/PowerMyMac /Best Guide on How to Delete All Messages on Mac
- Using Keyboard: Now there is another shortcut method using keyboard to select all on Mac. In this method you have to locate the text which you want to select and press Command ⌘ + A key on your keyboard. This will highlight the text in blue color and the text will get selected as shown in the image below.
- Position the cursor in the row header of the first row, and click and hold while you drag to select adjacent rows. Partial rows or columns. Position the cursor in the top left cell, and click and hold while you drag to the bottom right cell. All content in a table. Position the cursor anywhere in the table. All content in a named range.
The Messages on your Mac allow you to save all your conversations. When you turn off your Mac or start using another device, you can easily continue where you left off.
You have the option to set Messages to save a conversation or delete it once you close it. In case you set the application to automatically save all conversations, you can close one and continue later with the history intact.
Select All (Ctrl + A) Selects everything within your document so that you can make all the formatting edits that you want at the same time. Clicking this command with your mouse is the same as hitting Ctrl + A on your keyboard (Cmd + A on a Mac). It selects all the text that matches, not only the whole words like variables. As per 'Sublime Text: Select all instances of a variable and edit variable name' and the answer in 'Sublime Text: Select all instances of a variable and edit variable name', we have to start with a empty selection. Command-A: Select All items. Command-F: Find items in a document or open a Find window. Command-G: Find Again: Find the next occurrence of the item previously found. To find the previous occurrence, press Shift-Command-G. Command-H: Hide the windows of the front app. To view the front app but hide all other apps, press Option-Command-H.
Depending on your needs, you might want to delete all messages on Mac or only remove specific messages or even delete the chat history.
If you want to learn how to delete all messages on Mac, there are several options will be shown in this post that you can use.
Article GuidePart 1. Methods on How to Delete All Messages on MacPart 2. How to Manage Conversation on the Messages AppPart 3. It's A Wrap
Part 1. Methods on How to Delete All Messages on Mac
How to Delete Messages on Mac but not iPhone
You have the option to delete messages on your Mac using the method below but remember that these are still recoverable on your device.
- Open the Messages application on your Mac
- Select 'Preference of Message' that you will find on the menu tab
- In the General setting, you have a selection – Save history when conversations are closed. You should uncheck this option. When you quit a conversation after using the application and reopen it on your Mac, the previous chats will no longer appear.
If you want to delete specific messages in Messages on your Mac, simply follow these steps:
- Open Messages on your device
- Look for the thread from which you want to delete a message
- Click on the message once to highlight it in a darker color than the other messages
- Right-click the message to open a context menu
- Choose the 'Delete' option to remove the message.
How Do You Select Multiple Messages on A Mac?
In case you want to remove the chat history from your device (how to delete chat transcripts on Mac), you can also delete the entire chat records by following these steps:
- Close Messages if it is open.
- Open Finder and key in 'Command+Shift+G'
- Once the 'Go to Folder' dialog box opens, key in ~/Library/Messages/
- Upon opening the directory of messages, choose the files that are labeled as chat.db, chat.db-wal, and chat.db-shm. Once all are selected, delete them.
- Click on the option to empty the 'Trash'
How to Delete All Messages on Mac with iCloud
For those who are currently using iOS 11.4 or higher on your iPad, iPhone or iPod and use the High Sierra 10.13.5 OS and higher, you can utilize the Messages in iCloud.
Once your devices plus your Mac utilize Messages in iCloud, all the messages are synchronized on all devices if a specific Apple ID is used. It simply means that once you decide to delete messages on a single device, they are all deleted.
The main purpose of this approach is that this feature automatically updates all the devices that you are using. Generally, you always end up with similar conversations when you utilize the app. Just make sure that you utilize the identical Apple ID and the devices being used supports the iCloud feature.
If you want to turn off the 'Messages in iCloud' feature on your device, simply follow these steps:
- Open 'Messages'
- Click on 'Preferences'
- Select the 'Accounts' option
- Click on the box for 'Enable Messages in iCloud'
- Click on 'Sync Now' to start the process.
In case you sign into Messages using a different Apple ID from the one that you entered in the System Preferences > iCloud, you cannot use Messages in iCloud.
Make sure that the Apple ID for Messages must match with the ID that you utilized for other iCloud services for this feature to work.
Steps on how to delete all messages from iCloud on Mac:
- Open the 'Message' application
- Find the conversation that includes the message you want to remove.
Once you have allowed the iCloud feature, removing a message or segments of one on your Mac will also delete it from your other devices in which the iCloud feature is turned on and you utilized a single Apple ID to log in.
If you want to remove an entire message, follow these steps:
- Choose a conversation you want to delete.
- Select File > Delete Conversation or enter the 'Command+Delete'
- If you are using a Magic Mouse or trackpad, simply swipe left using two fingers on the conversation on your sidebar and choose the 'Delete' option
- Once a confirmation box opens, click on 'Delete' again
In case you only want to remove segments of a conversation, follow these steps:
- Search for and tap on the text bubble to be removed. Just make sure that you will select the whole message bubble, not only the text inside it.
- Enter 'Command+Click' in case you want to add more text selections. The entries that you will select will turn gray.
- Tap on 'Control+Click' or Right-click and choose the 'Delete' option from the menu
- In case there is no 'Delete' option, you have chosen the text instead of the message bubble.
