One thing I have been trying to figure out for a while is how to keep one account's status static while the others change with the global status. Ie. If I have 4 accounts, I want one account to always say "I am away right now", while the others change to whatever status I set globally at the bottom of the main buddy list window. Last I checked, the "use a different status for some accounts" option in "new status", didn't work for this. Is there any way to make one account ignore the global status *always*?

D Wiz

@bookishboy: Ask the person for their IP.

KillDeer

one more option to encrypt:
my friends (windows) use simpLite and I (linux) use simpServer and route my pidgin to simpserver. Its working for years like that! I know its not a pidgin plugin, in fact works with any msn client on my linux, but its a tip :)
[www.secway.fr]

neyfrota

@JGlessner: I think I'm capable of determining whether I have a legitimate use for determining where in the world my computer is connecting to. Thanks for the characterization though. I'll track down the information elsewhere.

bookishboy

i always knew you could use GTK themes with pidgin but what i didn't know was that there were GTK themes that looked good. i like the clearlook-lime theme you've got.

amirman

I use pidgin too and love it. I use the guifications plugin so that I can see the popups from the tray. It works great but I hated everybody's themes for it so I created my own.

Check them out here:
[sourceforge.net]

Sample screenshot here:
[sourceforge.net]

Jeff

jeff41

I don't recommend MusicTracker. I used it for weeks and it would always cause Pidgin and/or iTunes to hang and need to be forced to shut down.

eyeRmonkey

@bookishboy: If you don't know enough to figure it out from where I left off, you don't have a legitimate use for having it.
Sorry, but I am not going to walk you through how to do it.
If you just want them to give you their outside IP address, ask them to go to www.whatismyip.com and send you the results.

jglessner

The only problem of pidgin in Windows is the lack of proper notifications (in linux the libnotify plugin does job) because Guifications is quite limited, it doesn't even show the full text of a received message. I've been using Pidgin for a long time, either in XP and Ubuntu, and Guifications seems to have a "new version in development" for months.

t3mujin

Best add-on in the world: FlashBlock

Try it out, you'll love it. That along with google browser sync is the first add-on I install in a new firefox.

Monsterdog

@InspectorxGadget: I think the MusicTracker bug occurs if you have Unicode characters in your track titles - it crashes Pidgin and then it can't read the config file when it restarts. If you go into your App Data\.purple folder and edit accounts.xml, removing the offending characters, it'll restart correctly. But yes, very annoying!

And @Shmoo: you can toggle the buddy list using a hotkey in Pidgin - you don't have to use AutoHotKey. There's a 'Hotkeys' plugin. It doesn't have much functionality and it doesn't let you use Win+X combinations, but it is there.

ben.shepherd

@jglessner: Still, I would prefer to not only change the colors of Pidgin but the entire sking.. especially the conversation windows are like.. well I always used Trillian @ Windows and therefore am used to a pretty simple interface, with smilies that don't bomb the layout because of their size (I know there are different smiley-sets for Pidgin, but I couldn't find any that would satisfy me so far).. well I simply expected an open source app to be more customizable :( even Digsby lets you change the look of your IM windows, however there is no layout that satisfies me so far either :p

sloth

Afraid I've been converted to Digsby completely.

crashnburn007

The sort alphabetically thing about Pidgin is annoying, b/c it won't let me alter the list if i set it to sort alphabetically. I want it sorted alphabetically, except for certain scree names. Help me lifehacker!

GBirdii

I have to agree with the other commenters. OTR (Off-The-Record) is one of my most valued plugins. The great thing is, that it allows you to use encryption with almost all of your contacts. Adium has OTR installed and enabled by default, Miranda has a Plugin for it as well.

rawfan

@KosciaK: Pidgin seems to use about as much memory as MSN messenger and Yahoo combined. And considering I'm using it for those two plus two more, I'm not complaining about memory usage at all.

aaron8301

JGlessner, thanks for the info. Could you describe how I'd do this in WindowsXP? I'm sorry for going off-topic.

