Delete messages on Skype, clear history. How to clear history on Skype

Everyone has known for a long time about the existence of such a communication program as Skype. Here people can communicate both in the format of video calls and voice communication (like on a regular phone, only completely free and via the Internet). Separately, you can highlight ordinary text chats, and you can create them either with an individual contact or with a whole group of people currently united by one interest.

Of course, all your communication options leave their “trace” (well, if not consequences) on the network. Someone can read your correspondence, view the files you exchanged. It's good if these are people you trust. What if it's at work? And have you communicated with a new, potential employer? We need to do a cleanup.

So, you were chatting with someone on Skype and you urgently (or not so urgently) needed to urgently delete “traces” of your communication.

Step-by-step instruction

Please note that not only the specific chat that interests you (or that compromises you) will be deleted, but also all the chats in which you communicated. Do you agree?

Then your actions will be as follows:

Launch Skype, log in (enter your username and password).
At the top of the program window, find the “Settings” tab.
Found it? Look for “Chat Settings” there. This is exactly the point we need.
We look carefully and on the right we see a button - additional settings. Let's go there.
There is a “magic” item - “Save history” and a period for saving all chats - 2 weeks, a month, or from the very beginning of the existence of your Skype. By the way, saving the entire history will ultimately lead to terrible “brakes” of your account.
On the right, click the “Clear history” button. We confirm the deletion. We wait. If you’ve never cleaned it, it’s a fairly lengthy process.

If you need to delete a chat with a specific person, you will have to install third-party programs. But among them there may also be malicious applications (viruses), so you need to carefully choose such a program and the place from where you download it.

Please remember that you can only delete history on your own computer; your interlocutor will still have it.

The desire to delete history on Skype sooner or later arises in any user of this popular communication program. The reasons for this phenomenon are basically the same. As the ancient philosopher said: “Everything flows, everything changes,” accordingly, sometimes you want to forget about the person with whom it was interesting yesterday. And nothing promotes forgetting more than removing everything that might remind you of it. Naturally, this becomes the first reason to clear history. The second most common reason is that there may be multiple users on the same computer. It goes without saying that in such cases you don’t want to make your correspondence public.

Where is Skype history stored?

Knowing how to delete history on Skype is, at first glance, inseparable from knowing where to look for all the stored data regarding the profile. This information is stored on the local disk where the program was installed. If you wish, you can find this folder and clean it, but for this method you need to know some programming nuances. However, it is not always necessary to fill your head with unnecessary information, since there are other ways to achieve your goal without studying how the program works.

Method one

This method is suitable for those who are looking for how to delete history on Skype completely. That is, the contact list is supposed to be completely cleared without the possibility of recovery. This option is suitable for those users who decide to start from scratch. So, having opened the settings, you should select the “Security” item. In the window that opens, you need to look for the “Save history” menu bar. Below this option there is a “Delete” button, the name of which speaks for itself. By the way, here you can disable storing history if several users have access to the program at the same time.

Method two

The second method is more convenient, since it allows you to delete history on Skype selectively for each user. Here you will already need additional software, which will not be difficult to download from any convenient resource, since it is distributed completely free of charge. For example, the Skype chat helper application is suitable. After downloading and installing it, you should exit the Skype program, after which you can launch this utility. For it to work, you need to know the exact nickname of the contact whose communication history will need to be cleared, so before closing the Skype window, you need to copy it somewhere or write it down. Having completed the preparatory stage, you need to fill in two lines in the Skype chat helper window - “Username” and “Contact”. In the first of them you should enter your own nickname, and in the second, accordingly, the login of the user who made you search for how to delete history on Skype. After completing these steps, you will need to press the “Remove history” button.

Search local profile

Since there is theoretically a risk that Skype chat helper will not work correctly or the user will make some annoying mistake, before deleting the history in Skype, it will be very useful to make a copy of the local profile. To carry out this process, you need to enable the show hidden files mode and go to the address for Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\x\Application Data\Skype\y. For the "seven": C:\Users\x\AppData\Roaming\y. You should insert your own data into these addresses. Instead of “x”, enter the username in the OS, and replace “y” with your login.

All contacts can be deleted from the settings of the program itself or by deleting the main.db file from the user profile. It is not yet possible to delete the history of correspondence with one contact using Skype. You can try cleaning it with third-party utilities. For example Skype chat helper or SkHistory. The Skype chat helper utility refused to work for me. I’ll tell you about SkHistory in this article.

We make a backup copy of Skype history and clear it - main.db

Before deleting or cleaning anything, it is advisable to make a backup or backup copy. To make a backup copy of your Skype conversations, you can copy the entire profile or just the main.db file to a safe place.

Or you can go inside the profile and copy only main.db. This file contains our message history in Skype

It is advisable to close Skype before copying files. And not just close it, but get out of it. So that there is no icon in the notification area (usually the notification area is at the bottom right near the clock).

