How to "blow out" Messages.app history, etc.?

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Level 2

264 points

How to "blow out" Messages.app history, etc.?

I'm trying to write a logout hook to blow out the Messages.app chat history (and other things) when the user logs out. I've tried deleting the following:

rm -rf /Users/MyUsername/Library/Messages

rm /Users/MyUsername/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iChat.*

rm /Users/MyUsername/Library/Preferences/com.apple.imessage*

rm /Users/MyUsername/Library/Preferences/com.apple.imservice.*

rm /Users/MyUsername/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.iChat.*

rm /Users/MyUsername/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.imservice.*

rm -rf /Users/MyUsername/Library/Caches/com.apple.Messages

rm -rf /Users/MyUsername/Library/Caches/com.apple.ichat.TranscriptRenderingService

rm -rf /Users/MyUsername/Library/Caches/com.apple.iChat

rm -rf /Users/MyUsername/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat

There's absolutely nothing left in the ~/Library folder with the words "iChat", "iMessage" or "Messages" left in them, yet I can't get the Messages.app to do any of the following:

- delete/remove chat history

- reset preferences

- "forgot" passwords

- remove accounts

If anyone has any suggestions in terms of what I'm missing, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Kristin.

Posted on Aug 11, 2014 7:56 AM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,559 points

Aug 11, 2014 11:07 AM in response to kristin.

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.

The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar at the top of the screen.Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then take one of the actions that you're having trouble with. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

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Answer 2

Oct 6, 2014 7:12 PM in response to Linc Davis

I would like this solved too....

I see this in my console when I restart Messages (emphasis added by me):

10/6/14 6:40:22.835 PM Messages[12742]: Chat history path /Users/[username]/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Arch ive Status: 0 totalExpected: 0 countProcessed: 0, forcing an import.

Where the heck is it importing from, and how do we delete that?

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