Let's say that I send a photo via Pidgin to a friend who is on the Yahoo IM network. This initiates a direct connection....then?

bookishboy

@bookishboy: The only way to get this information is through initiating a direct connection with the other user. For the most part this means file transfer, and then you can do it from the OS, not from an IM client.

This can work (or not) depending on NAT/Firewall/Proxy issues.

jglessner

@Lawk Salih: Meebo is great for quick conversations. But it is chalked full of javascript that tends to slow some processes down. It also must be used within an Internet browser of some sort (more memory). With Pidgin, I have more control over the application and how it displays and stores my information.

Meebo works wonderfully on public computers!!!

-specialk

kalebdf

@sloth: The changes made to GTK in a portableapps.com app are "local" to that app.

@richardaholden: I didn't know that guifications did that lol. I'll have to install that one.

jglessner

Is there any way to remove the window frame and titlebar from Pidgin?

Ampa

Is there some way, either with a plugin or Pidgin's default interface, to determine the IP address of a person you're chatting with? If so, would this feature be only available on particular networks (like, possible on ICQ but not on MSM?)

I use Pidgin on ICQ, GTalk, MSM, AIM and YIM and am curious if this can be accomplished across them.

bookishboy

@jeromy: Guifications is working well on my computer, so as far as I can tell it does.

Regarding mail checking, I'm pretty sure it's actually baked in when you log into a Gmail/Gtalk account.

Adam Pash

I didn't think the current version of Pidgin was compatible with Guifications.

Adam - What mail checking plug-in are you using? I noticed from the screen shot that you had some unread mail. :)

jeromy

@jglessner:
Ah I see.. I just set up a small collection of PortableApps on my Thumbdrive a few days ago.. Now I just got to try if a theme change to my portable Pidgin using GTK Themes will also affect all other applications that use GTK (I'm using Pidgin on my Ubuntu desktop atm and that's why I had those probs, because I didn't want to change the look of all my apps ;).. on my Windows computer I don't use any other GTK apps :)).

sloth

Very timely. I just installed Pidgin yesterday and dug out all my old IM passwords, hooked up gmail, now I'm good to go... ready to kill some time.

digitallofi

A feature that relatively few might use, but those of us that do make great use of it. Pidgin-LaTex: [sourceforge.net] It's nice when you find a mistake in your homework the night before it's due and you want to tell the person you had been working with.

maalmeida

I found the enhanced history plugin at: [www.andrewpangborn.com] Save off the dll into your C:\Program Files\Pidgin\plugins directory and watch it go.

royalchinook

@KillDeer: Ah my mistake. I guess the plugins that aren't default are linked VIA their title. I was thinking there would be a link in the body of text. Similar to how most articles are linked.

KillDeer

@richardaholden: I think the problem most people are having is that guifications doesn't show up as a default plug-in despite the article insinuating that it is. Maybe it's just not included in the Windows release?

KillDeer

@Greg McMullin: Wouldn't the Guifications plugin be the best bet for this?

monster79

@ Greg McMullin: That's exactly what the Guifications plug-in mentioned in the article does.

richardaholden

@jcowan: I'm all for monospaced, but this was Courier, which is fairly ugly for menus (I prefer Andale Mono or Lucida Console.) I figured it out anyway; the GTK+ Theme Control Plugin made the font changes that my hand-editing of 3 conf files apparently couldn't accomplish. Why that is, I have no idea, but now my Pidgin is fayntaystic.

monster79

@JGLESSNER

Yeah I've seen that before but I'd rather not have to add ALL my contacts individually. I'm looking for a global setting that will notify me when any of my added buddies log in.

Greg McMullin

if you're using ubuntu (the only one i've tried it on, might work on others) you can install guifications easily using Synaptic ;)

christophski

OTR (Off-The-Record Messaging) is an excellent encryption utility with lots of security features.

While I haven't tried the aforementioned Pidgin-Encryption, OTR is supposed to be the best/most complete.

[www.cypherpunks.ca]

mikehoskins

@aka_bigred: I don't know why exactly because I have never taken the time to figure it out, but all my new IMs appear in the background in Pidgin. So I never have this problem.

tasselhoff76

Adium and Pidgin are nearly identical, as they are made by the same company. If anything, Pidgin might have more functionality, not less. It's only shortcoming is not being able to handle Google Group Talk, but there is a workaround for that too.

tasselhoff76

@Greg McMullin:
Tools>Buddy Pounces>Add..