Once the main.db file has been copied to a safe place, you can delete it from your profile and launch Skype. The first time contacts may not load

You need to restart Skype and your contacts will be back in place, and your correspondence history will be cleared.

To restore history (for example, on another computer), you need to close Skype and replace the main.db file in your profile with the one that we copied to a safe place.

Clearing history in Skype settings

Open the menu Tools and choose Settings…

Go to the Security section and open additional settings

Click " Clear the history»

In the window that appears, click “Delete” and the entire history will be cleared.

If you do not have a backup copy of the profile or main.db file, this action is irreversible.

Clearing the history of correspondence with one user - SkHistory

We will use SkHistory. There is a risk here since I couldn’t find the official website for this program, and you can only use a utility you downloaded from somewhere unknown only in the most critical situations. So there will be no download link today.

The program requires Adobe AIR to run. You can see how to download and install it.

Let's launch SkHistory.air and click Install

Here we see that the program is for Skype 5 and we are warned that use we will have her at one's own risk. Click Continue

When we start the program, we are offered to download a more recent version. Click Download now

Installing a new version of SkHistory. Click Install now

After installation, the program will launch immediately. From the only menu Language choose Russian language

Select an account from the drop-down list and click Select account. If your account is not in this drop-down list, then go to the section above (Path to local Skype profile) and indicate the folder where your profile is located.

I strongly advise against using the SkHistory program to create backup copies. And even more so to recover from it. This killed Skype for me and I had to delete my profile and restore it from a backup.

In the next step, select the contact whose message history we want to delete and click Use selected contact

You can delete individual messages. To delete all correspondence, click delete everything

A pop-up window asks us if we are sure we want to delete all messages from the selected user. Click OK

A window appears indicating that the messages have been deleted. Click OK

Launch Skype and watch. Not all my messages have been deleted.

And it was also noticed that if you called a contact, the program will delete practically nothing. But if the correspondence was only text, then everything was deleted from me.

Conclusion

In this article we figured out how to clear history in Skype. I have never mocked my Skype like this before. It’s good that I had a copy of the entire profile at hand. If necessary, I will use clearing all Skype history from the program settings. After publishing this article (5 minutes later), I delete SkHistory and Adobe AIR. Think 10 times when using programs you downloaded from unknown sources.

You already know how to delete history; it’s time to remove advertising from Skype.

I hope you are already confident in using this program regularly. Many users around the world consider Skpe one of the best for messaging and making calls, both free and for a small fee, anywhere on our planet.

However, over time, many people need to delete certain messages or the entire history (for security reasons or for cleaning). And the question of how to delete messages on Skype may arise even among experienced users. And then we will look at ways to do this.

When communicating with your interlocutor on Skype, all correspondence is visible to both you and your opponent. And it can be assumed that by deleting messages in your active window, you will not be able to delete the same messages on the other side. However, this principle is inherent in many instant messengers, but not in Skype. The developers thought and decided to improve the deletion function and created a procedure in such a way that the message is deleted from your opponent in the same way as from you.

This functionality is also useful if you sent a message to the wrong user and if you manage to delete it before the other end reads it, your unwanted message will not be read. The user will only see the message “message deleted.” As for me, this is a very correct and logical feature of the delete function.

The main thing is to have time to delete the message before your interlocutor has time to read it. Otherwise, you won't see the delete menu option.

Right-click on the message you want to delete and select the delete menu item.

Right-click on the message you want to delete

In the window that opens, confirm your action (you can check the box not to display warnings in the future). If you succeeded, it means you deleted it 🙂 and the recipient will no longer read your erroneously sent message.

Confirm the deletion action

In addition to deleting an individual message, the program has the ability to delete the entire history. Just like in the previous instructions, there is nothing complicated about how to delete history on Skype.

How to delete history on Skype

Delete all message history

History is deleted as follows:

In the top menu bar, select “Tools” and then in the drop-down menu “Settings”
In the Skype settings window, go to the “Security” tab and select “Security Settings” in the tab. A tab with communication security settings will appear on the right. We need a “Clear history” button under the “Save history...” caption. Please note that after deleting a history, it will not be possible to return or roll back this action. All message history will be deleted permanently. Think twice before confirming an action. If you want to delete the history of Skype messages from a specific user, there is a trick in deleting this contact and then adding the same contact to your list. Read below about deleting a contact.

Click “Security” and in the “Security Settings” tab delete the Skype message history

How to delete the message history of just one contact from Skype

If the contact deletion trick didn’t help or you don’t want to delete the contact just in case, smart programmers have come up with and written a solution to this problem. The program is called SkHistory. You can download the program. For the program to work, you must install Adobe Air. it is written on it. You can install it (if it is not already installed) from the Adobe website.

After installing AIR, unzip the program itself for working with history and install it.

