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Hack: Tabs in Yahoo! Messenger

February 23, 2007 on 10:57 am | In Features | 60 Comments

As you may have seen in the preview of Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista, tabbed IM windows are coming soon. This feature lets you group multiple conversations into one IM window and use tabs to navigate among them.

As it turns out, there are several hidden features that are built into Yahoo! Messenger, which can be turned on with changes to the Windows registry settings. One of our Messenger engineers, Hung Nguyen, developed some code that when installed, adds tabs to Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 (on Windows XP).

To try it out, first close all the IM windows you have open. Then click the “Turn ON tabs in Yahoo! Messenger” link below. When the download window appears, click the “Run” button and follow the on-screen instructions to install it. The next time you’re in two or more IM conversations at the same time, you’ll see the tabs in action. To close a tab, just right click on it.

Turn ON tabs in Yahoo! Messenger 8.1

Turn OFF tabs in Yahoo! Messenger 8.1

Keep in mind this is a hack for Yahoo! Messenger that has not been exhaustively tested. There are some challenges with it so if you want to remove it, click the “Turn OFF tabs in Yahoo! Messenger” link above to download and run the .reg file (Yahoo! Messenger does not need to be running to remove it). I did experience some display issues with my IM windows initially, but a click and drag of the bottom right corner of my IM window corrected it.

Thanks to Hung for creating this and to our friends at WackyB for first making this available for download. More on WackyB in a future post…

:cool: UPDATE: Andy at WackyB created a utility that corrects some of the bugs with this hack. When you use Andy’s utility, new tabs display correctly, you get notified when a new message is received from a background tab, and most importantly you will receive new IM messages when you have closed the Tabbed IM window. Thanks Andy! Get the WackyB utility here

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

60 Comments »

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  1. Cool Man!!!! I though that we XP users are going to lose out on all the fun!!

    Comment by Yash — February 23, 2007 #

  2. Oh, well tried it!! seem to be having a little hiccup. Whenever i open an Conversation window for the first time, i need to either Maximize and Retore it, or minimize to taskbar and restore it for the window contents to display !!

    And on adding a new tab to the IM, the window does not change the focus to the new tab unless you repeat the steps mentions above.

    But no grumbling!! nice trick.

    Please include it in the next update for Messnger for XP as well.

    Comment by Yash — February 23, 2007 #

  3. There is no need to min/restore the windows.. you can just slightly re-size the window.. that is wiggle the bottom right corner. You only have to do this once per new tab opened or if you do anything that alters the internal window size (e.g. use and close plugins)

    http://www.wackyb.co.nz/vb/showthread.php?t=523

    Comment by Andy — February 23, 2007 #

  4. Forget windows, keep working on the Mac version before Adium takes over.

    Comment by Lady Aeval — February 23, 2007 #

  5. I’ve been waiting something like this from years (since when I discovered tabbed browsing )

    It would be nice in future versions to be able to cycle through tabs using Ctrl + Tab

    Comment by Marcel — February 23, 2007 #

  6. Thanks for all the Mac support…

    Comment by Lucky — February 23, 2007 #

  7. very nice. thanks for sharing!

    Comment by jon144k — February 23, 2007 #

  8. This looks like a nice feature, but it lacks the reversed functionality. Most of us are used to close tabs using the CTRL+F4 key sequence. It would be nice to have this into Yahoo Messenger as well. I know there is always the right click option, but it would be nice to have the easy way.

    Best of luck.

    Comment by Ciprian Sorlea — February 24, 2007 #

  9. I’ve update the post on WackyB to include a small utility that improves Tabbed IM chat windows and removes many of the problems:

    http://www.wackyb.co.nz/vb/showthread.php?p=1471#post1471

    New tabs display correctly, you get notified when a new message is received from a hidden tab, and most importantly you will receive new IM messages when you have closed the Tabbed IM window!

    More details with screenshot and download at the link above

    – Andy

    Comment by Andy — February 24, 2007 #

  10. WHAT’S UP WITH THIS YAHOO CRAP! ONE TRIES TO GET TO CHATROOMS AND CAN.T GET TO THEM!!! iAM NOT AMUSED WITH IS ! MAKE IT BETTER TO GET THERE OR I WILL SPREAD THE NEWS THT YAHOO SUCKS!

