iMessage folder empty?

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iMessage folder empty?

Hello all, I'm a total novice with Mac folders and such. I use iMessage all the time on my iMac that has OS X El Capitan version 10.11.6. Under iMessage preferences I have the box checked to save messages to iMessage folder. However when I go that folder, it shows that folder empty. No archive or chat.db files or anything. Under "get info" for iMessage folder it shows zero bytes. When I use iMessage and close out a message I can regain that message by typing in the number of the person I want to message and that history for that person will show back up. But I am wanting to be able to scroll through all conversations I've had since I have enabled iMessage. There's a lot of chats that I have closed out and forgotten about. How do I find the archives if the iMessage folder isn't showing anything?

Thanks for any help!!

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Feb 19, 2017 4:37 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 20, 2017 12:36 PM in response to Trifive

Hi,

There are 3 "Library" item on a Mac with one Mac User account.

When you open the Hard Drive icon there is System/Library and

just Library that you can see:-

However in Users/your account Name then is another Library but this one is hidden.

Open Finder window.

Use the Go Menu whilst holding down the ALT key.

The Library will now appear in the Menu list.

Select this.

Navigate to Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Archive

Another way is to use the Go Menu > go to Folder and copy and Pate in the dialogue box

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Archive

The ~/ is a short cut to open the User's Folder.

Using ~/Music would show you the contents of the Music folder.

To be clear you are this deep in folders:-

I show the Path Bar at the bottom of the picture then you go to the Data one at the top and then open the Library then Messages to access the archive.

(Yes this is yet another folder called "Library" but this one acts as a mirror to ~/Library and the Containers folder is part of the Sandboxing protection of one app from another - meaning one app that crashes is not likely to cause the whole computer an issue)

8:36 pm Monday; February 20, 2017

 iMac 2.5Ghz i5 2011 (Sierra)
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
 iPhone 6 iOS 10.x and an iPad (2)

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