How to Find Chat Histories
You were just invited to a party at your friend's new place and he sent you the address over your chat program. The only problem is you closed the chat window. Because of problems like these, several chat programs allow you to access a history of your chats so you never miss an address or phone number. Each chat program, such as Google Chat, AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, Trillian and Pidgin, has different methods to find chat histories, so what works for one program may not work for another.
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Instructions
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Google Chat
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1
Log into your Gmail account and go to your inbox. Click "Mail" on the left side of the browser.
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Highlight "Chats" from the menu on the left side of the browser. Click on the heading; a list of all of your chats using Google Chat will appear in the center of the browser.
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3
Click the chat you want to view the history for. Each chat features the name of the person you chatted with, the date you chatted on and one or two lines from the chat to jog your memory.
AIM
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4
Log into your AIM account. Click "Menu" and "Settings" from the top of the program.
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Click the "IM Archive" tab from the left side of the menu.
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Select "View Archives." Scroll down the list of chats and click the one you wish to open.
Yahoo! Messenger
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7
Log into Yahoo! Messenger. Click "Contacts" from the top menu of the chat software.
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Scroll down and click "Message Archive."
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Choose "Messages" from the pop-up box. Select the name of the person you were chatting with and the date of the chat from the upper-right section of the box.
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Read the chat history in the lower-right section of the box.
Windows Live Messenger
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Log into Windows Live Messenger. Click "Tools" and then "Options" from the menu bar.
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Select "Messages" from the menu. Go down to the bottom of the "Messages" menu and look for "Message History." Check the box marked "Automatically keep a history of my conversations" if it is not checked.
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Write down the location of your chat history as it is listed in the box at the bottom of the "Message History" section of the menu. This is different for each user.
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Go to the location of the chat history on your computer and click on the chat files to launch them for reading.
Trillian
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15
Log into your Trillan account. Click "Trillian" from the top of the menu and select "Activity History."
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Click the "Summary" tab to view your chat history by date or the "Browse" tab to view your history by contact.
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Select the contact or date to view the chat log. Scroll through the calendar on the top left of the program to view other chat histories with this contact.
Pidgin
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18
Log into your Pidgin account. Pidgin allows you to use multiple chat programs at once.
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Click "Tools" from the top menu. Scroll down and select "System Log."
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Choose the date of the conversation you wish to view from the left side of the box. All conversations from that day will be displayed on the right of the box.
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Tips & Warnings
Make sure you have chat history enabled in your chosen IM program. The option to enable the history will usually be in the same menu as the chat history archives.