    Comment by USMALENEEDSIT — February 24, 2007 #

  11. I don’t get this? What r these groups people keep talkin about?

    Comment by ANF — February 24, 2007 #

  12. This is very neat, and will come to become very useful. Thanks for informing us everyone. =)

    Comment by Venom — February 24, 2007 #

  13. Hi Sarah, first time poster, long time (well 2 months) reader… I am excited to see these screenshots for the new Vista version of Yahoo Messenger, any quality updates are a Good Thing. However, I would really like to see an update to the Mac version too! I have to use Windows at work, but I love my Macs at home! The current 3.0 beta 1 is a HUGE HUGE HUGE improvement over the older Mac versions, but it still lacks in so many ways! Please fix the dropping/crash/freeze bugs in the Webcam feature! Please add the voice chat features currently present in the Windows version! And please add more of the emoticons that the Windows uers have. Thank you and keep up the awesome work!

    Comment by Freddy — February 24, 2007 #

  14. It’s okay. Yahoo! messenger is a great service and you are doing a great thing by adding new features. But why don’t you correct the problems that you already have?

    1) Entering a chat room is just becoming a pain in the ass. It takes ages!
    And I have the fastest internet connection and one of the fastest PCs in the western world. So the Problem is NOT my computer!

    And everyone else is complaining too.

    If you don’t want to do something about chat rooms than just stop gobbling up our time and advertiser’s money.

    2) There are SPAM bots and Porn bots all over the place

    3) There are booters everywhere

    This is what happens when you let Open Source code people mess with your program. Good people give nice hacks but the bad people make booters and spam bots and make life hell for us commoners who don’t know what is happening.

    You seriously should stop any further development and do something about spammers and booters.

    P.S.: That is why Microsoft is good. Keep your programs closed so that messy people don’t mess with you. If any nice hacks are developed people can email them to you and you can add it to the program. For hackers you should provide another open source program to play with and for commoners/public provide a program that is just updated just by you.

    Comment by user — February 25, 2007 #

  15. I am so happy about yahoo messanger i just wanted to say that your tabs thing doesn’t always work k
    bye

    Comment by Allison — February 25, 2007 #

  16. Thaaaaaaaank !

    So long time we wait this feature :o ) .oO(I remember UnSakred build like feature as plugin several years ago)

    Comment by Olivier D. alias ze kat — February 25, 2007 #

  17. Any idea when the Mac version will ever finally move beyond Beta 1? We’ve been waiting since last summer for any kind of an update.

    Comment by Lance — February 25, 2007 #

  18. Congrats Sarah & Team nice hack =D>

    Comment by Yahoo! Addict — February 26, 2007 #

  19. Thanks Andy for the additional utility! I just updated the post to point people to it.

    Sarah Bacon

    Comment by Administrator — February 26, 2007 #

  20. [...] [via YM Blog] [...]

    Pingback by Tabs in Yahoo Messenger » Freakitude — February 27, 2007 #

  21. I agree with “Comment by User Feb 25,2007″
    Also having problems with Literati. At times there doesn’t seem to be anybody there, or can create table to play at, but cannot get into room.

    Comment by User Two — February 27, 2007 #

  22. There’s a little bug.

    The avatar doesn’t change. It remains the avatar of the first person contacted.

    Comment by Dacasy — February 27, 2007 #

  23. Thaaaaaaaank !

    So long time we wait this feature ) .oO(I remember UnSakred build like feature as plugin several years ago)

    yeah, Super Y! I was going to update it, but I am just glad now that Yahoo! has finally started to integrate that feature.

    Once the bugs are worked out and the use of third party apps / plugins are no longer needed, this feature is going to be on my top 5.

    Comment by UnSaKreD — February 27, 2007 #

  24. Indeed it is a nice feature..

    however why are a multi million dollar company depending on user hacks to make their application work properly?

    Yahoo! have what?..maybe 5 – 10 people working on the yahoo messenger current and you can’t do what one person using visual basic could?

    If you outsourced chat server maintanence maybe it’s time to change third parties.

    Comment by Dermot — February 27, 2007 #

  25. I think a lot of the problem is the whole peanut butter effect. (If you didnt read that memo it was a very interesting read.)
    I have been using Yahoo! Messenger since version 3, and I can say this much. There has been more growth of the application in the past 9 months, then there has been in close to 5 years.

