Where is the saved history from iMessage?

Hi,

The Save on Close setting should save any chat at the point the app closes or the Mac goes to Sleep. (The app is closed when you Shut Down)

They are stored in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Archive in dated folders

They are stored on a daily basis if you Quit the app or Shut down each day.

If the Mac goes to Sleep then the Messages should also be stored in the same dated folders.

This means that a long chat that is left open over several days (irrespective if the app or computer is Shut Down) are stored in several dated folders.

After that it can depend on the way you clear conversations and chats from the Main Chat window.

Mousing over the Side Bar (of Names) and clicking the X that appears is the safest.

Do NOT use the File Menu and the Delete option (or the Keystrokes listed) as this does what is says on the tin.

iMessages are also stored in the iMessages history databases in ~/Library/Messages and the three chat.db items there.

This is in addition to the Save on Close option (Provided you don't use delete the "History" of an iMessages should always come back when you re-connect to the same person).

The Normal state of the ~/Library is that is hidden.

You can copy the Paths above and then enter then in the dialogue box in the Finder > Go Menu > Go to Folder.

Alternatively you can hold the ALT key down whilst using the Go Menu and select the Library that appears when you do this and then navigate to the folder concerned after that.

The Home Folder (the one in Users with your name on it) is denoted by the ~/ as a short cut in writing the path down.

In there you should have Documents.

Music,

Movies.

Sites.

Pictures at least.

The Library is hidden as mentioned.

The Files and Folders contained in your Users Folder (Home Folder) are supposed to be Owned by you and you should have Read and Write permissions.

Do this:-

Open a Finder window.

Use the View Menu and select "Show Path Bar"

This add the location in icons and words across the bottom of the window.

Now navigate the one of the last folders in each path.

Right Click an item in the contents and choose the Get Info option.

In the Info Panel Scroll to the Bottom.

Select your name.

Unlock the Padlock.

Now check the cogwheel type icon under the list.

You should see it say make your the Owner but it should be Greyed out if you Own it.

It should say you have Read And Write permissions in the list.

You now need to repeat that for all the containing folders by Right Clicking on the icon in the Path Bar and choosing Get Info again.

9:15 p.m. Wednesday; October 14, 2015

for the Points

9:58 p.m. Wednesday; October 14, 2015

Hi there, is there any way to change the root folder for the saved iMessages? To somewhere more accessible and that I can sync with my Dropbox? Thanks!

Hi,

You cannot state where the folder is kept now.

In fact in iChat it became limited to one place (~/Documents/iChats).

Obviously since then it has moved home several times and is not very deep in the Containers folder system.

What you could do is move the Archive folder to somewhere that is more useful to you.

Then you create an Alias of the folder and put that back where the Archive folder came from.

Doing it this way round the Alias keeps track of where the real Archive folder is whilst sign posting it from the old location.

9:42 p.m. Friday; October 16, 2015

Hi there. Apologies for adding to the thread but I do have a related question.

Thanks to your information Ralph, I was able to locate the archived messages from my external backup but, unfortunately, I had to wipe and reinstall El Capitan on my mac, so I was wondering how do I "reattach" the archived messages to the new Messages?

I copied the folders into the ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Archive folder but when I open up the Messages App only the most recent messages since the wipe are visible. Is there something else I should do, or adjust to have the entire previous histories of messages appear within the Messages App?

Many thanks for your help.

Hi,

The Archive seems to be summarised by the chat.db items in ~/Library/Messages

When Messages first started it seemed that there were two methods being used.

The way iChat did it for what became the Archive Folder and the way iMessages were stored in the chat.db items in the ~/Library/Messages folder.

It now seems since Yosemite at least that the App uses the chat.db items to summarise as it were the Archive Folder.

Slight side track

My ~/Library/Messages folder looks like this:-

As you can see there are some older "incompatible" items.

This is supposed to correct this

https://gist.github.com/nschum/1cf00aee2f1ac8869df4

You do have to change the Darwin version to the one you are currently using.

There is something about this set up that looks at everything in the Archive folder an includes it in the "history" of chats.

Mine does not and I can only get back to the date of the Incompatible items.

I have also added older iChat items that date back to 2004 to the Archive folder but these are not seen.

I have not tried this.

I am also presuming that it has something to do with "seeing" what you might put back via other means.

What I am saying is that even if you have corrected the ownership and Read and Write Permissions (Restoring through Time Machine should be fine) I have not found a way to trigger re-indexing the Archive folder that does no put the history of the iMessages at risk.

Ideally the item you put back should be via Time Machine.

If not the items should be checked for Ownership and Read and Write permissions. (See Linc's green marked answer here Reset Home Folder permissions and ACLs Error).

It did seem that several versions ago you could just put items in the Archive Folder and the app would "see" them.

Now that does not seem to clear and "resetting" it is not clear either.

8:24 pm Sunday; January 3, 2016

Hi Ralph,

Thank you so much for the response. Apple do love to mess around with the innards of stuff and make what was a simple procedure in the past become a tedious exercise in nerd hackery! 🙂

I did find a solution in another thread you were involved in from a while back: how to recover imessage history and this worked for me. I followed hyq's instructions (to the letter) and all my old conversations appeared.

Many thanks for taking the time out to reply. It is appreciated.

Hi,

Glad to hear you found some info that worked for you.

Thanks for letting us know.

6:54 pm Monday; January 4, 2016

Thanks for the info, Ralph.

Do you know if the iMessages (as opposed to SMS or other messaging platforms that Messages.app supports) are stored with their original encryption, or are they store plaintext?

Hi,

Any Saved Chat files in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Archive can be opened back to the Install date for iChat 3 if you have "history" that goes back that far.

These end with .ichat

Earlier .chat files from iChat 1 and iChat 2 cannot be opened by Messages (at least Messages 8 and 9)

iMessages are stored in the chat.db items in ~/Library/Messages

These can be opened by TextEdit and some of the plain language can be read (there is a lot of other info that is unreadable).

Essentially they are not stored in Encrypted form in either location.

To be clear an iMessages can also be stored as a Saved Chat as well as being in the chat.db items.

An App called Logorhhea can open the .ichat files from iChat 3 onwards (It does better when browsing all of them and you have to teach it were the files are now).

It is quite an old app but works in El Capitan.

Saved chats are saved by Session (normally between each shut down) but Sleep and closing the app several times a day create extra sessions.

It is the app that pulls them altogether when someone Messages or chats with you to show you the "history" if they are not a currently open chat.

9:54 pm Sunday; March 20, 2016

for the Points.

7:28 pm Tuesday; December 20, 2016