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Unread Messages on Steam, but no Messages Show

Matt Lui Steam

The unread messages notification was a great addition to Steam, and allows you to see everything people sent you whilst you were offline.

The unread chat messages notification from the notification drop-down on Steam

But it’s not always that simple, because sometimes the button won’t work and you’ll be stuck with a seemingly permanent notification. Opening the message might come up with nothing or tell you that you received no messages from a user called [Unknown]. Here’s two simple fixes.

The first fix – using the Steam community website

  1. Head to https://steamcommunity.com/chat.
  2. Look for and open any unread messages you have.

 

From the Steam web chat client, look for any unread messages and open them

The second – adding the user

If the user pops up, but no messages show because they’ve removed you from your friends list, then you can try adding them back.

  1. Press on their profile by clicking on their profile picture from the chat pop-up.Click on a user's profile picture from the chat window to get to their Steam profile
  2. Press ‘Add as friend’. If possible, try to leave a comment on their profile explaining the situation.

Adding a friend from Steam from their Steam profile by pressing the 'Add friend' button in the top-right