    The *hacks* and plugins and skins is just a great way to establish a community. Granted it also helps leverage some of the weight off of the developers hands.

    I don’t think its not that they could, they just didn’t get or listen to the feedback from the users. btw, Yahoo! you can hire me lol

    Comment by UnSaKreD — February 27, 2007 #

  26. iam saeed rahimi i form iram : thank you for send passage blog msgr :d Sos Work Site :D Merc

    Comment by :D Saeed . Ra — February 28, 2007 #

  27. Here’s another useful tool for Yahoo Messenger that makes your display picture different from you

    buddy icon… just go to http://twopics.com/create.php pick a buddy icon and upload an image from

    your computer, click “Hocus Pocus” and save the picture. Use it as an display image for messenger

    and you’ll see the trick

    Comment by Luciana — February 28, 2007 #

  28. Ya thanks for everything!!!!!

    Comment by Ronnica — February 28, 2007 #

  29. [...] You can try the hack here. [...]

    Pingback by mi(sual).com » Blog Archive » Hack: Tabs in Yahoo! Messenger — March 1, 2007 #

  30. I don’t talk about good features. I am a born critic and I only talk of faults. So I don’t care. I will show the faults. Duh!

    I am tired of all this hacks and all these computer people do. Chat rooms are still taking ages to open. The bots are making life miserable. And the booters won’t let you talk. You should go to USA chat rooms and others. Ewwww the bots talk so dirty there and there are just bots in those rooms! Sometimes I can’t make out who is real and who is bot. :O
    And I agree with that person who says Yahoo! Avtar don’t change.

    But I like this blog place. We can come here and complaint and take out the frustration (even though no one cares). Yay!

    Comment by user — March 1, 2007 #

  31. [...] mai multe info aici [...]

    Pingback by .bloguletZ » Blog Archive » Hack: Tabs in Yahoo Messenger — March 3, 2007 #

  32. Nice to see you’re working so hard on a Mac version, that you don’t have the time to post any updates.

    Comment by tony danza — March 3, 2007 #

  33. I am happy about yahoo messenger,just wanted to say: your tabs doesn’t always work
    bye

    Comment by kabir — March 4, 2007 #

  34. the tab’s thing ended up disastrously.It ruined my messenger exp

    Comment by viswesh — March 5, 2007 #

  35. this yahoo blog thingy is really dumb, even though nobody really cares!

    -later 0:-)

    Comment by dominique — March 6, 2007 #

  36. Nice but it has many many many bugs LOL

    Comment by Karl — March 16, 2007 #

  37. please send me that

    Comment by prantik — March 25, 2007 #

  38. [...] Two registry files are provided by Yahoo to turn it on and off. But it seems there are some functionality issues like no notification if there are new messages in the new tab and few others and these can be corrected with the utility provided by WackyB. This utility is mentioned by the Yahoo in their messenger blog. [...]

    Pingback by Hack to get Tabs in Yahoo Messenger - Lyte Byte — March 30, 2007 #

  39. [...] quote from x3Ro.   Screenshot :   tuk jadi kan YM anda mcm tuh sile download registry nih: Turn ON tabs in Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 Turn OFF tabs in Yahoo! Messenger 8.1   kalau nak tau lebih lanjut sile pergi ke blogYm   2. YM WackyB Tab Fix Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista with tabbed IM windows is coming soon. But in current version too there are several hidden built in features, which can be turned on with changes to the Windows registry settings.   Recently yahoo messenger blog revealed cool new registry hack to turn on tabs in Yahoo Messenger 8.1. The hack works only on Windows XP.   From the registry hack, WackyB developed WackyB-IMTab-Fix utility. You can run the utilitity in background to turn on Tabbed IM windows in Yahoo Messenger. [...]

    Pingback by n3dmax studio’s » YM - Tabs & WackyB… — March 31, 2007 #

  40. Sarah ,I want this mail id .please give me this id please

    Comment by Duranto — April 20, 2007 #

  41. [...] Yahoo Messenger Blog gasiti doua fisiere registry puse la dispozitie de Yahoo pentru a activa sau dezactiva Tab-urile. [...]

