kottr

Q: Can't delete picture/photo from iMessages on Mac

Can't delete picture/photo from iMessages on Mac. Cmd-click on photo, Delete - and nothing. Photo doesn't deleted.

 

Please help

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), null

Posted on Feb 3, 2016 1:41 AM

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Q: Can't delete picture/photo from iMessages on Mac

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Feb 3, 2016 12:27 PM in response to kottr
    Level 9 (73,254 points)
    Applications
    Feb 3, 2016 12:27 PM in response to kottr

    Hi,

     

    It should be Right Click with the two button mouse or Control Click.

     

    CMD+ click just highlights like normal.

     

    The Right Click brings up the Contextual Menu which does have Delete as an option.

    Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 20.24.36.png

     

    I find the Delete option works.

    There is a Dialogue Box that appears asking if you want to Delete the Messages and that it cannot be undone, when you use Delete.

    Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 20.26.16.png

     

     

    You do not describe getting the Warning Alert.

    Do you see one ?

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    8:27 pm      Wednesday; February 3, 2016

     

      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 kottr,

    kottr kottr Feb 3, 2016 11:21 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 3, 2016 11:21 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Sure, I mean right click, ctrl-click!

     

    I see all options and all dialog boxes and warnings. But photos doesn't deleted.

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Feb 4, 2016 1:22 PM in response to kottr
    Level 9 (73,254 points)
    Applications
    Feb 4, 2016 1:22 PM in response to kottr

    Hi,

     

    In the Finder use the GO Menu whilst holding down the ALT key.

    Select the Library that appears in the List.

    Navigate to Messages.

     

    There should be at least 4 items in here.

    3 chat.db items with various names and the Attachments folder

    Highlight the Attachments folder (don't open it)

    Right Click it and select Get Info.

    Screen Shot 2016-02-04 at 21.09.45.png

    You are going to Scroll to the bottom to check the Ownership and Permissions.

     

    Your Short Name (like the one under the Little House Icon) should show the (me) in the name as well.

    It should list Read and Write as Permissions

    Highlight your Name

    Unlock the Padlock

    Now click the little cogwheel type icon under the List.

    It should read "Make your Shortname (Me) the owner" but it should be greyed out to say it is already done - you own them).

    Screen Shot 2016-02-04 at 21.11.05.png

    You might find like this pic that the Enclosed items may need doing.

    The enclosed are dated folders and seemingly randomly named.

    Screen Shot 2016-02-04 at 21.12.19.png

     

    It is worth using "Apply to Enclosed Items" rather than checking every folder and sub folder down to the Pic that you want.

    As you can see unless you know the date (and display the Modified column) they can be hard to pin down.

     

    This may not be the end of the story as the items are put in that Attachments folder via ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages and an Alias to the actual Attachments folder.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    9:21 pm      Thursday; February 4, 2016

     

      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 kottr,

    kottr kottr Feb 5, 2016 12:14 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 12:14 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Ralph, thank you a lot for detailed descriptions, but it doesn't help

  • by VikingOSX,

    VikingOSX VikingOSX Feb 5, 2016 4:08 AM in response to kottr
    Level 7 (21,108 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 5, 2016 4:08 AM in response to kottr

    There is no iMessages application. There is Apple Mail, which Ralph is showing, and there is the Messages application that lets you send SMS/MMS messages to phones and other OS X Messages recipients.

     

    If you have selected a photo on your disk, and performed a right-click to show the contextual pop-up menu, there will be a Share sub-menu, and on it will be Messages. This will result in a photo embedded in a small Messages window. There does not appear to be a means to remove this image once there, and you will have to Cancel the Message, and start over.

  • by kottr,

    kottr kottr Feb 5, 2016 4:21 AM in response to VikingOSX
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 5, 2016 4:21 AM in response to VikingOSX

    not exactly

     

    I have iMessage on iPhone and I have Messages on Mac. iPhone and Mac works with same iCloud account. If I take a photo on iPhone and then send it by iMessages, this message with photo synchronize with Messages on Mac.

     

    Now, I want to remove this photo from Messages on Mac, but I can't.

     

    It's clear?

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Feb 5, 2016 11:52 AM in response to VikingOSX
    Level 9 (73,254 points)
    Applications
    Feb 5, 2016 11:52 AM in response to VikingOSX

    Hi Viking,

     

    I was talking about Messages.

    The Pic was of the chat.db items listed in ~/Library/Messages.

    The one of inside the Attachments folder juts happens to be the Web page from Google Mail looking at the "Chat" options.

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    7:52 pm      Friday; February 5, 2016

     

      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 Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Feb 5, 2016 1:12 PM in response to kottr
    Level 9 (73,254 points)
    Applications
    Feb 5, 2016 1:12 PM in response to kottr

    Hi kottr,

     

    Your explanations are fine.

    What is not working is the things I would expect to work.

     

    I was also trying to suggest the least to do to achieve a "fix"

    My presumption is that you have "lost" the ability to do things with files that should be Owned by you and that you should have Read and Write Permissions for.

     

    Various info about any App's Preferences and sometime Menu item choices are held in .plists (Preferences Lists) fro that app.

    The "normal" place for those is in what is called the Home/Library.

    The Long path for this is Hard Drive Name/Users/YourAccountShortName/Library/Preferences

    This gets shortened to ~/Library.

    This particular Library is normally Hidden in the last few OS X versions.

    It can be brought into View using a Finder  window > View Menu > Show View Options and selecting to show it in the panel that shows up.

    Alternatively the Go Menu whilst holding down the ALT key makes it appear as a selection in the Menu list.

    Or use the Go Menu > Go to Folder and type in the ~/Library/Preferences path in the dialogue box that appears.

     

    Now from there the .plists could be "Corrupt"  and as we have seen with the attachments folder other things are tucked away in other folders but you appear to have looked at that now.

    With more recent OS X versions some apps are able to be what is called Sandboxed.

    This means the App can be somewhat isolated from other functions so if it Crashes it does not effect anything else.

     

    This means that there is a Read and Route Path that is different to the plain ~/Library/Preferences

    This is ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Preferences

    There is also a Messages folder where the Preferences name is in this Path. This has the Archive Folder for Saved Chats and an Alias that should point to the Attachments folder

    Highlight the bold text and Copy and Paste it into the Finder > Go Menu > Go to Folder - then delete the Preferences part and add Messages.

     

    Is the Attachment Alias there ?

     

    I think that somewhere in the Path for the Containers route that you don't have the Permissions or Ownership you should have.

    Also checking every file in the Attachments folder itself to find the file and the folders it is in will take forever to check.

    Use the Solved Answer from this thread to reset the Ownership and Permissions of you Home Folder

    Reset Home Folder permissions and ACLs Error

     

    If you happen to Own all your Folders and their contents this will do nothing.

     

    The Process of having a Picture sent via iMessages (or any of the other service Messages can join) makes the picture "yours".

     

    If it is not a simple Permissions thing I am not sure what to suggest.

     

     

     

    3Sigcopy2.png

    9:12 pm      Friday; February 5, 2016

     

      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