- At this point, your device will ask you to authorize the removal of this message and prompts you that this act could not be reversed. Simply tap on 'Delete' to approve the action
- The macOS will remove the selected messages from Messages on your device.
How to Delete Files That Taking up Space on Mac?
Messages taking up space on Mac. If you want to efficiently optimize your Mac, you need one of the tools is iMyMac PowerMyMac.
Now that you are familiar with the options on how to delete all messages on Mac, you can choose the suitable approach that best suits your needs. For example, you can use it to delete all the unuseful files on your Mac that really taking up so much space.
For an added trick, you can utilize iMyMac to free up space as well as speed up and optimize the overall functionality of your device. Just get the free version below to start cleaning your Mac of all kinds of junk files and save much more space for other useful files.
Part 2. How to Manage Conversation on the Messages App
The iMessage is an instant messaging app by Apple that is included in the OS X. The application has been utilized by millions of individuals all over the world. Just like with other applications, Messages has certain issues that require some tweaking to function effectively.
When you open the Messages application on your device, you have the option to do any of the following:
Automatically save conversations:
Simply click on Messages > Preferences and click on General. Click on 'Save history when conversations are closed'.
Adjust how long messages are kept:
Click on Messages > Preferences and click on General. Tap on the 'Keep messages' menu and select an option. In case you select an option other than 'Forever', all conversations are instantly removed after the set time is over.
Close a conversation:
Simply move the pointer over the conversation and click 'X'. In case the conversations are saved automatically, you can restore a closed conversation by creating a new text message to the group or individual.
Close all conversations:
In case all conversations are saved automatically, you can click on Option+Shift+Command+W.
Deleting a conversation:
Simple choose a conversation and click on File > Delete Conversation. If you have a Magic Mouse or trackpad, you can easily swipe left using your two fingers on the conversation in the sidebar and click on Delete.
Clear all messages without closing a conversation:
Simple select Edit > Clear Transcript.
Tip: Wondering how you can mass delete messages in iMessage on your Mac? Click this link to find different answers.
Part 3. It's A Wrap
Depending on the reason why you are searching for ways on how to delete all messages on Mac, you will find the solutions provided truly useful.
If you want to tidy up the long list of messages on your Mac, you can use one of the solutions discussed above to keep your conversations organized.
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Free DownloadThe ability to select files with a mouse then drag and drop them to wherever you want them to go has been a cornerstone of the Mac experience since the very start in 1984. It was the feature that differentiated using a Mac from using a PC, even in the early days of Windows.
There are many different ways to select multiple files and perform actions on them, and not all are obvious. So, in this article, we'll take a look at them all and explain them in detail.
We all know that to select a file in the Finder, you just hover over it with the mouse pointer and click, right? But what if you need to select multiple files? There are several options, depending on whether they are contiguous (appear next to each other in the Finder) or discontiguous.
How to select multiple contiguous files
Select All On Mac
Shift-click
Select the first file in the List view, then hold down the Shift key and select the last file. All files in between will be selected. You can deselect multiple files by Command-clicking each item.
Press, hold, and drag
Microsoft office 365 for mac free. download full version. Click to the left or right of a file name, press and hold the trackpad or the mouse button and drag over the files you want to select. It's important you don't click on the file name or icon as that will drag the file itself. For that reason, it's easier to use it in the Icon view.
If the reason you want to select lots of files simultaneously is that you need to delete them, there is an easier way to do that. CleanMyMac X has several modules designed to do that including Large & Old files which identifies the files that are taking up the most space.
- Download the free edition of CleanMyMac X.
- Install it and launch it.
- Choose Large & Old Files.
- Press Scan.
- Select the files you want to remove and click Remove
Using CleanMyMac X, you can identify and delete multiple files much faster than removing them manually.
How to select multiple discontiguous files
Click on the first file you want to select, then press and hold the Command key and select the other files. You can drag over contiguous files while holding the Command key to select them, then let go of the mouse button and carry on selecting discontiguous files.
To deselect files, hold the Command key down and simply click them. In some instances, it might be quicker to select a whole group of files then use the Command-select method to deselect those you don't want.
How do you select all on a Mac?
To select all the files in a folder, click on one and then press Command-A.
Here's what you can do with multiple files once you've selected them
- Move them to a new location by dragging them.
- Press the Option key while you drag them to copy them instead of moving them to the new location.
- Press the Spacebar to invoke Quick Look then use the arrow keys to cycle through previews of the selected files.
- Right-click or Control-click on the files to display a dropdown menu and choose from options such as Rename, open with a specific application, or Move to Trash.
How to select multiple files outside the Finder
The methods described above work throughout macOS. So, any applications that follow the macOS guidelines will allow you to select multiple files using Shift for contiguous files or Command for discontiguous files. For example, in Photos, you can click and drag over photos to select them. That's how to select multiple photos on a Mac.
Keyboard Shortcuts For Mac
There are many different ways to select multiple files simultaneously, both in the Finder and in applications that adhere to Apple's user interface guidelines. Once you've selected files, you can Control-click them to display a menu with a list of options or press the Spacebar to use QuickLook.
Select All In Mac Command
If you need to delete lots of files simultaneously, however, there is an easier way. CleanMyMac X can identify large and old files and documents, and allow you to quickly remove them.