You'll see what you need to set up there. ;-)

jglessner

@Sloth: Sure there is (if you're on a windows machine), install the portable version of Pidgin from www.portableapps.com, that way the changes you make to GTK themes are 'local' for that application.

If you have the installed version, then yes GTK theme changes are either global (all apps, all users), or global on a per user basis (all GTK apps).

I really prefer to use portable apps where I can, as I work on several different computers throughout the day (I'm a SysAdmin).

@Fishlips20:
To change the theme in GTK you use the GTK Theme Selector (gtkthemeselector.exe) which is located in the GTK directory (\\..\GTK\bin\gtkthemeselector.exe).

Once you have your theme selected, use the conversation preferences in Pidgin to tune your font settings:
In Pidgin select Tools>Preferences>Conversations Tab
In this tab, ensure that the 'Use Font from theme' checkbox is unselected, and then select your font and the font size.

Hope that gets you where you need to be.

- Joe

jglessner

Is there a plugin to get pidgin to display a popup window when a buddy logs in? Or am I missing an option to turn this on? I keepo missing my friends coming online.

Greg McMullin

Is there some plugin that will remember & restore the location of each chat window after the chat was closed (not the program, just that buddie's chat window)?

My problem with the latest versions is that when I'm chatting with someone and another person IMs me, their window pops up and I inadvertently type to them what was meant for the first person. When windows appear on top each other it can make for embarrassing IMs sent the wrong people!!

BTW, tabbed windows aren't an option - I don't do tabs as they drive me insane!! Alt+Tab 4 Life!

aka_bigred

Well the sucky point about "theming" Pidgin is, that under GNOME it changes the Skin of all your applications, as far as I've experienced.. Afaik there is no such possibilty of skinning Pidgin as there is for other Programs.

sloth

Maybe I'm being stupid, but should there not be a link for the Enhanced History plugin?

richardaholden

Guys, I don't trust that pigeon...

o_o

WhizKidd

i run pidgin on the eee pc and i really like it. thanks for the tips.

firesign

@KillDeer: Funny, thats actually why I decided to switch to it... though it pales in comparison to the Adium duck - gotta love Macs.

david.elliot

@MONSTER79: that's funny, one of the first things that I do to Pidgin is set the dialog boxes (entry, log, etc.) to use a monospace font (DejaVu Sans Mono)--I can't stand proportional fonts in chats.

Also, IMHO OTR is much better than Gaim-Encryption.

jcowan

I love Pidgin but it's a bit heavy in terms of memory usage...
Anyone knows a way to run Finch in Windows? Or any other console (multi)communicator?

KosciaK

Still no support for MSN's Personal messages. Not by default or by third party plug-in (that I could find). Too bad :(

KillDeer

I am looking for a plugin or a setting that will set me as away when I lock my computer any suggestions?

imrcly

I never knew that you could theme Pidgin. What a great set of tips!

I'm having a LOT of issues getting pidgin themed properly. Can someone please spell it out fully?

fishlips20

OK, so I used the theme linked in this post, but for some reason Pidgin's fonts are all monospaced and lousy. I tried changing them globally in the gtkrc files but it didn't work. Is there something mysterious I need to know? Do I have some leftover config file from an old GAIM install screwing this up?

monster79

This isn't so much a plugin tip, but I like to keep the Pidgin buddy list out of the way except when I need it to start an IM. So, I've automated showing / hiding the buddy list to Win+B using the following AutoHotkey script. Note, It calls the pidgin executable because Autohotkey seems to sometimes struggle with system tray stuff.

;----Pidgin buddy List Show/Hide
IfWinActive Buddy List
{
WinClose Buddy List
} else {
Run "C:\Program Files\Pidgin\Pidgin.exe"
}
Return

Shmoo

@MayGirl: That's banhammer talk!

Adam Pash

Now how about a Launchy plugin to open a new conversation from your contact list?

