How To Delete Messages On Mac?

You must know how to delete messages on Mac to clear unwanted, old messages on your Mac. Messages contain a lot of junk which can easily take up your device space. Do not worry, Apple will help you to delete messages on macOS to clean up the clutter! In today’s post, I will teach you how to delete messages on MacBook in detail. There are several methods to delete messages and conversations from a Mac. The simplest way to erase messages on Mac is disabling iCloud messages. Without wasting much time, let us now learn how to delete messages on Mac.

How To Delete Messages On Mac?

In this section, I will show explain how to delete messages on Mac in detail. Apple’s iMessage feature makes text-based communications seamless. Deleting messages and conversations on Mac is very easy.

Follow these steps to learn how to delete messages on MacBook.

1. First, select the conversation in the Messages app.
2. Scroll down to locate the message you want to delete.
3. Right-click on the message and select Delete.

Now, repeat these steps again for each message you want to delete in a conversation. You can use the same procedure for how to delete messages on Mac Air.

You can also swipe left with two fingers on the conversation in the sidebar and then press the Delete button. Always remember that the deleted messages are moved to the Recently Deleted folder of your device.

Keep on reading further to know more about how to delete messages on Mac Pro.

Delete All Messages On Mac

Someone who takes possession of your MacBook can read anything you’ve sent or received including messages. That’s when knowing how to delete all messages on Mac can be helpful. You can use the delete conversation function to delete all messages on Mac.

1. First, select the conversation in the Messages app.
2. Right-click on the selected conversation to view the menu.
3. Select Delete Conversation to delete all messages in that conversation.
4. Now, click on Delete and then click on Confirm.

If you want to delete all messages from another conversation, you can repeat the same procedure again.

Now, you must be wondering how to delete text messages on Mac. For this, go to the Messages app >> select a conversation >> select the messages >> press Delete. Make sure you click on Delete once again in the dialog.

Delete Multiple Messages On Mac

Knowing how to delete multiple messages on Mac is crucial to keep your conversations private. You can follow these steps to delete multiple messages at once.

1. First, launch the Messages app on your Mac.
2. Then, click on the section where you want to delete multiple messages (Inbox).
3. Press Command/Shift + click on the message you want to select.
4. Due to this, the messages turn blue to indicate they have been selected.
5. Now, click on the More button to see additional options.
6. Here, select Clear Selection to delete selected messages.

The process will be completed immediately if you have selected very few messages. Otherwise, wait for a while to complete the process.

Keep on reading to learn more about how to delete messages on Mac.

Delete Messages On Mac With The Clear Transcript Function

It can be very time-consuming to manually select the messages and then delete them. Instead of this, you can run a simple command that completely deletes the messages. Follow these steps to learn how to delete messages on Mac by using the Clear Transcript function.

1. First, open up the conversation in the Messages app.
2. From the app’s toolbar, select the Edit tab.
3. Scroll down to select Clear Transcript.
4. A pop-up message will appear asking if you want to clear the conversation.
5. Here, click on Clear to confirm.

You can repeat these steps for each conversation on your Mac to quickly delete all of the messages! 

Luckily, there is even a shortcut to complete this process faster. Simply press Option + Command + K and select the Clear Chat Transcript option.

Do you know how to select multiple iMessages on Mac? You can use the above shortcut command, Command + A to select all conversations or Command/Shift + click to select some conversations.

Delete Messages On Mac Using Terminal

With Terminal, you can quickly delete messages from within the Messages app. Follow these steps to learn how to delete messages on your Mac using Terminal.

1. First, go to Applications and select Utilities.
2. Under Utilities, select Terminal.
3. Now, type the following command: rm – r ~/Library/Messages/chat.

This will help you to delete messages permanently without selecting them.

Similarly, you can even delete attachments using Terminal. For this, use this command: rm -r ~/Library/Messages/Attachments/??. This will help you to delete messages and attachments permanently!