To avoid losing all your messages or ruining your entire Skype, make a backup copy of your message history. Just copy the folder to another location. The folder is located: Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\USER_NAME\Application Data\Skype or (%APPDATA%/Skype) Windows 7: C:\Users\USER_NAME\AppData\Roaming\Skype

Before starting SkHistory, close Skype. We launch the program (the program interface looks like the image below) and select “Russian” in the “Language” menu.

Next, select the account in which you want to delete the history. If you have several accounts, select the one you need.
New versions now have a backup button. Let's press it. And choose where to save the backup file. In the future, in case of problems, it will be possible to restore all data on the account.
Click the “Select account” button.

We select the account we need in which we need to delete the history.

After selecting the so-called “victims”, you can safely delete either the entire history or a specific message. That's all. Let's go back to Skype and check. Everything should work and there should be no deleted messages.

How to remove a contact from Skype

Delete a contact

To delete a contact in Skype, you need to select the contact itself in the list on the left. Right-click on it and select “Remove from contact list” from the drop-down menu list. In the window that opens, confirm the deletion.

Blocking a contact

Unlike the previous “Delete” method, it is possible to block a contact. This is used if, after deletion, the user persistently tries to send you messages or be added to your contact list.

As in the previous method, select the user name and right-click. Select from the drop-down menu

We confirm the blocking. We can immediately remove this user from the list and even send a message about the violation to Skype.

For a long time, Skype has maintained its position as a leader in the virtual communication application market. Today, this video chat program is available to work not only on a PC, but also on an iPad and iPhone, on a tablet or smartphone on Android and Windows Phone, as well as other modern devices, including smart TVs and game consoles with Internet access.

However, despite the widespread use of this application, very few users are able to use its functionality to the fullest. Not for nothing, one of the most frequently asked questions when working with the program is the following: how to delete correspondence on Skype?

We delete our messages during/immediately after communication

If during the conversation you suddenly decide to delete your message, you can do this by right-clicking on it and selecting “Delete” from the menu.

The result will look like this:

You can delete messages in this way only within an hour after sending them to the user. We also note that in this way you can only delete personally sent information (that which was written/sent by you).

How to delete all messages in all conversations?

To delete correspondence on Skype for the entire period of its use, you must:

Login to Skype.
On the top menu bar, go to the “Tools” tab.
In the list that appears, select “Settings”.

Select the “Security” tab in the menu on the left.
On it you need to select the “Security Settings” tab and click “Clear History”.

After these steps, a message will appear warning that all entries will be deleted. To confirm your intentions, click on the “Delete” button.

Please note that by using this method, you will delete all correspondence on Skype completely. It will be impossible to recover any important data deleted along with it.

If you want to clear your conversation history selectively, use the following method.

How to delete the history of one conversation?

Skype chat helper and SkHistory

Third-party utilities will help you clear the history of messages on Skype with one person, and not all contacts at once: Skype chat helper or SkHistory. The principle of their operation is the same.

Let's look at how to delete a conversation with an individual user on Skype, using the example of using Skype chat helper.

We remember (or better yet, write down) the name of the contact on Skype, the conversation history with which we will delete.
We create a backup copy of our Skype profile folder (to be able to restore it along with the history in case of unsuccessful manipulations).

To do this, depending on the system installed on your PC, you need to find the profile folder on the C:\ drive and copy it to another location. For example, on a flash drive or drive D:\.

The location of the profile folder can be found in the following path:

C:\Documents and Settings\<ваше_имя_пользователя_в_Windows>\Application Data\Skype\<ваш_логин_в_скайпе>\ (if you have Windows XP installed);
C:\Users\<ваше_имя_пользователя_в_Windows>\AppData\Roaming\Skype\<ваш_логин_в_скайпе>\ (if you have Windows 7 or Vista installed);
C:\Users\<ваше_имя_пользователя_в_Windows>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.SkypeApp\Localstate\<ваш_логин_в_скайпе>\ (if you have Windows 8 installed).

Before installation and when working with the program, you need to make sure that Skype is closed. Download the utility and install it on your PC.
Delete history on Skype using this program is very simple: launch Skype chat helper. After launching it, a window will open, in the top line (Username) of which you need to enter your personal Skype login, in the bottom line (Contact) - the login of the person with whom you plan to delete the conversation.

Now in the same window you need to confirm your action by clicking “Remove chat history”. After this, correspondence with the individual from your contact list will be deleted.

In addition to the two utilities mentioned above, which, by the way, are free, there is the SkypeX program, with which it is possible not only to delete a chat with an individual contact on Skype, but also to selectively erase correspondence in the dialogue history.

To delete messages on Skype using this utility you will need:

Install it on your PC.
Run the program.
Enter your Skype login.

Select conversation history.
Using the mouse and the Shift key on the keyboard, mark unnecessary messages and click “Delete”.

Unlike Skype chat helper or SkHistory, the SkypeX interface is more understandable and convenient, even though it is in English. The only negative: the program is paid.

As of today, its beta version costs $4.99. Further, with the expansion of functionality and the release of the full version, the author plans to raise the price tag to $19.99.