Printing IM Thread to local printer

I have searched high and low on the Windows Messenger site to learn how to
print the contents of an IM window thread. Is printing not a current
feature? If not, is MS addressing this limitation?

Greetings,

I assume we're talking about Windows Live Messenger here? If so, you can't print directly
from the actual conversation window but you can save the current conversation to a RTF file
and then open it in Wordpad (or word processor of your choice) and print it there. To do so,
hit just the Alt key in the conversation window to bring up the menubar, choose the File menu
and then Save As.

Additionally, if you were referring to the actual "Message History" windows, you can print
from these. Just click once within the message history itself (where the text is) and press
Ctrl-P on the keyboard to bring up the print dialog.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--


"SpongeBobbyGA" <SpongeBobbyGA@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2FF3AAFD-2777-4C2B-9D88-515579CD21C5@xxxxxx

	Quote:
	> I have searched high and low on the Windows Messenger site to learn how to > print the contents of an IM window thread. Is printing not a current > feature? If not, is MS addressing this limitation?

Thanks for the info--this is helpful to me as well.
Follow up question: is there any way to save the Message History as any sort
of file that's accessible? My understanding is that the Message History is
unaccessible except through Windows Live Messenger. This is fine as long as
I'm using it, but I really want to be able to have access to my archived
conversations.

I've saved most of my conversations in RTF files from the conversation
windows, but oftentimes the "Mobile" messages (i.e. text messaging on my
friends' cell phones) aren't saved/I don't end up saving them the same way.

Anyway, I would like to be able to save my Message History as a file all its
own. Is there any way to do this?

I just wish the Message History window was more user-friendly. It makes it
look like you can't hardly do anything with it. You would never even know
you could print unless you were knowledgeable enough to try Ctrl-P (which is
a shortcut I hardly ever use/am not very familiar with). There should be a
print button! And a button to save the Message History as a RTF or Word
document.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

	Quote:
	> Greetings, > > I assume we're talking about Windows Live Messenger here? If so, you can't print directly > from the actual conversation window but you can save the current conversation to a RTF file > and then open it in Wordpad (or word processor of your choice) and print it there. To do so, > hit just the Alt key in the conversation window to bring up the menubar, choose the File menu > and then Save As. > > Additionally, if you were referring to the actual "Message History" windows, you can print > from these. Just click once within the message history itself (where the text is) and press > Ctrl-P on the keyboard to bring up the print dialog. > > -- > Jonathan Kay > Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger > MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger > MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com > Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com > (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation > -- > > > "SpongeBobbyGA" <SpongeBobbyGA@xxxxxx> wrote in message > news:2FF3AAFD-2777-4C2B-9D88-515579CD21C5@xxxxxx Quote: > > I have searched high and low on the Windows Messenger site to learn how to > > print the contents of an IM window thread. Is printing not a current > > feature? If not, is MS addressing this limitation? > >

Hi,

The message history files are saved as XML files with an XSL that shows them in the current
format when accessed in a web browser. The Message History window itself is just Internet
Explorer with a few buttons around it (which is why the Ctrl-P thing works in the first
place). Thus, they're just text files which you can open in just about anything.

However, viewers that support XML are best. In fact, I commonly have opened mine in Excel.

Just open up the folder of the XML files in Explorer and play around a bit. You can get the
exact location of this folder by pressing the Alt key on your keyboard to bring up the
menubar, then Tools, then Options, then the Messages category, and looking under the Message
History group.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--



"CamelGal" <CamelGal@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:947CE9F3-EC71-40B0-B0DC-FF9BBAEDFD49@xxxxxx

	Quote:
	> Thanks for the info--this is helpful to me as well. > Follow up question: is there any way to save the Message History as any sort > of file that's accessible? My understanding is that the Message History is > unaccessible except through Windows Live Messenger. This is fine as long as > I'm using it, but I really want to be able to have access to my archived > conversations. > > I've saved most of my conversations in RTF files from the conversation > windows, but oftentimes the "Mobile" messages (i.e. text messaging on my > friends' cell phones) aren't saved/I don't end up saving them the same way. > > Anyway, I would like to be able to save my Message History as a file all its > own. Is there any way to do this? > > I just wish the Message History window was more user-friendly. It makes it > look like you can't hardly do anything with it. You would never even know > you could print unless you were knowledgeable enough to try Ctrl-P (which is > a shortcut I hardly ever use/am not very familiar with). There should be a > print button! And a button to save the Message History as a RTF or Word > document. > > Thanks for any help you can give me. > > "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote: > Quote: >> Greetings, >> >> I assume we're talking about Windows Live Messenger here? If so, you can't print directly >> from the actual conversation window but you can save the current conversation to a RTF >> file >> and then open it in Wordpad (or word processor of your choice) and print it there. To do >> so, >> hit just the Alt key in the conversation window to bring up the menubar, choose the File >> menu >> and then Save As. >> >> Additionally, if you were referring to the actual "Message History" windows, you can print >> from these. Just click once within the message history itself (where the text is) and >> press >> Ctrl-P on the keyboard to bring up the print dialog. >> >> -- >> Jonathan Kay >> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger >> MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger >> MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com >> Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com >> (c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation >> -- >> >> >> "SpongeBobbyGA" <SpongeBobbyGA@xxxxxx> wrote in message >> news:2FF3AAFD-2777-4C2B-9D88-515579CD21C5@xxxxxx Quote: >> > I have searched high and low on the Windows Messenger site to learn how to >> > print the contents of an IM window thread. Is printing not a current >> > feature? If not, is MS addressing this limitation? >> >>