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It seems that in the Window version of Skype, there is an option to clear chat history. It is supposed to be Tools > Options > IM & SMS > Clear history button but effectively nothing similar is here:

No clear history button

This option is not present on the version that come with my Ubuntu 13.04. In the privacy settings there is this option:

enter image description here

and somewhere in the Skype forum it is said that changing that to Disable History and then restarting Skype will get rid of the chat history. Tried that, don't work.

Searching a bit I found that you have to eliminate some file in the Skype directory; I did that from the directory I have:

cd $HOME/.Skype/my_skype_name/ 
rm chat*.dbb user*.dbb

...still no go. Before I get rid of all the .Skype directory and re-configure all Skype, is there anyone that know how to do it? The content of the directory is: 

alert2048.dbb       chatsync             httpfe           msn.db-journal
alert4096.dbb       config.lck           keyval.db        msn.lock
bistats.db          config.xml           keyval.lock      profile16384.dbb
bistats.db-journal  contactgroup256.dbb  main.db          sms512.dbb
bistats.lock        dc.db                main.db-journal  transfer256.dbb
call256.dbb         eas.db               main.lock        voicemail
callmember256.dbb   eas.db-journal       msn.db           voicemail256.dbb

Removing all other *.dbb doesn't work, either.

Lesson: never put sensitive data on a Skype chat.

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2
  • Try this. Click on Tools --> Options --> IM & SMS and the Clear history button.
    – Mitch
    Nov 22, 2013 at 6:17
  • @Mitch, that button is available in the widows and Mac version of Skepe, but not on Linux, as I say in the first paragraph of the question... What version are you checking?
    – Rmano
    Nov 22, 2013 at 13:58

8 Answers 8

Reset to default
9

I was instructed by Skype customer service to do following:

  1. Go to Options -> Privacy and set "Keep chat history for.." to Disable History, then sign out & sign in.

  2. Go to $HOME/.Skype/my_skype_name/ and delete only main.db. Sign out & Sign in.

It worked.

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5
  • Not sure why this was not the accepted answer. Works perfectly without a windows VM. However, it is strange that Skype team did not attempt to fix this glitch yet.
    – Pradeeban Kathiravelu
    Jan 1, 2016 at 12:02
  • @KathiraveluPradeeban the problem is that in my case this thing avoided future recording of chat history, but reloaded the old one from the server. Besides, I do not want to disable chat history; I just want to forget the past one... to get rid of that password I typed in the wrong spot (blame click-to-focus...) ;-) (BTW, I ended changing that password...)
    – Rmano
    Jan 13, 2016 at 12:12
  • The solution above will in fact delete your history and recently contacted list. WARNING: it will also delete all your contacts as well.
    – Brad Horn
    Aug 5, 2016 at 6:50
  • @BradHorn It never deleted my contacts. I tried it.
    – Pradeeban Kathiravelu
    Aug 9, 2016 at 18:43
  • It hid all my contacts too. I managed to fix that by making a 'test call' through Options/Sound devices/Make a test call. And it showed me that I did have a recent chat with one contact + I sent a file - that means it does not delete everything.
    – MiroJanosik
    Oct 20, 2017 at 19:08
5

I'm running Linux Mint 17, and was able to clear the chat history. But you won't like the answer.

First I tried expunging all of the data in the ./Skype directory. Didn't help, as everyone above has pointed out.

I have Windows XP installed in an Oracle VirtualBox VM. I installed Skype in the VM Windows, then went to Options -> Privacy and set "Keep chat history for.." to Disable History.

Anyway, after deleting the old chats using the Windows installation, I went back to Linux Mint, started Skype, and guess what, folks? --no chat history.

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1
  • 3
    That really means that Skype is keeping that data online, and that does not provide Linux users with a way to delete it. Nice... Thanks anyway, +1.
    – Rmano
    Nov 19, 2014 at 17:07
5

How about nuke it? WARNING This will effectively nuke your Skype profile:

First, do a backup:

cp -r ~/.Skype ~/skype.bk

Now remove the .Skype directory:

rm -r ~/.Skype

Done.

Note that this will only remove the local copy of the history which will be restored by Skype on sign in.

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6
  • Yep. Last resort weapon. ;-)
    – Rmano
    Dec 13, 2013 at 20:31
  • 1
    @Rmano wait, didn't we reach that stage already?
    – Braiam
    Dec 13, 2013 at 20:32
  • I've disabled the chat history in the options, quit Skype, removed the ~/.Skype directory. When I sign back in I can see all my contacts slowly getting reloaded from Internet and after a while all my conversations are reloaded as well. Using Skype 4.2.
    – Marco Lackovic
    Mar 31, 2014 at 12:29
  • @Krige if it's like that, then the history isn't locally stored.
    – Braiam
    Mar 31, 2014 at 12:38
  • @Braiam, that's what I guessed. So how do we get to clear the chat history in such cases?
    – Marco Lackovic
    Apr 2, 2014 at 13:57
1

the terminal way of doing it, say the user’s skype username is ‘rome’ and the computer’s name is ‘russia’ :

rome@russia:~$ cd /home/rome/.Skype/rome/
rome@russia:~$ rm -rf `find . -name "*.dbb"
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1
  • As you could read in the last paragraph in the question, I tried it. Doesn't work. It forgets very old chat content, not all of them.
    – Rmano
    Nov 22, 2013 at 15:55
1

If you use skypeforlinux:

1- Quit the application.

2- Rename the file Databases.db inside this location:

~/.config/skypeforlinux/databases/

3- Restart skypeforlinux

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0

The way I did it on Skype 4.3.0.37 (because Mackys answer didn't work) was to delete all records from the table messages in the SQLite database of Skype.

First install sqlite3 if you don't have it:

sudo apt-get install sqlite3

Then quit Skype to unlock the database and execute the following statement, changing the [username] with your skype name:

sqlite3 ~/.Skype/[username]/main.db "delete from messages;"

This will delete the chat history on your local computer, I'm not sure though if Skype will reload it from the internet.

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0

If you want to delete just one persons message. You need to do this. 1 . Logout of skype. 2. install sqlite3 (if it is not already installed) sudo apt-get install sqlite3 # installing sqlite3

  1. then do this. (assuming that person's skype id is "nafis.ahmad")

    sqlite3 ~/.Skype/[your-skype-username]/main.db "delete from messages where dialog_partner='nafis.ahmad';"

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-1

Found this, Helpful, I guess: http://adminspot.net/topic/5042-removing-skype-chat-history-linux-ubuntu-should-work-for-other-distros-as-well/

Quote: "Found this on the net thanks to the original poster

The current Linux version for skype 2.2 beta is lacking a delete history button and there does not seem to be a bug ticket so, If you want to clear your chat history.

With Skype not running open your home folder select show hidden files find the one .skype rename it to .skypeold (or what ever).

Once you have logged back on skype you can delete the renamed folder

Bear "

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1
  • yinon: this is EXACTLY Braiam answer.
    – Rmano
    Feb 18, 2014 at 20:12

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