InsideGoogle

Google Talk Chat History

I’ve been wondering where my chat history is being saved. Checking the temp folders, the program files and all other possible places never reveiled anything clickable.

Then I checked the local settings and saw a folder named Google, which contained the subfolders Google Talk and chatlogs. But none of the files in the chatlogs folder make sense. They merely seem to be cookies that say when you talked with someone and how long the session lasted.

So. Every so often I was trying to look up things I received, like URLs or messages, but I failed to find them again.

Update: TheTalkers, the google talkers community, pointed out they are full logs, and they can be decoded with the GoogleTalk LogViewer. (thanks, Nathan)

Well… no more apparently, cuz when I installed GTalk today on my laptop at work, I got the message I could save chat messages to GMail, and have them marked as regular messages.

Also there seems to be an ‘off the record’ button that allows me to prevent others to save the chat conversation.

As the Google Chat History Saving states :

One of our users’ most commonly-requested features is finally here! Now you can save your chat histories to your Gmail account. There, your chat histories are just like Gmail messages–you can view them, forward them, print them or search for them. Never worry about losing something important from your chats again.

You can choose to enable chat history saving when you’re notified of this new feature in Google Talk. This setting can also be changed at any time from “Settings” in either Google Talk or Gmail.

Saved chats show up in Gmail search results, but you can also see all your saved chats in one place, in the “Chats” folder of your Gmail account. […]

Once a chat is saved in Gmail, it becomes just like a Gmail message. Each line in “Chats” represents an individual chat. You can print, star, apply labels to, and delete chats just as you would for any message in Gmail. To delete, you can either select the chat and hit the “Delete” button, or hit “Delete” while viewing the chat directly.

Most important notice :

9. Is there a new Google Talk privacy policy associated with this feature?

Yes. Please see our updated privacy policy, with tracked changes.

Read more on Google

Most likely this is a feature that went live together with the integrated chat in GMail Nathan blogged about.

“You will be able to talk with any Google Talk users, or with users of any service that works with Google Talk, from within the Gmail interface. As this screenshot shows, a mini IM windows will appear in the Gmail interface on the lower right-hand side, letting you hold multiple conversations without ever leaving your email.”

Read what Nathan blogged.

February 7th, 2006 Posted by Coolz0r | Talk, Email, General | 2 comments