    Pingback by Modificare pentru taburi in Yahoo Messenger — June 16, 2007 #

  42. I downloaded the two files do set up the tabbing in Yahoo messenger, the first one is a text file in notepad. It will note allow me to save it as a .reg so what do I do to correct that? I Tried to manually insert this “Tabbed IM”=dword:00000001 as a new key in the pager folder also, and it still wont work. can someone help me with this? pastorwilliambarhorst with Yahoo messenger thanx & God Bless

    Comment by pastorwilliambarhorst — August 4, 2007 #

  43. Hi pastorwilliambarhorst,

    Instead of downloading the files and running them from your desktop, just click on the ‘Turn ON tabs in Yahoo! Messenger 8.1″ link in the article above. When the windows dialog box appears, click “Run” to add it to the registry.

    Also, please be sure you’re running Yahoo! Messenger version 8.1 (available for download at http://messenger.yahoo.com). The hack will only work on that version and if you’re running Windows XP. Thanks,

    Sarah Bacon

    Comment by Administrator — August 4, 2007 #

  44. Forget Mac, and Windows, Linux is taking over. Specially Ubuntu’s.

    Comment by Gunner — August 10, 2007 #

  45. Thanks for the cool feature. Very good indeed!

    Comment by The Dog Clothing Company — August 21, 2007 #

  46. why is that too much bots in yahoo messanger rooms this just stater last week thursday ……….for examply if u want to get into arizona chat room 7 (30) [w23] it will show u the same bots as in arizona 10 (35) [w65] …………why? and all are bots …………we do not enjoy yahoo messenger at all expecially this yahoo too much changings and updrading pls. bring yahoo messanger back to its old days like the upgrade in 2004, 2005 and 2006 remain the best………..2007 upgrade and setting of yahoo messenger is the worse………….yahoo pls do something

    Comment by Ken Paul — August 21, 2007 #

  47. bugs… full of bugs …it sucks

    Comment by Dangerell — August 28, 2007 #

  48. Great !!!

    Comment by Eric — September 17, 2007 #

  49. Well it worked for a short time now when i open a new YM window the YM has the background superimposed onto it and i cant see anything..

    Comment by JImmy — October 13, 2007 #

  50. Dont see the voice chat button in yahoo messager 8.1.0.421 which i think is lattest version… Is there any option to enable or disable the voice chat in this version of yahoo messanger.

    Comment by Vishal — October 15, 2007 #

  51. wouldn’t it be using separate windows better than using tabs?

    Comment by Halloween Dog Costume — October 24, 2007 #

  52. love my yahoo messager 8 thx yahoo and my protection with my yahoo tool bar

    Comment by sharron grover — November 30, 2007 #

  53. i have downloaded and redownloaded the latest yahoo messenger but i cant seem to use the tabs at top of messenger list. i can use message archives but can not go to chat or view profiles or most of others. u mind telling me why. thanks

    Comment by janice — March 5, 2008 #

  54. HI janice,

    This tabs hack only works with Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 right now (http://messenger.yahoo.com/?wm=n). If you downloaded and installed 9.0 (http://beta.messenger.yahoo.com) it probably won’t work. Thanks,

    Sarah Bacon

    Comment by Administrator — March 5, 2008 #

  55. this is cool! tried it & it works great!

    Comment by Jeco — March 20, 2008 #

  56. Turn ON tabs in Yahoo! Messenger 8.1

    Turn OFF tabs in Yahoo! Messenger 8.1

    Links r broken!

    Comment by Yashar — July 22, 2008 #

  57. You can download the files from here: http://www.technade.com/2007/04/yahoo-messenger-hack-for-getting-tabs.html

    Comment by Hassan — January 3, 2009 #

  58. does this works for messenger 9.0 beta too?

    Comment by SaGaR — January 25, 2009 #

  59. Wow, version 9 is here, and I have it up and running, but where are the tabs referenced in the first paragraph of this blog entry from early 2007?

    Comment by deb — April 11, 2009 #

  60. Yahoo Messenger 9.0 doesn’t have built-in tabbed IM windows. It would be nice if they were.

    I’m not about to try a version 8.0 hack on version 9.0.

    Comment by Chuck — June 7, 2009 #

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