IM history only kept for 2 weeks?

[JessieHoo]

Hello everyone, I know where to find the IM history. However my problem is that it seems it only keeps IM log for the recent 2 weeks, and not earlier. So is there a way I can view and preserve all historical IM? Thank you!

[Rolig Loon]

It should all be there.  I have some IM records -- ones that I haven't deleted deliberately (or deleted accidentally by doing a Clean Reinstall without remembering to save the message files first) -- that date back years.

[Lindal Kidd]

Jessie, where are you looking, exactly?

If you mean the "history" that shows up in an IM window in the viewer, you're right...that is limited.

However, you can keep "logs" of all your IMs and your Nearby Chat, too.  These logs are .txt files that are stored on your local hard drive.  Each time you IM someone, that file is updated.

Logging is off, by default.  You can turn it on in your viewer's Preferences.  You can also designate the directory on your hard drive where the logs will be stored.  Exactly where in Preferences you do this depends on the viewer you're using.

If you store the logs in their default location, and then do a complete clean reinstall of your viewer, they will be erased; so I recommend changing the files' location.

[Nalates Urriah]

Yeah... they hang around forever. 

In January I'll move all my chat logs into a folder labeled 2018. I do that just to get e bit more performance from the viewer. However, it seems to I need a stopwatch to see the difference.