Over time, your Mac might accumulate unnecessary clutter, including old messages. The files containing conversations stored on your Mac can amass a significant amount of data, potentially exposing a wealth of personal information to anyone with access to your computer.
Apple’s macOS offers straightforward methods for deleting messages. Whether you have a substantial amount or just a little information in iMessage, there are various ways to clear the clutter. Let’s delve into how to delete messages or conversations from a Mac.
How do I delete multiple messages?
Keep reading to discover how to delete multiple messages in Mac’s Messages app. The steps are easy to follow.
Can iMessages also be downloaded on Mac?
Yes, the iMessage program is available on Mac. All you need to do is set it up using your Apple ID and password. Then, all your messages will be available through the Mac.
How can you delete a single message from your email?
Follow these steps if you want to delete a single message:
Step 1: Open the Messages application on your Mac by clicking “Messages” on your Dock or Launchpad.
Step 2: In the left pane of the messages window, select the conversation that contains the message you want to delete.
Step 3: Right-click on the specific message you wish to delete (text, photo, or video) and choose “Delete.”
Step 4: To remove all messages from a single conversation, select Edit > Clean Transcript. This action will delete all content in the transcript, leaving the conversation open in the left pane.
How to delete a conversation on Mac
You can also eliminate multiple messages by deleting an entire conversation. Keep in mind that deleting a conversation will make it vanish from the Conversations section of the Messages application. If it’s a group conversation, creating a new conversation and adding all participants will be necessary.
To delete a conversation on Mac:
- Launch Messages.
- Right-click on the conversation you want to delete.
- Choose “Delete Conversation.”
- Confirm your decision by clicking “Delete.”
Removing messages from your Mac
You can remove messages from your Messages application following these steps:
Step 1: Right-click (or use the Ctrl+Click combination on the touchpad) on the message you want to delete.
Step 2: Click on the “Delete Conversation” tab, and then click the “Delete” button. This action will erase the entire message along with its contents.
After deleting the message, it will be removed from all iOS devices linked to your Apple ID, including your iPhone.
Step 3: If you want to delete a specific message within a conversation thread on your Mac (text, images, etc.), right-click on it and choose “Delete.”
Step 4: To delete all messages within a single text, while keeping the sidebar conversation accessible, open the message, select the message, go to the Edit tab in the menu, and then choose “Clear Transcript.”
How to delete attachments within Messages
To delete messages on your Mac and remove attachments, you can follow these steps:
- Delete Messages:
- Use the method mentioned earlier to delete messages on your Mac. Note that this deletes text but not attachments.
- Remove Attachments:
- Open the “Go To Folder” box by pressing Command + Shift + G.
- Paste the following file path:
~/Library/Messages/Attachments. - Drag the contents of this folder to the Trash.
Alternatively, in recent macOS versions:
- Delete Attachments from Storage Settings:
- Click on the Apple menu and choose “About This Mac” > “More Information.”
- Go to the Storage tab.
- Select “Messages” from the list and click on the information (i) icon.
- In the main window, view a list of your Mac attachments.
- Select the attachments you want to remove by holding down the Shift key while clicking.
- Press the Delete key.
You can selectively choose which attachments to keep and delete. To quickly delete large attachments, sort them by size (click on Size in the top right) and remove the largest files.
Bulk Deleting Messages on Mac
To efficiently delete messages or conversations in bulk on your MacBook or Mac:
- Bulk Delete Messages in a Conversation:
- Open any conversation on your MacBook.
- Press Option + Command + K, or right-click the empty space in the conversation window and choose “Clear Chat Transcript.” This action will clear all messages from the conversation.
- Bulk Delete Conversations:
- Open the Messages application on your Mac.
- From the top-bar menu, select “Edit.”
- Choose the conversations you want to delete.
- Click “Delete” to remove the selected conversations.
- Click on each conversation separately.
- Press Option + Command + K, or right-click the empty space within the conversation window and select “Clear Chat Transcript.” This will delete messages from each conversation one by one.
How to Unsubscribe for Email Newsletters from Mac
Numerous businesses employ tactics to obtain people’s email addresses, and it can be challenging to recall when or how you subscribed to a newsletter. While unsubscribing from newsletters is generally straightforward, it can become cumbersome if it’s a frequent task.
How to set reminders on multiple Mac email accounts
Occasionally, you receive an important email that you want to retrieve or save for future reference. While you can do this, constant reminders can help you remember its presence. Clean Email’s Read Later feature enables you to mark emails as “Read Later” and receive regular summaries from your Read Later folder.
Last Thought
There are many ways to delete chat history from a Mac if it’s a Mac. You can erase individual, bulk, and even entire chat conversations.
However, you should keep in mind that none of these methods can permanently erase that data. Before you decide to hide your chat history, think twice.
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