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Changing message format in 9.0 Beta

March 21, 2008 on 12:50 pm | In 9.0 version, Features | 46 Comments

[This tip was included as a link off an early article on Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta, but I wanted to highlight it again in case some of our 9.0 Beta users missed it the first time around.]

When we first launched 9.0 Beta, we received complaints from users about how we changed the way a conversation lays out in the IM window. We switched to a format where your friend’s name appears on a line, and their IM message appears on the line right below, creating an extra line. Many users didn’t like the extra space this takes up in the window. So, one of our team members, John Dunning, added a keyboard shortcut that allows 9.0 Beta users to switch to their preferred formats for their IM conversations. Here’s how it works…

There are three options for your IM conversation format:

Option 0
This format mirrors version 8.1. Every message sent has its own line and the sender’s name in front of it.

 Option 1
This is the current format that ships with 9.0 Beta. Messages are grouped and the first message starts on the line after the sender’s name.

 Option 2
This is a hybrid of 0 and 1. Messages are grouped but the first line of someone’s message appears on the same line as their name.



If you like option 1 the best, there is no need to make any changes. Option 1 is the formatting that’s already built into Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta.

If you would like to use 9.0 but prefer either option 0 or 2, then follow the directions below to enable 9.0 to format your IM conversations accordingly.

1. Sign into Yahoo! Messenger 9.0

2. Click on a friend to open a new IM window. Start your conversation so there are a few lines of text.

3. Click your mouse in the message area ABOVE where you type in your text. It will feel strange because nothing will really happen, but just click up in that area where the conversation is listed.

4. Then use the following key combination on your keyboard to activate your preferred format: ctrl + shift + # For example, if you want option 2, hit ctrl + shift + 2 on your keyboard. IMPORTANT: Use the number keys on your keyboard’s row of numbers; do not use the numeric keypad that some keyboards have on the right side.

5. You’ll see the text format change right there in the window. You can try each one to see how it looks. Whichever one you do last will be the format used.

Whatever you select will be persistent between sessions, conversations etc. If you want to change to one of the other formats in the future, just follow steps 1-4 above and use the appropriate option number in your key combination.

Note that for these key combinations to work, your version of Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 may need as much as 24 hours to reflect the change. If you don’t see the IM format change right away, wait a day and try again.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

46 Comments »

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  1. [...] Prima schimbare majoră după skin a fost metoda de afişare a mesajelor în ferestrele de conversaţie. Faţă de versiunea 8, in versiunea 9 mesajele repetate de la acelaşi user se continuau pe o linie nouă fără însă a se rescrie numele/id-ul iar pentru primul mesaj se începea pe un rând nou. Ei bine mulţi nu au primit cu braţele deschise această nouă abordare, aici e şi cazul meu, dar se pare că cei de la Yahoo! lucrează de zori şi au venit cu soluţii. [...]

    Pingback by   Schimbări în Yahoo! Messenger 9 Beta - Y!M Collection — March 21, 2008 #

  2. Option 1 and 2 work. Option 0 will not elicit any changes. You might want to fix that…… Thank you!

    Comment by hmm — March 22, 2008 #

  3. Yea, 1 and 2 work on Vista, while 0 doesn’t. I had to manually change the registry key to fix this.

    Comment by Venom — March 22, 2008 #

  4. Wow.
    That’s amazingly complex for no apparent reason.
    Why not make it a preference option?

    Comment by jr — March 24, 2008 #

  5. plz add search option 2 search meember like version5 had

    Comment by jay — March 25, 2008 #

  6. [...] had really wanted to write about the Yahoo! Messenger message format Easter Egg, because I know I had surprised by the change when I upgraded to Messenger 9.0 and it was cool that [...]

    Pingback by Yahoo! Cool thing of the Day » Blog Archive » Getting an Earful — March 25, 2008 #

  7. Yeah i agree with Jr. Why make it so hard.
    Anyway, it didn’t work for me in FF.
    I get an javascript error while trying option 0

    Comment by Ice — March 27, 2008 #

  8. why not allow skin changes in 9.0? I always like the classic skin but can’t find that in 9.0

    Comment by shawn4angel — March 28, 2008 #

  9. Option 0 doesn’t seem to work. I’m using 9.0.0.922 (Beta).

    Comment by Dennis — March 29, 2008 #

  10. The only thing I didn’t like about 9.0 was the “Yeaaupp” sound everytime a messenger window was opened…drove me nuts, I reverted back to 8.1 just so I didn’t have to hear it.