Automatically Delete Messages On Mac

Deleting messages on Mac sometimes seems a bit too much like hard work. You can opt to automatically delete messages by setting a period of time. Follow these steps to learn how to automatically delete messages on Mac.

1. Open the Messages app on your macOS.
2. From the menu bar, select Messages.
3. Here, select Preferences and then switch to the General tab.
4. Next, click on the Keep Messages drop-down box.
5. Select either 30 days or One Year.

After this, your messages will be automatically deleted after a certain amount of time you’ve designated.

Delete Messages On Mac From iPhone

You can also delete messages on your MacBook from your iPhone via iCloud. Simply follow these steps to know how to delete messages on MacBook from your iPhone.

1. For this, go to Settings on your iPhone.
2. Here, tap on your Apple ID.
3. Then, tap on iCloud and select Manage Storage.
4. Scroll down to select Messages.
5. Now, tap on Disable & Delete.
6. From the pop-up message, select Delete Messages to confirm.

This will delete all conversations within all your contact. 

You can also selectively delete messages from particular contacts. Follow these steps to delete specific messages from your contacts.

1. For this, go to Settings on your iPhone.
2. Here, tap on your Apple ID.
3. Then, tap on iCloud and select Manage Storage.
4. Scroll down to select Messages.
5. Now, tap on Top Conversations and then tap on Edit.
6. Scroll down to select the contacts you would like to delete messages of.
7. Then, tap on the Trash icon.

This will delete only the selected messages from specific contacts. Let us now check out how to delete messages on Mac but not iPhone.

Delete Messages On Mac Without Deleting From iPhone

The “Messages in iCloud” setting allows you to sync messages across all of your Apple devices with the same Apple ID. You can turn off this setting to delete the messages on your Mac but keep them on your other devices.

Follow these steps to learn how to delete messages on Mac without deleting them from iPhone.

1. Open the Messages app on your macOS.
2. From the menu bar, select Messages.
3. Here, select Preferences and then navigate to the iMessage tab.
4. Under the Apple ID section, uncheck the Enable Messages in iCloud checkbox.

Thus, this method will delete all of the messages on your Mac only. Remember that it won’t delete your older messages that already have been saved under the previous setting.

How To Delete Messages App On Mac?

You cannot delete the Messages app on your Mac as it is a pre-installed app. You can delete the messages, conversations, and attachments but not the app!

To figure out such kinds of things on DeleteBy

FAQ

Why Can’t I Delete Messages On My Mac?

iMessage doesn’t provide an option to completely clear your history. While pulling the ~/Library/Messages folder will remove some data, doing so won’t stop messages from showing in the app. If you want to completely erase your iMessage history, you’ll need to manually delete all of the conversations from your Mac.

How Do You Select Multiple Messages On A Mac?

On your keyboard, press COMMAND + A on Mac or CTRL + A on Windows to select all conversations in the inbox or results. Alternatively, if you only want to select some conversations, press COMMAND or SHIFT + click on the conversations you want to select.

Why Are Messages Taking Up So Much Storage On Mac?

As previously noted, text messages don’t take up much storage space. However, attachments included in the messages can be heavy. If you regularly send videos, photos, GIFs, emojis, audio files, and other attachments, the message history will use up a lot of space on your Mac.

Can You Select Messages On Mac?

Command+Click into the message bubble or onto a message itself, then repeat and command+click onto another message (or several) so that multiple messages are highlighted at the same time.

Conclusion

In the above post, I’ve explained how to delete messages on a Mac in detail. There are multiple methods when it comes to erasing your chat history. On your macOS, you can delete a message, multiple messages, all messages, attachments, or even entire conversations. To delete messages, go to Messages >> locate the message >> right-click on the message >> select Delete. You can repeat these steps for deleting several messages you would like to delete. To delete an entire conversation, go to Messages >> select the conversation >> right-click on it >> select Delete Conversation. By learning how to delete messages on Mac, you can keep your Mac free from unnecessary messages!

Is there an easier way to delete messages on Mac

How to delete messages on Mac?