Summary: MSN Messenger allows you to save your conversations. But what if you don't have that turned on? Is there a way to recover the conversation anyway? No.
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Can I retrieve old MSN Messenger conversations? |
Instant messaging is very popular - it's immediate and it's easy. But it does have its drawbacks. Most people treat it like quick, throw-away conversations unlike email where we (hopefully) put a little more time and thought into what we write.
But what if you didn't mean to "throw away" that conversation and find yourself wishing you could recall or retrieve what was said? In email you might have your sent mail folder but what about instant messaging?
If you use MSN messenger and have the right setting you might just be in luck.
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MSN Messenger has the ability to keep an indefinite log of all conversations.
In MSN Messenger select the Tools menu, Options... menu item, and then the Messages tab. At the bottom of the dialog is an item labeled: Message History. Select it and your conversations will be recorded in the directory listed in the box below. (Of course you can set that to be whatever you like but the default directory is probably fine for most.)
When conversations are saved in the listed directory you'll find several files, typically one per person that you've had a conversation with. The files will all end with ".XML". Not to worry, Internet Explorer can open these files and will display them properly.
If IE fails to open the file and spawns notepad instead, you can still force it. Right click on the file in Windows Explorer, select Open With..., and then select Internet Explorer.
If you're looking for past conversation archives and they're not present on your own machine then try having the person you were conversing with look. It's quite possible that they have an archive.
Related Links:
- Can I retrieve old AOL instant messenger conversations? I know of no way to retrieve an old conversation or an old instant message.
- Are you *sure* there's no way to retrieve MSN Messenger history without "archive messages" selected? Without the "archive messages" selected, there is NO way to retrieve MSN Messenger History.
Article C1904 - March 11, 2004
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Posted by: Naemah at April 19, 2009 4:57 AMHow I can do this please?
Hi Leo, How can I make sense of the content of edb.log files in order to read not saved msn conversations? I can see they have information related to the conversations I need to retrieve, but most of them are in code language.
Posted by: Juliet at May 19, 2009 1:01 AMHi I have msn 8.0 & I'm afraid if there is another file or another place where the convos are saved in. & I did as you said but in the tools, options ... I found that I'm not saving the convos. plz help me and tell me where can these convos can be.
Posted by: selma at May 22, 2009 6:26 AMHello, with the old msn, version 8.5, my conversations were being saved as .html files. This format created larger files, but it looked better as well in my opinion. In the new version it can only be saved in XML format however, and it wont be saved in folders by month either which used to be the case. Would you happen to know how I can get that again? Thanks in advance, Robert
Posted by: Robert at August 26, 2009 4:27 AMIs it possible to store & review webchats in MSN Messenger, in the same way as viewing text history? Thanks.
Posted by: John at September 5, 2009 2:52 AMplz i need to retreive msn conversation in several email addresses
Posted by: noor ali at September 7, 2009 6:19 AMthe history not useful for me they arenot save
I have messenger for mac, and i tried everywhere to find those things: in the msn site, the windows site, in my email, is it different when you have mac messenger?
Posted by: Simas at October 4, 2009 7:12 AMHi my msn is able to save all history except with one person. I don't know why its this way. What can I do about it. HELP
Posted by: fiona at October 4, 2009 9:22 AMis it possible for the MSN messenger to change the settings of this message history?
i had it set to not record my messages and 2 days ago some conversations appeared. is this possible?
Posted by: nicola at October 15, 2009 9:00 AMI have Windows Live Messenger set to save all my conversations and am aware that you can view message history at any time, however my laptop crashed and the first part of the conversation is missing - where can I retrieve this conversation from, is this possible - would really appreciate your help thanks.
Posted by: Carol at November 13, 2009 10:22 AM