    Comment by Bob — March 31, 2008 #

  11. I’d like to use “Option 0″ but it doesn’t seem to work :-s Do we have to use numbers on the right of the keyboard or the one at the top ?

    What’s the registry key if I want to edit it myself ?

    I hope someone will be able to help me :p Thanks

    Comment by superyo — April 3, 2008 #

  12. [...] as Yahoo! have posted how to get things back as they were before the beta.  Here’s how to fix the message format and how to fix the contacts list view.  Well done, [...]

    Pingback by Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta Tips | thinkThin — April 4, 2008 #

  13. i like these options! although having used beta 9.0 for quite some time now, i got used to option 1 format… so when i changed it back to option 0.. it felt all weird again. haha!

    Comment by loi — April 4, 2008 #

  14. How do I download and install 9.0 Beta over the 8.1 on my system successfully from your website because each time I download and install; it reinstalls the 8.1 version of yahoo messenger again-which I dont want anymore.Please help asap as I am doing to use the 9.0 Beta version of the yahoo messenger.I’d appreciate if a proper link can be sent to my box to down load and install from,or am I just doing it wrongly?

    Comment by Ramat Bello — April 8, 2008 #

  15. make it easy for everybody, and can use in old windows like XP users

    Comment by orvie — April 8, 2008 #

  16. Ramat – You should download the 9.0 version from:

    http://beta.messenger.yahoo.com

    Sarah Bacon

    Comment by Administrator — April 8, 2008 #

  17. I like the new look option 2 for the IMs.

    Comment by Dennis — April 12, 2008 #

  18. I had to go back to using the older version of yahoo messanger. The 9.0 hasn’t been working for about two weeks now. I can’t send or recieve IM’s. The box just comes up empty and gray. I tried to uninstall and reinstall but still nothing. Am I the only person having this issue or are others also? I email support and still have not recieved an answer. It’s a shame. I was loving the 9.0 version. Help!

    Comment by Neila — April 21, 2008 #

  19. I like Option 0

    Comment by nora pentr mama — May 3, 2008 #

  20. I preferred and wanted to use option “0″ which is the way YM’s 8.1 messages are formatted. I tried to use the steps it said…and it did not work. I followed the steps repeatedly which is: Start an IM convo, after a few lines of dialogue…click in the area above where the messages are typed and then hit control+shift+0 (or the number to the format you prefer, like 1) and there was no change. I used the number “0″ at the top of the keyboard instead of the number keypad and voila! It worked!! Hope this helps other frustrated users who have wanted the “old” message format (option 0) like me.

    Comment by lastdon90 — May 7, 2008 #

  21. Hi lastdon90,

    You are correct! I got the same result when trying to use the numbers on my numeric keypad (even when NUM LOCK is selected). I will add this helpful tip to the article. Thanks,

    Sarah Bacon

    Comment by Administrator — May 7, 2008 #

  22. Wouldn’t it be easier to include this as an option in preferences? Seems rather complicated to remember since if you talk to someone on OLD messengers it seems to change back to the original way automatically and stick that way.

    Comment by Skye — June 16, 2008 #

  23. I think it’ll be better if there was a setting for this. so you wont have to press any keys at all..

    Comment by Kai — July 27, 2008 #

  24. Option 0 does NOT WORK on Vista (using keyboard, not numberpad)

    What’s the point of introducing a complicated option that doesn’t even work?

    Also wish yahoo could SOMEHOW go back to single spacing in conversation windows…. have tried EVERYTHING to get that back!

    can only see half as much of a conversation without scrolling down…. all that empty space

    Comment by ttracker — August 12, 2008 #

  25. all options works with the YIM 9.0.0.1912. Thz for very nice tip

    Comment by Netchibi — September 24, 2008 #

  26. [...] Aici ai explicatie, ce si cum. Si s-a mai discutat pe paginile precedente. [...]

