Original frequently asked questions

These answers are retained for historical reference. In particular, do not disable certificate validation to solve a connection problem, and do not rely on old purchase or promo-code instructions. See the current guides linked above.

Where do I get help?

Questions, comments, concerns, ideas or just need some help? Contact us.

How do I hide join, quit, part messages?

To disable these messages in all channels:

• Open Preferences using the keyboard combination Command Comma

• In the window that appears, move focus to the Style section of the navigation bar

• Uncheck the preference labeled Show general event messages

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To disable these messages in a specific channel:

• Select the channel

• Open Channel Properties using the keyboard combination Command I

• Check the preference labeled Disable general event messages

• Save

How do I enable logging?

To enable this feature, follow the steps presented below:

• Open Preferences using the keyboard combination Command Comma

• In the window that appears, move focus to the Advanced section of the navigation bar

• Click the menu item labeled Log Location in the menu that appears

How do I configure my password for NickServ?

To configure your password, follow the steps presented below:

• Open Server Properties using the keyboard combination Command U

• In the window that appears, click Identity under the Basic Settings section of the navigation list

• Enter your password into the text field labeled Personal Password

• Save

How do I configure Textual to use SASL?

SASL, which is short for Simple Authentication and Security Layer, is supported by Textual.

When configured correctly, Textual automatically attempts SASL PLAIN authentication whenever possible.

To configure the information necessary for authentication, follow the steps presented below:

• Open Server Properties using the keyboard combination Command U

• In the window that appears, click Identity under the Basic Settings section of the navigation list.

• Enter your nickname into the text field labeled Username

• Enter your password into the text field labeled Personal Password

• Save

Your account name, which is your nickname registered with NickServ, is required during authentication for this feature to work correctly. When Textual authenticates using SASL, it uses the value of the Username text field as your account name, instead of the Nickname text field. That way, if you want, you can connect with a different nickname.

Ensure the nickname you registered with NickServ is entered into the Username text field. Not some other value.

How do I configure Textual to connect through a proxy?

A proxy can be configured on a per-server basis.

To configure a proxy, follow the steps presented below:

• Open Server Properties using the keyboard combination Command U

• In the window that appears, click Proxy Server under the Advanced section of the navigation list

• Configure the proxy

• Save

How do I track the online status of my friend with Textual?

The Address Book (Control-2) can be used to track the online status of users on a per-server basis.

When a user is tracked, notifications will appear for when they come online or go offline. There is not a separate window that indicates status.

How do I purchase Textual using PayPal?

You can purchase Textual using PayPal in select countries in the Mac App Store.

Purchase in the Mac App Store (this store offer has ended; see current licensing guidance)

Textual keeps timing out. Is it broken?

Please see the Understanding Network Timeouts and Other Connection Issues knowledge base article.

I am trying to join a channel but it stays gray in the list and nothing happens. What's going on?

The channel you are trying to join may require you to register before joining, or you may be using a shared Internet connection that has been banned from the channel.

If a channel is gray, never joins, and nothing is shown within it; then try clicking the name of the connection instead. Errors which were unable to be forwarded to the channel may be appear there.

Why does the untrusted certificate dialog continue to nag me after clicking “Always Trust”?

This usually happens when the certificate already exists in your keychain but its trust settings cannot be modified.

Remove the certificate from your keychain and allow the trust dialog to re-add it.

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As a last resort, certificate checks can be disabled.

Certificate checks can be disabled by following the steps presented below:

• Open Server Properties using the keyboard combination Command U

• In the window that appears, click Network Socket under the Advanced section of the navigation list

• Uncheck the preference labeled Validate the certificate chain when connecting

• Save

What does the message “Disconnected from server because the Internet is not reachable” mean?

For some reason, beyond the control of Textual, data is not able to leave your Mac. It cannot reach a router or modem. Because there is no where to send data to and receive data from, Textual disconnects.

To change this behavior, follow the steps presented below:

• Open Server Properties using the keyboard combination Command U

• In the window that appears, click Network Socket under the Advanced section of the navigation list

• Uncheck the preference labeled Force a disconnect on reachability changes

• Save

What do the messages “You need to install identd to use this server” and “No Ident response” mean?

An identd is a service that replies to ident requests. These requests ask for information about you, such as the username that you picked when setting up your Mac.

Textual is unable to respond to these requests because to do so, the app would have to run as root. That can put your Mac at risk. It is also disallowed by the Mac App Store guidelines.

Why does the user away status never update in the user list?

Textual must periodically poll the channels that you are in to find out when the away status of each user changes. To make this as efficient as possible, channels that exceed a certain number of users will be skipped over.

To change this threshold, follow the steps presented below:

• Open Preferences using the keyboard combination Command Comma

• In the window that appears, move focus to the Advanced section of the navigation bar

• Click the item labeled Flood Control in the menu that appears

• Increase the value of the preference labeled WHO Command Maximum Channel Size

What does the message “Disconnect for Sleep Mode” mean?

Textual disconnects you with the reason “Disconnect for Sleep Mode” when your Mac is preparing to enter “sleep mode.” The Internet is turned off when your Mac is in sleep mode which means Textual has no way to keep you connected.

If you are not worried about how long your battery will last throughout the day, then you can install Caffeine. Caffeine will tell your Mac that you want it to stay awake while Textual is connected.

Legacy answer faq-entry-3-8

Textual 6 uses WebKit2 when running on OS X El Capitan (or a later version).

WebKit2 has a feature which allows users to preview any URL that appears in a channel by force touching it. The preview for every URL is loaded in the background, before the URL is touched.

Loading every URL in the background can be quite problematic and risks privacy. This feature is therefore disabled.

It turns out the configuration option to disable this feature also disables force touching to lookup a word in the dictionary.

Does Textual support DCC file transfers?

Please see the DCC File Transfer Information knowledge base article for more information.

Textual refers to SSL everywhere. Does it even support TLS?

Textual refers to “TLS” as “SSL” in many places because more people are familiar with the latter.

Textual doesn't even support any version SSL. TLSv1.0 is the minimum level of security that is supported.

Where is the configuration file for Textual saved?

Textual has a tool built-in which can be used to export preferences and import preferences. It's recommend that you use this tool instead of accessing the configuration file directly.

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Preferences for Textual are saved in one or more locations depending on when you first began using the app:

~/Library/Preferences/com.codeux.apps.textual.plist
~/Library/Containers/com.codeux.apps.textual/Data/Library/Preferences/com.codeux.apps.textual.plist
~/Library/Containers/com.codeux.apps.textual-mas/Data/Library/Preferences/com.codeux.apps.textual-mas.plist
~/Library/Group Containers/8482Q6EPL6.com.codeux.apps.textual/Library/Preferences/8482Q6EPL6.com.codeux.apps.textual.plist
~/Library/Group Containers/8482Q6EPL6.com.codeux.irc.textual/Library/Preferences/8482Q6EPL6.com.codeux.irc.textual.plist