Working Around the Pidgin "Message Too Long" Error

If you are a regular user of Pidgin, you might have received the error message below:

"Unable to send message: The message is too large."

If you have and are like me, this message is extremely annoying. The biggest annoyance to me was that it seems this error message started popping up after a version update or something else. I am currently using Pidgin 2.6.6, which is exhibiting the error message. This is not the default version under Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic). I added this version from a third party source.

It seems that many suggest you can use Ctrl up arrow to see the last message you tried sending, to edit it into whatever length you need to get it to send to your intended recipient. I find this to be a big issue, as it seems that rather than telling someone how to "remedy" the problem, it is instead being brushed under the rug. Well, we are going to see what I did to remedy this problem.

Add the Pidgin Developers PPA

Let's add the Pidgin Developers PPA to the system repositories. First, visit the PPA page and click the link "Technical details about this PPA". You will be presented with the two apt line needed to add to software sources. If you need help in adding these items to your system, check out the adding repository article.

Making the Error Go Away

Now for the really difficult part, we will need to making use of a plug-in available for Pidgin called Message Splitter. For Ubuntu 9.10 users, this comes as part of pidgin-plugin-pack installable through Synaptic Package Manager (System >Administration >Synaptic Package Manager) or through the command line (Applications >Accessories >Terminal) using the command:

sudo apt-get install pidgin-plugin-pack

You will need to enter your password either way in order to install.

Windows Users: If you are a windows user, you can download the pidgin plugin pack and install on your system.

Activating the Message Splitter Plugin

You will need to have pidgin open in order to activate the message splitter plugin by visiting Tools >Plugins. Scroll down until you see Message Splitter. Place a check mark in front of Message Splitter. No configuration appears necessary here on my end, so hopefully none will be needed on your end as well. Click Close.

Testing everything

Try typing a really long message to someone on your contact list and see if it goes through without the error message at the top of this article. Hopefully everything goes through fine for you, as it did for me.