2-7offsuit

@bachya/Burianski: Sorry about that, updating the post with the link to Guifications.

Adam Pash

Anyone seen a plugin that will change your Away status when you lock your screen? or even better yet, using Proximity of a bluetooth device (cell phone)? for Windows preferably.

mhmacgre

The gsms plugin repeatedly crashed my pidgin, however I am running PidginPortable, and an unsupported upgrade to 2.3 at that, so take it with a grain of salt.

Uninstalling the plugin completely resolved my issue.

jglessner

Just a warning: I used the Musictracker plugin on Windows (Vista) a few releases ago with foobar2000 and once in a while it would cause Pidgin to crash and corrupt configuration files, forcing me to re-configure all my accounts.

InspectorxGadget

Am I the only one that doesn't see the Guifications plugin in the list of standard plugins?

Burianski

Why use Pidgin when you have something like Meebo.

Lawk Salih

I had to download the Guifications plugin ... does it not come standard in Pidgin? It would be bad to have to download that each time Pidgin gets an update ...

bachya

Man, this post couldn't come soon enough. I've been cursing all the ugly and semi-functional chat clients on Windows (Digsby looks interesting, I guess...) I will be thrilled to have a more refined Pidgin, maybe I can ditch Psi. Still, I wish I had a decent Mac at work, just for Adium and Adium alone.

monster79

I've considered changing over to Pidgin but that creepy looking bird picture has me scared.

KillDeer

As Dr.Jeckyl says I wasn't aware of the theming capability of Pidgin. Bookmarking this link and I'll try the plug-ins some time. :)

MarcLister

Pidgin supports AIM, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, MSN, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE and more... lasvegaswekly.com

MayGirl

Good stuff!
I've never noticed the theming ability of Pidgin. Thank you.

Dr.Jeckyl

@JGLESSNER: I'm having the same crash and burn with the standard pidgin 2.3.1 when gsms is enabled.

mistercopyandpaste

Can I export my contact and chat history from Miranda to Pidgeon? Any1 found a way to do that?

psr

Is there a way to import/export all my contact and chat history from miranda to pidgeon? Since I'm running miranda portable that reason (and others) I'd really like to save all history and even though it might not be possible to share the history between them, I'd at least like to be able to import and export it?

psr

Pidgin is working fine for me, except for two annoyances:

1. The buddy list takes too much space, for instance PSI is better because the font and the vertical line spacing are smaller. With Pidging you spend your time scrolling up and down....

2. Haven't found a way to display notification pop-ups when s/o comes on/off-line.

Anyone has fixes for that?

Ludovic

@Ludovic:
aout 2.: That would beu the Guification plugin. See above...

inainai

Okay - SO sorry for the stupidity... but i'm new at GTK.

first: i'm a winXP user.
i have GTK Theme Selector 0.11 (if there's a newer one, i can't find where to download it).
Also i DO have the pidgin plugin (pl ignore the previous confusion).

Between these two things, i can't figure out how to add the themes that i've downloaded and saved in my common files.

I would be forever indebted if someone could finally help me solve the puzzle of adding a theme to pidgin on winXP and not on linux.

THANK YOU in advance!

beanaford

Where can i find the Pidgin GTK+ Theme Control Plug-in? PLEASE help.

beanaford

@monster79: Miranda-IM ain't that bad ;) It brings back the classic ICQ (when Mirabilis owned it) theme - sorta....

No "games", just chat.

Not bashing Gaim (errr....Pidgin) though :) I love it :)

ahoier

the text replacement ability is built into microsoft word, so if you think texter is the only windows way to go for that, you're wrong. i know lots dont like word but just saying it IS there provided you can find it :-O

tjmage1

Can anyone tell me if Pidgin supports webcam, voice, and file transfers for these three providers:
1) MSN
2) Yahoo
3) ICQ
4) Jabber

I install Linux on lots of friends' machines and a capable IM client is one of the biggest problems.

Thanks.

dotancohen

PidginSnarl ([tlhan-ghun.de]) is a much more efficient way to have popups in Pidgin for Windows, I use it instead of Guifications.

t3mujin