Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

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startling
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Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by startling »

I never use Chat and was disappointed to see it suddenly included in Thunderbird. Is there an option somewhere to remove Chat completely?
Last edited by startling on September 4th, 2012, 4:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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smsmith
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat?

Post by smsmith »

Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced, General. Click the Config Editor... button.

Find mail.chat.enabled and double click it to toggle to false. Restart Thunderbird.

Note, on Windows systems, it is Tools -> Options -> Advanced, General.
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startling
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat?

Post by startling »

Excellent! Thank you, smsmith, that worked perfectly.
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WaltS48
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by WaltS48 »

Glad it worked perfectly, but you didn't remove any code, just disabled it.

Why can't you just click "Customize" in the Mail Toolbar, and drag the Chat icon off of the toolbar, if you don't plan on using it?
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smsmith
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by smsmith »

Flipping that pref also removes the menu items and additions to the account manager, so it's more of a complete "turn it off" then just removing the button from the toolbar.
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WaltS48
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by WaltS48 »

I figured that, but I'm strange, and just don't use something I don't want, unless I am forced to by the application.

AFAIK, nobody is being forced to use the IM feature.
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Tapaculo
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by Tapaculo »

I toggled the config editor to false so I guess that took care of one issue. but now... does anyone know how to nuke the chat tab(s) in the address book(s)?
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smsmith
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by smsmith »

I am assuming you mean the column header that says Chat Name in the list of people in the address book? If so, there is a little column picker at the far right end of that row. Click it and unselect Chat Name.
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startling
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by startling »

@ WLS: No doubt many TB users are delighted that chat has been added but, since I have never used chat and don't intend to, suddenly seeing a chat button appear after so many years of using TB was, for me, mildly displeasing. I just kept noticing the chat button every time I launched TB and, as it was a slight distraction, I posted the original question. I'm delighted that TB developers have been kind enough to their users to allow such choice, and I'm grateful to smsmith for enlightening me.

I'm afraid I find it difficult to concentrate sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) so it's helpful to pare my computing experience down to the minimum of visual clutter!

The first thing I did was to try to remove the button but it wasn't immediately obvious to me how I could do that. I'm glad I asked the question, because I think turning Chat off completely is a better solution.
Tapaculo
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by Tapaculo »

smsmith, thanks for the reply. sorry that it was somewhat of a logical assumption re. "address book columns," but I figured out the column bit the first time chat showed up. I'm more like startling, I prefer to "opt-in" rather than spend all my time "opting-out" of something.

anyway, when you are in one of your address books and you click on a contact you get the "edit contact for XXXX" popup. there are now 6 tabs associated with each contact in your address book: "contact," "private," "work," "other," "chat," and "photo." I was wondering whether or not it is possible to modify that contact info and lose the "chat" tab.

thanks.
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smsmith
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by smsmith »

Unless there's a preference to remove the chat stuff from the address book (none that I saw), about the only thing you can do is find a way to "opt out". Sorry.

To remove the chat tab from the contact info, use this as part of your userChrome.css.

Code: Select all

#chatTabButton {
  display: none !important;
}


http://kb.mozillazine.org/UserChrome.css
Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.
I like poetry, long walks on the beach and poking dead things with a stick.
Please do not PM me for personal support. Keep posts here in the Forums instead and we all learn.
Tapaculo
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by Tapaculo »

smsmith, you rock!

I created the userChrome.css and pasted in the code you provided and... ba-boom! no more "chat tab." I suppose it might not be that big of deal, but I use my address books A LOT and found that additional piece under the contact info very distracting.

thanks again.
bohsiami
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by bohsiami »

Hi Guys, I am using Thunderbird 31.4.0.
There is still a [Chat] icon under Account > Create a new account,
it will open a Chat Account Wizard.

How I can remove it as well? Please kindly advise.
rsx11m
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by rsx11m »

Open the "Options" dialog from the Tools menu or the [≡] application button, then go into the Advanced > General tab and click on Config Editor there. Copy-paste mail.chat.enabled into the search bar and double-click on the entry that remains to toggle it to "false" (which will disable the feature entirely and not just hide its user-interface components). You should no longer be offered the "Add Chat Account" option in the Account Actions dialog.
kelendral
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Re: Is it possible to remove Chat? - [SOLVED]

Post by kelendral »

Thank you!.
I was browsing the support section trying different potential items to fix a performance issue I was having (5 or more seconds ever single time to even change which email I was viewing) that started after upgrading from TB 24.6 to 31.4.
Changed the following 2 settings to false, restarted, and TB is fast again:
mail.chat.enabled
mail.chat.show_desktop_notifications

You've just saved me a lot of researching on trying to decide a new client and migrating my years of emails from my accounts. Bless you.
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