Frequently Asked Questions about Pidgin

(View the FAQ as one page)

1. Using Pidgin
   1. Getting Started
      1. How do I use Google Talk/Jabber/XMPP, ICQ, or any other protocol?
      2. How do I register for a new account?
   2. Buddy List, Buddy Icons (Avatars), and Blocking
      1. How do I set a buddy icon or avatar?
      2. A friend of mine uses my favorite episode of The Young and the …
      3. How can I unblock someone?
      4. Why are the status icons so big?
      5. Can I make buddy list entries smaller?
      6. Can I import or export my buddy list?
      7. Why are my logs combining the logs of several of my buddies?
      8. Where did my buddy go? I just tried to change its group and it …
      9. Can I group buddies by their owner, like Trillian's or Miranda's …
      10. I grouped my buddies into contacts, can I control which one is selected?
      11. Why are protocol icons not displayed in the buddy list and …
      12. How do I remove a buddy from my buddy list?
      13. What do the icons next to my buddy mean?
   3. Statuses
      1. How does Pidgin decide which saved statuses to show in the status selector?
      2. How can I delete an auto-saved status?
      3. Why are no states listed when I go to set a state for Auto Away?
   4. Voice and Video (Microphone and Webcam) Support
      1. Does Pidgin support voice or video?
      2. When will voice and video be implemented on Windows?
      3. Does Pidgin support libjingle?
      4. How do I configure my microphone/webcam?
      5. When will voice and video be implemented on other protocols?
      6. Why can't I do a video call with the GMail client?
   5. Spell Checking
      1. How do I change the language for the Highlight Misspelled words option?
   6. Smileys (Emoticons)
      1. Does Pidgin support animated smileys?
      2. How do I use/make smiley themes?
      3. Can I save custom emoticons as animated gif?
      4. Why did my smiley theme disappear after I upgraded Pidgin?
   7. Look & Feel
      1. How do I change the look and feel?
      2. Can I "skin" Pidgin?
      3. How do I change the font Pidgin uses? The background color?
      4. Can I make Pidgin transparent/translucent?
      5. Can I make Pidgin or its instant message windows always stay on top?
   8. Chat rooms (Conferences)
      1. How do I create a chat room?
      2. How do I join an (existing) chat room?
      3. Can I still see messages in a chat if I close the window?
      4. How do I hide all those "User entered the room" and "User left the …
      5. What do the icons next to my buddy mean?
   9. Keyboard Shortcuts
      1. What are the default keyboard shortcuts (key bindings)?
      2. How do I make Enter make a newline and Ctrl+Enter send?
      3. How do I make Pidgin use emacs-like keybindings?
      4. How do I bind keystrokes to menu items?
      5. How do I make Escape close conversation windows?
   10. Sound (Windows)
   11. Sound (Linux and Unix-like platforms)
       1. How do I get sound to work correctly?
       2. How do I make Pidgin use ALSA or OSS for playing sounds?
       3. What does the "Automatic" option do?
   12. Proxy and Connection Settings and Problems (Windows)
       1. Why can't I connect? My firewall is configured to allow Pidgin access.
       2. What does "Windows socket error #10060" mean, and how do I fix it?
       3. Can Pidgin use my Windows (IE) Proxy Settings?
   13. Proxy and Connection Settings and Problems (Linux and Unix-like platforms)
   14. Running Windows Pidgin From a USB Drive (Portable Mode)
   15. Running Linux Pidgin From a USB Drive (Portable Mode)
   16. Crashes and Bugs
       1. What should I do if Pidgin crashes?
       2. Why does Pidgin crash when I start it?
       3. Pidgin <non-current-version> is buggy. Why?
       4. Pidgin from Monotone is buggy. Why?
   17. Miscellaneous (All platforms)
       1. What is a gtkrc file and where can I find it?
       2. Can I change the height of the text input area?
       3. How can I enter non-ASCII characters? (like Windows' Alt+###)
       4. What happened to my timestamps? Can I change them?
       5. What is a "Buddy Pounce"?
       6. Can I use Pidgin for e-mail, blogging, RSS feeds, social networking, …
       7. Pidgin beeps whenever I press backspace, how do I disable that?
       8. Can I turn the tray icon off?
