinserting the back-up of the message archive seems to have fixed it permanently.

Anyone else trying to solve the problem should try Michael's way first. If the problem persists, I simply removed step 9. Of course, my entire history is gone - but better that than not be able to save new messages.

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Answer 6

Oct 29, 2013 3:07 PM in response to Michael Singletary

Nicely done.

Impressive.

10:07 pm Tuesday; October 29, 2013

 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

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Answer 7

jcboget

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4 points

Nov 5, 2013 5:56 AM in response to Michael Singletary

I'm having this problem as well, where my chat history is not saved. I tried your steps but on the first one, I did not see anything like

Chat history path /Users/username/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Archiv e Status: 3 totalExpected: 162740 countProcessed: 29344, forcing an import.

The main bulk of the messages it displays has to do with camera and microphone -- nothing at all about archive or history.

thnx,
Christoph

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Answer 8

iambenk Author

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Nov 5, 2013 6:10 AM in response to jcboget

I actually did not see that "Chat history path" message either - but still followed the steps (with the exception of #9 as stated earlier in the thread) and the fix worked for me. I'm guessing that Michael and I were having related but not identical problems that were resulting in a similar error. As a result, his fix was a good solution (for me at least).

Sounds like you might have the same problem that I was having - meaning you should try Michael's steps first but, if after a restart the problem returns, you'll have to do what I did (follow Michael's steps but skip step #9 - where you'd normally re-insert the backed-up chat archive). I had to say goodbye to my chat history but everything has been saving correctly since the fix.

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Answer 9

Dec 2, 2013 4:34 PM in response to Michael Singletary

So i'm following the steps exactly how Michael Singletary wrote them but when i move my archive folder ot the desktop and run the command /Applications/Messages.app/Contents/MacOS/Messages -errorLogLevel 7

it somehow automatically restores the newer messages I moved out of the archive folder.

I tried backing them all up then manaully deleting the conversations in Messages but when i follow step 9 my messages don't restore even when starting a new conversation with somoene i've chatted with previously

please help

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Answer 10

Dec 3, 2013 12:38 PM in response to eddiesalem

HI,

The process Michael wrote about is to restore Saved chats that can (apparently) get lost.

If you have active chats, as it were, in the main Messages window on the left and these are iMessages chats then the application is calling those from the iMessages database. (chat.db)

This is in ~/Library/Messages (where the Archive Folder also used to be in Mountain Lion).

There are some other linked databases also in this folder.

8:38 pm Tuesday; December 3, 2013

 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

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Answer 11

davidich

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May 4, 2015 11:56 AM in response to iambenk

Hi!, I did all steps in your post. It doesn't help anyway. Archive are not loaded in Messages.

It drivez me crazy. What could I do for Message to work properly and show all messages, including archives ones?

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