Messages Menu Commands Greyed Out

I had Apple Gothic disabled in Font Book. Enabling the font solved this issue. Thank you for posting.

This solved the problem for me, thank you.

Dear Ralph, I'm having this problem (on 10.10.1). I've read through the whole thread, have verified the relevant font is in place and checked the read/write permissions on the plist files you pointed us to. Still, the Messages gray menu problem remains. When the application starts, there are a few seconds of colored pinwheel. Then Messages / Preferences and most other menu items are grayed out. Any thoughts? Thank you in advance.

Hi,

Have I said delete (Drag to Trash) the com.apple.ichat.plist ?

If not try that as it was the fix when the app was iChat.

9:23 PM Friday; November 21, 2014

I have now done that (delete com.apple.ichat.plist) and it did not resolve the problem.

I just checked another MacOS account on the same computer and Messages on that original admin account seems to work fine.

Hi,

It unfortunately the way things can be for some people.

However if it works in one Mac User we know then that the app works, that the Serial Number is not the issue, and that it is something about the regular Mac User Account that you use.

There are several potential .plists (preferences files) it could be as well as a faulty keychain item or even a turned Off Font (or one with an issue).

Lets set up some basic but normally unused maintenance things first to give use the best chance.

Some of these you may have tried already.

In Applications/Utilities launch the Disk Utility app.

Highlight the boot Drive on the left hand list and make sure the tabs across on the right are set to First Aid.

Now click the Repair Permission button (lower left of the right hand pane if that make sense).

This consults a data base on your Mac that is updated when you install or Update apps and the OS (and therefore more up-to-date than running Disk Utility in Recovery Mode)

Test the Messages app.

Once this has finished Shut Down the computer.

Restart it holding down the CMD+ALT+P+R keys (PRAM/NVRAM rest) Until you have heard three Start up Bongs - then let the Start up continue.

Test the Messages app

Follow that with a Safe Mode Start

You can normally access your Own Mac account (some things are slower and not used so some functions are restricted)

Try Messages again.

These last two do clear out some caches that cannot be cleared in other ways.

Next open the Font Book and check these three Fonts (again in some cases)

Helvetica, Lucida Grande and AppleGothic (all one word)

None should be duplicated. All should obviously Validate (File Menu). Keep a look out for Helvetica Fractions as this has caused issues and conflicts in the past.

If anything needs sorting then test Messages afterwards.

If you still have issue with the Messages app logging in the iMessages account navigate to ~/Library/Preferences

Find:-

com.apple.ids.service.com.apple.madrid.plist

com.apple.ids.service.com.apple.iMessage.plist and

com.apple.imessage.bag.plist and Drag them to the Trash.

These three are involved in the IDs you log in with and the iMessages server your app connects with.

Restart the Messages app.

Report back at this point.

We can still do a Keychain repair, delete the IDS item from the Keychain to force it to make a new one and some Sandboxed .plists in ~/Library/Containers that could be looked at.

7:45 PM Saturday; November 22, 2014

Thank you Rob!

This solved my problem with Messages.

Ralph, I cannot express how thankful I am for your in-depth help, here. Unfortunately, no positive results after following the latest recommended steps. The one I was UNABLE to complete was trashing one file, as it did not exist in the specified directory: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.ids.service.com.apple.iMessage.plist

Please advise.

Regards,

David

Hi,

I have checked again.

Mine has the .plist but the date on it is the Oct 4th 2013 which makes me think it was used in Mavericks rather than being an Yosemite one.

It shows a creation date of that day and also last Opened that day.

if you have a fresh Install of Yosemite you may not have this file.

8:17 PM Tuesday; November 25, 2014

Hi,

Can you open the Keychain Access app in Applications/Utilities ?

Have th Login item in the top left hand section highlighted then Passwords in the lower left.

On the right have side find the IDS (Your Apple ID)-Auth Token item and delete that.

Restart the Messages app.

8:20 PM Tuesday; November 25, 2014

Done. Now Messages is behaving somewhat differently:

-Messages window opens now at application start. However, it is empty of messages.

-More Edit and View menu actions are available, but not all.

-Key functions, including Preferences and New Message are still not available.

HI,

The Menu items will depend on which window is "Front" and in some cases which item is selected.

For instance the Buddies Menu will be largely greyed out unless a Buddy List in "front" and A Buddy is highlighted.

Compared to

The View Menu is mostly greyed out if only the Main Messages window is on show.

Using the Font Book app again can you check Helvetica and Lucida Grande are Enabled, Validate and do not have duplicates ?

7:20 PM Wednesday; November 26, 2014

This worked for me — added Apple Gothic back to my Fonts folder, logged out/in, and was presented with not only a new Messages screen but the (greyed-out) "Preferences" and "Add Account" returned.

What's odd, though, is that my new iMac has two user accounts. This problem only existed for one of the accounts, even though they both rely on this system font folder. The other account has been running Messages without a problem. So something else must trigger this, even if the font restoration fixes the issue.

Thanks!

Hi,

Whilst several things are "Owned" by the System as it were your settings are held separately.

This means in this Case the info about which Fonts are Enabled or Disabled are held in the settings list for the Font Book in your Home Folder/Library/Preferences (the ~/Library item is normally hidden nowadays).

This also applies to apps. Your Settings for it are held separately from any other Users settings.

8:23 pm Friday; January 9, 2015

Makes sense. But the fonts in this scenario were not disabled — they were completely removed from the folder. Whenever I get a new system I remove as much as possible, placing the unneeded fonts in a separate folder. (I work in the type industry and have always managed my fonts manually, outside of Font Book or other applications.) Despite this, maybe a User-specific setting was still tripping things up?