nataliekate

Q: Why do iMessages disappear when I try to view them on Macbook?

When someone sends me a new iMessage and my Macbook is open/on, it flies in on the right hand side. I see a preview of the message. But when I click on it or go to the App, the text box next to that person's name is then blank - all our messages have gone.

 

Also before this started happening, whenever I wrote a reply to an iMessage on my Mac, my response didn't show up. It would send, and show on my iPhone, but not be on my Mac. Which led to lots of confusion.


I've now added every email address I have to iMessage, so that 5 addresses and my phone number are connected to iPhone and macbook. But this still doesn't seem to help.

 

I’ve Googled for hours too and no one else ever seems to have had this problem. Do I need to go and see a Genius? I don’t think I can, I’ll have to send someone else, it upsets me too much to go in there. If you have an idea, please help. Is it possible to uninstall and then reinstall? Will this delete messages from my phone? Because if it will I can't do it - I have messages from a deceased relative I can not afford to lose.

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Apr 28, 2015 11:08 AM

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Q: Why do iMessages disappear when I try to view them on Macbook?

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  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Apr 29, 2015 1:58 PM in response to nataliekate
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Apr 29, 2015 1:58 PM in response to nataliekate

    Hi,

     

    Open the Font book and check Helvetica Neue is Active, Not Duplicated and Validates (File Menu)

     

    You may also need to check the Contacts App > Preferences > Accounts is only using one Account to Sync with (iCloud or Google or similar)

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    9:57 pm      Wednesday; April 29, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 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
  • by TommieC,

    TommieC TommieC May 18, 2015 12:13 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 18, 2015 12:13 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Actually, I tried this and it did not work...  Same issue.  iMessages I have sent and/or received disappear from my mac message application.  They are still on my phone but not on my Mac with kind of defeats the purpose of having them on all your devices

    Any suggestions

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) May 18, 2015 12:56 PM in response to TommieC
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    May 18, 2015 12:56 PM in response to TommieC

    Hi,

     

    In a Finder window use the Go Menu whilst holding down the ALT key and select the Library that appears.

    Set the window to Cover Flow view.

    In the Finder > View Menu select show View Options and show the Modified Column.

    Navigate to Messages.

    In here should be at least three chat.db items.

    Do they all have current dates ?

    They should show the date of  "today" if something was sent to you today (it may display the time).

     

    If they show dates from a while ago then the files (which hold all the iMessages you receive and Send) are not being updated.

    If this is the case Right click each file and select Get Info.

    At the bottom of the panel should be your shortname (The one on the Little House Icon for the Home Folder).

    You should have Read And Write Permissions.

    Unlock the padlock then use the cogwheel like icon and see if the text is greyed out  (it should be if you Own the file already)

    It will read something like "Make TommieC (me) the Owner"  (I used your "Name" here to make it clear where you shortname appears.)

     

    Let me know the results.

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:56 pm      Monday; May 18, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 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
  • by nataliekate,

    nataliekate nataliekate May 20, 2015 4:12 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 20, 2015 4:12 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Hi Ralph,

    Thanks for your detailed help... however it hasn't made any difference. I really can't understand why this has happened. Here's a screen grab of my current iMessage app:

    Screen Shot 2015-05-20 at 12.11.37.png

    As you can see, no text shows at all. Very odd.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) May 20, 2015 12:11 PM in response to nataliekate
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    May 20, 2015 12:11 PM in response to nataliekate

    Hi,

     

    In the Font Book app can you also check the AppleGothic font (it is all one word as shown and is also near the bottom of the list).

    Another Font Messages uses in Lucida Grande so check that as well.

     

    If these appear to be OK then Restart the computer whilst Holding down the ALT+CMD+P+R keys at the same time until you have heard three "Start Up" bongs and then let the Start Continue normally.

     

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:11 pm      Wednesday; May 20, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 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
  • by Newmanity,

    Newmanity Newmanity May 26, 2015 3:32 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2015 3:32 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    I'm having the same problem as of May 22. 

     

    chat.db and chat.db-wal both haven't updated since then.  They're still large files (18mb/2mb). The attachments are all still in the attachments dir. Permissions are in my name.

     

    chat.db-shm seems to be working fine.

     

    How do I shake messages to get working again?

  • by jlaketx,

    jlaketx jlaketx May 27, 2015 6:12 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 27, 2015 6:12 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Ralph:  Thanks for all of your guidance.  I'm having the same issue as nataliekate.  I see notifications of new iMessages but the messages don't always appear in the Messages window.  Further, my responses never show up either, regardless of the device I use to respond.

     

    I checked the three fonts you suggest.  All checked out OK.

    I checked the chat.db files and one has a current date, the other two haven't updated since March 6th and 7th.  All of them show me having permission to read/write.

    I also did the ALT+CMD+P+R routine.

     

    I'm still having the issue.

     

    Any other ideas?

  • by Newmanity,

    Newmanity Newmanity May 27, 2015 9:26 AM in response to jlaketx
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 27, 2015 9:26 AM in response to jlaketx

    Solved:  Something was damaged in the file structure.

     

    Open Disk Utility and Verify the volume.  Mine showed several errors. You need to run in protected mode to fix.

     

    I booted to the Recovery Partition (Reboot, command-R), ran Disk Utility to fix the volume, and everything is back to normal.  The Messages database was the only file that was fixed.  I did lose those 4 days of messages seemingly forever (tho they are on my iphone still)

     

    I have no idea why the Messages database was the only file that showed any damage, but it looks like I'm not the only one.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) May 27, 2015 12:10 PM in response to Newmanity
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    May 27, 2015 12:10 PM in response to Newmanity

    Hi,

     

    Nice find.

    As I don't have the issue I was struggling to think of a good enough "shake"

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:10 pm      Wednesday; May 27, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 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
  • by maikerukun,

    maikerukun maikerukun May 31, 2015 10:09 PM in response to nataliekate
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 31, 2015 10:09 PM in response to nataliekate

    I'm so happy I'm not the ONLY ONE going through this!!  It literally JUST HAPPENED THIS MORNING and has been this way since   Still no fix??screenshot.png

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Jun 1, 2015 11:53 AM in response to maikerukun
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Jun 1, 2015 11:53 AM in response to maikerukun

    Hi,

     

    Did you try the Repair Permissions that one person found worked (near the bottom of the Thread) ?

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    7:53 pm      Monday; June 1, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 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
  • by nguyj066,

    nguyj066 nguyj066 Jun 14, 2015 11:59 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2015 11:59 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Hello all,

     

    I seem to be having the same issue and I have done everything within this thread to try and fix it, but nothing seems to be working (either that or I am doing it wrong. I am not the most tech savvy).

     

    Is there anything else that I could do?

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Jun 14, 2015 12:12 PM in response to nguyj066
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Jun 14, 2015 12:12 PM in response to nguyj066

    HI,

     

    Try going to System Preferences > Notifications and turn Off (No Alerts) the item for Messages.

    You will have to keep an eye on the DOCK icon for Messages to tell you when new items appear.

     

    If it does not seem to have an instant effect restart the computer.

     

    If this then works turn the Notifications back ON again.

     

     

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:12 p.m.      Sunday; June 14, 2015

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz i5 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
  • by nguyj066,

    nguyj066 nguyj066 Jun 14, 2015 1:09 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2015 1:09 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    I get notifications just fine, but it is my past messages that do not show

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