    Pingback by Yahoo Messenger - Download, utilitare, discutii! - Page 174 - Computer Games Forum — September 29, 2008 #

  27. Thank you! I needed to get back to the original message system, because it didn’t look right with style 3 [Option 2]… I’m used to the first style [Option 0], and only like the rest when grouped with a surrounding box like GoogleTalk has.

    Though the ability to change this feature is extremely helpful, it’d be a bit better if located in Preferences than a keyboard shortcut.

    But still, thank you for adding this feature and mentioning it in the blog. It’s extremely appreciated.

    Also, it should be mentioned that to get “Option 0″, you actually press Ctrl+Shift+3… At least, that’s what I pressed, and it worked.

    Comment by Tobias — October 11, 2008 #

  28. it doesn’t work on my comp using vista and ym 9.0.0.2128..
    somebody can help me ? thx..

    Comment by bobby — February 9, 2009 #

  29. OMG! U SAVED MY FRIGGIN DAY!!!!!

    Comment by ash! — February 10, 2009 #

  30. ok, it took me nearly an hour of searching the net for this solution… why cant this be a preference option???

    Comment by Chris — February 22, 2009 #

  31. Actualy for Option 0 you have to press 3

    Comment by bogdan — February 24, 2009 #

  32. [...] message format in 9.0 Beta So I been reading this page… http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/03/21/changing-message-format-in-90-beta/ Doesn’t work I try ctrl, shift, 0 and no go I also 3. nothing So how do I edit on registry? [...]

    Pingback by Changing message format in 9.0 Beta — June 4, 2009 #

  33. Any update on this comment made by ttracker?

    “Also wish yahoo could SOMEHOW go back to single spacing in conversation windows…. have tried EVERYTHING to get that back!”

    Was just upgraded to 9.0 this morning and the double-spacing is really annoying

    Comment by jklame — June 10, 2009 #

  34. This is a strange change. I can’t get anything to change, 0,1 or 2 using the instructions you suggested
    The format is awful
    I liked the look of the old messenger
    It is completely silent
    Each time I send a message I have to type in the ID
    This is totally Vista unfriendly I guess

    Comment by Donna — June 15, 2009 #

  35. i ‘ll try thats

    Comment by Arco — June 16, 2009 #

  36. works great on vista home and the new messenger
    900 2162

    Comment by ♫♫♫ — June 17, 2009 #

  37. i real like the yahoo messanger beta love it alot

    Comment by ireneserect — June 21, 2009 #

  38. The option that you call “0″ is actually: CTRL+SHIFT+3.

    3 of the row of numbers above the letters, not the numeric keypad. It works just fine and it does update immediately.

    Comment by Darkman — August 3, 2009 #

  39. Thanks a lot! Works fine with CTRL+SHIFT+3, option 0 of course.

    Comment by Jancsy — September 1, 2009 #

  40. I have to say, this is kind of stupid. Just put it on the preferences.

    And yes, the return of the classic skin, please.

    Comment by Keh — October 15, 2009 #

  41. Option 0 which I would prefer, doesn’t work very well in Messenger 10. It would of been nice if there was an option in Preferences already. Maybe within the next update, maybe you could make this possible.

    Comment by erica — January 29, 2010 #

  42. thanks a lot. it’s really helpfull,
    in ym 10, ctrl+shift+1 works too. so they have the differences between ctrl+shift+1, ctrl+shift+2, and ctrl+shift+3

    i prefer ctrl+shift+1, and the worst is ctrl+shift+3 because it displays yahoo id in every single line

    Comment by mira — November 19, 2010 #

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  44. How do you change the message format with 10.0 version? I tried changing it, but it refuses to work. =[

    Comment by Kitty Nguyen — February 17, 2011 #

  45. How come switching to option 0 doesn’t work? I’m using 9.0.0.2162, and I’m already not happy with this shitty changes, now this options won’t work. I pressed by mistake ctrl shift 2, and that’s when i realized there’s some changing in message format. Searched for 20 mins to see what happened and how to fix it, but it looks like it’s useless, doesn’t work at all. I was unhappy when i was forced to update my yahoo messenger client, and now it’s even worse.

    Comment by cristina — August 21, 2011 #

  46. i am so decepointed using this messanger .i would like to update this messanger

    Comment by kabita — January 21, 2012 #

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