Recovering Deleted Instant Messages
ID: SLN1310
Refers to:
Messenger 10 and earlier
Description
This article explains how you can retrieve old messages from the archives stored locally on your computer.
Resolution
Archives are saved in lightly encrypted .DAT files, and can only be viewed by the Yahoo! ID that created them. These archives are stored locally on your system, so the conversations held on one computer are only accessible from that computer.
Archives are not stored on the Yahoo! Messenger servers. If the archived messages are not set to "save," or if archives are missing or deleted from your computer, then they cannot be retrieved.
NOTE: Uninstalling Yahoo! Messenger will NOT remove these files.
To view your message Archives:
- Sign in to Yahoo! Messenger.
- Select Contacts in the main menu.
- Select Message Archive.
This displays the archive, with messages organized by your contact names.