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How to clear Skype IM Chat and Call History?

with 24 comments

If you’re a frequent Skype user, you might have noticed that Skype keeps a record of all events including instant messages, calls, file transfers and SMS all stored and accessible from the Conversation tab by clicking on the Show History button.

Deleting the chat and call history in Skype is easy, but the Delete History option is buried inside Skype menus. All you need to do is choose Tools > Options, go to the Privacy tab and hit the ‘Clear History’ button.

delete-skype-history

A dialog box will popup asking you for confirmation regarding deleting all previous text chats, voicemail, calls, file transfers and SMS messages. Hit Delete and you’re done. The Skype call and chat history has been deleted.

If you want to disable or turn off Skype history, just use the ‘No History’ option under ‘Keep History for’ in the Privacy tab.

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Written by Shankar Ganesh

June 4th, 2009 at 2:30 pm

Posted in how to

Tagged with ,

24 Responses to 'How to clear Skype IM Chat and Call History?'

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  1. [...] Vía: Killer Tech Tips [...]

  2. i am new to skype, was really looking for this thanks

    Mark

    11 Oct 09 at 10:02 pm

  3. Thanks for the post. It was realy usefull for me:P

    hianyzoli

    24 Oct 09 at 9:48 pm

  4. I have skype set on “No history” but it still keeps each and every IM conversation, file transfers and calls etc. in history. So if I want to clear it I will have to go and click “clear history”. I could not figure out a way around this althoug all posts suggest that this setting should work. Not sure why it won’t work for me, though… Any ideas?

    mimi

    17 Nov 09 at 7:07 am

  5. ok.. its really work.
    thanks for the tip

    azizan razak

    25 Nov 09 at 2:39 pm

  6. i clear my Skype history from time to time, feels good to keep my privacy safe from others :P

    Uttoran Sen

    28 Nov 09 at 2:35 pm

  7. If you want to keep chat history for you, but not on a local PC, there is a very simple solution to save it in Gmail – G-Recorder (http://www.g-recorder.com)

    Greg

    29 Dec 09 at 2:48 am

  8. is there a way to delete the chat history on individual contacts instead of everyone?

    sky

    8 Jan 10 at 7:03 pm

  9. All i can say is Thank you

    DTEE

    10 Jan 10 at 3:06 pm

  10. After going round in circles on the Skype Help Center for 3 hours, I was able to delete history in just under 6 seconds. Thanks for the really helpful screenshot!

    Ally

    14 Jan 10 at 11:38 am

  11. Even if we delete the history, doesn’t the other party still have a record of our communication? Not sure whether this really protects privacy or not….

    joalanna

    17 Jan 10 at 4:24 am

  12. Hey
    thank you….very much and print screen helped me to follow the steps easily.

    swapna

    26 Jan 10 at 3:18 am

  13. Is there a way to delete pending chats so the receiver cannot read it? I sent something to someone I regret sending, and I don’t want them to get it.

    MAry Holmes

    26 Jan 10 at 11:08 am

  14. very usefull, thnaks!

    lee

    5 Feb 10 at 6:13 pm

  15. Thank you , this was useful

    john

    6 Feb 10 at 8:36 am

  16. very usefull, thank you!!

    Van

    6 Feb 10 at 8:33 pm

  17. Very useful thank u :-)

    Naresh

    14 Feb 10 at 12:58 pm

  18. If you want to delete chats with specific contacts, you have to dig a bit into the Skype-internal database.

    With a SQLite-client you could execute the SQL statement
    DELETE FROM messages WHERE dialog_partner = skype_name
    where you replace “skype_name” with the skype-name of the person you want to remove all messages for.

    More info on the internal database as well as some tricks can be found at http://kosi2801.freepgs.com/2009/12/03/messing_with_the_skype_40_database.html

    Kosi2801

    15 Feb 10 at 3:08 am

  19. Very helpful!!! thanks alot!!!!

    melly411

    18 Feb 10 at 7:50 am

  20. thanks … ur information is really helpful and snapshot shows it so perfect thanks for the info

    shweta

    22 Feb 10 at 11:19 pm

  21. ^
    it happens to me too, i disabled the chat history but its still showing up especially when i use other computer all of the chat history pops up when i signed it, its crazy .
    Can someone explain this?

    bubi

    23 Feb 10 at 8:19 pm

  22. i do not want my skype id visible at the starting of skype .whn i sign in to skype my skype id is already stored there i just hv 2 typ pswrd .bt i do not want my skype 2 b stored.wht 2 do?/

    aj

    27 Feb 10 at 12:50 am

  23. good work, keep it up

    Vikash

    16 Mar 10 at 1:11 am

  24. I have been using skype for years and I have been deleting my history as said by you but there is a history tab which still keeps all your call history.

    How do you get it to stop keeping your call history?

    Bianca

    21 Mar 10 at 6:18 pm

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