Where Does Pidgin Store Chat Logs?
Pidgin files every conversation log under a hidden .purple folder in your home directory, split by account and buddy.
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Pidgin keeps one profile folder for everything: logs, accounts, buddy list, certificates, and plugin data. The logs subfolder sorts conversations by protocol and account, then by buddy name, with daily files inside.
The folder name starts with a dot, so file managers hide it until you show hidden files. Logs save as HTML or plain text depending on settings, readable in any browser. Years of multi protocol history accumulate here quietly, which makes the folder worth including in backups.
Where Pidgin stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\.purple\logs
Logs sit in the logs subfolder by protocol, account, and buddy. accounts.xml and blist.xml beside them hold accounts and contacts.
~/.purple/logs
Same internal layout as Windows. Show hidden files to see the folder, since the leading dot hides it in most file managers.
~/.purple/logs
Same layout again. Certificates in the same tree can matter when servers rotate TLS and old pins linger.
Frequently asked questions
How do I migrate Pidgin with history intact?
Copy the whole .purple folder with Pidgin closed. Logs, accounts, and plugin settings move together. Passwords may need re-entering since the OS keyring entry stays on the old machine.
Where are the accounts themselves stored?
accounts.xml in the same folder holds the account list with masked passwords. Buddies and their groups live in blist.xml beside it. Both are plain XML worth including in backups.
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