       9. What do those colors in the conversation tab mean?
       10. I get "accept/reject certificate" prompts all the time. What do I do?
       11. I forgot my password, how do I change it?
       12. How do I recall IMs I have previously sent to the edit area (like …
   18. Miscellaneous (Windows)
       1. How does Pidgin for Windows determine which language to use?
       2. How do I change the language of Pidgin?
       3. Where are my settings and data (including logs) saved?
       4. Where is my .purple directory?
       5. How do I run multiple instances of Pidgin on Windows?
       6. Why does searching in the Buddy List stop after the first character is …
       7. Pidgin crashes when I have php installed and in my Path, why does this …
       8. How do I make Pidgin start when Windows starts?
       9. How can I change my GTK+ Theme?
   19. Miscellaneous (Linux and Unix-like platforms)
       1. Where are Pidgin's settings and logs?
       2. Why does Pidgin use the same WM_CLASS for every window?
       3. Pidgin doesn't remember which plugins I have enabled between restarts
       4. How do I setup Pidgin on the Nokia N900?
2. Installing Pidgin
   1. Windows Specific
      1. Is there a way to install Spell-checking support manually?
      2. Unattended Installations
      3. What should I do if I get a Download Error while installing?
      4. Can I run Pidgin on Windows98/ME?
      5. How do I build Pidgin for Windows?
   2. Packages
      1. Are the packages signed? If so, by whom, and how can I get the key?
      2. Can I run Pidgin on IRIX?
      3. Can I run Pidgin on HP-UX?
      4. Can I run Pidgin on Mac OS X?
      5. Where do I get libgtkspell.so.0?
      6. Why are there no packages (.deb, .rpm) for my system?
   3. Compiling
      1. I have the source; how do I build this thing?
      2. Why can't I compile Pidgin?
      3. How do I install the dependencies on Debian or Ubuntu?
      4. How do I install the dependencies on Fedora (or similar)?
      5. How do I apply the patch "something.diff"?
      6. Is there a way to compile without some protocols?
      7. Can I compile just Finch, not Pidgin?
      8. How do I compile with SSL support?
      9. I have OpenSSL; why isn't Pidgin using it?
      10. I installed the latest version but the About box says I'm still using …
      11. Why do you always say not to use the Mercurial repository?
      12. How can I get Pidgin to report idleness based on keyboard and mouse usage?
3. Using Libpurple
   1. Why do libpurple clients store settings and logs in ~/.purple?
   2. Why are passwords not encrypted?
   3. Is file transfer supported?
   4. How do I compile libpurple with SSL support?
   5. Which protocols support now playing status?
4. Using Finch
   1. Getting around
      1. Abbreviations
      2. How do I switch between windows?
      3. How can I close a window?
      4. How can I show a window's menu?
      5. How can I pop up a widget's context menu?
      6. Can I change the bindings? How?
      7. How can I enable the mouse?
      8. If I enable the mouse, I cannot select text from the terminal any more.
      9. My arrow keys are not working. What can I do?
      10. How do I see the parts of a large window that fall below the screen?
      11. Is there anything else I change in ~/.gntrc?
   2. Buddy List
      1. How can I add a buddy, or a chat, or a group?
      2. How can I auto-join a chat?
      3. How can I expand/collapse contacts?
      4. How can I move buddies/chats into another group?
      5. How can I show offline buddies?
      6. I closed the buddylist. Can I get it back again?
   3. Conversations
      1. In chats, can I see the list of users in the chatroom?
      2. In a conversation with a contact, can I select which buddy the message …
      3. Can I select multi-line texts/urls from a conversation window?
   4. Others
      1. Accents are not working properly. How can I fix it?
      2. Is there a pounce/debug/file-transfer/preference/plugins/status window?
      3. How do I get the mouse working in screen or tmux?
      4. In screen, when I press esc, there is a huge delay, how can this be …
   5. MacOS X Terminal.app
      1. Can I use Finch with Terminal.app?
      2. How can I use the "meta" shortcuts listed above?
      3. Page Up and Page Down don't work right. Can I fix it?