Any way to go offline the new chat or disable it?

[Sicmendor Obscurox]

Hi there. Before the stable update of the new chat interface, I was mostly offline of the steam chat on my own will.

However, with the update I'm forced to be 24/7 online in the chat (including Invisible status, where I appear as offline to others), and the workaround of Steam > Settings > Interface > Set Taskbar Preferences > (check) Offline and selecting the Offline status in the taskbar menu doesn't seem to work properly (I can still see online and playing people in the Steam main chat window and interface).

Is there a way to go fully offline or disable the chats in the meaning that everyone appears offline, the way it used to be before the update?

Additional info.: The workaround that I mentioned doesn't work at all, not even when I select Offline (status) in the taskbar menu and restarting Steam after selecting the status. It forces the user to connect to the chats. I want to remind that Invisible is Not the same as Offline.

Off-topic: The feature to sort user alphabeticaly in the main list is missing.

Addition 1 (25th of July, 2018): I forgot to mention. I'm searching for a way to go offline or deactivate the chat at any moment without restarting steam (as well as go back online/invisible the same way). I would like to enter the chat and disconnect from it at any moment without having to restart Steam. Sorry, I forgot this important info.

Addition 2 (25th of July, 2018): The post that I marked as the solution works the way that I was looking for. However, this solution puts the steam friends chat to the old style before the update and image attachments may not work. Make sure to name the shortcut something as "Steam (Old Chat)" to identify if you want to run Steam with the new chat or the old chat.

And last but not important, to switch the style of the chat (new to old and vice versa), you have to exit Steam and then run the Steam shortcut with the style that you want to use.

FYI: The post that I marked as the answer is the best one that works for me. There is another alternative method that may work for you if you prefer this one instead of the answer of this post:

Originally posted by markS:

Btw my english sucks but i hope this tutorial helps you

Follow my steps:

1. Right-click the steam icon of the task bar, the little one at the right, not the one as big as Chrome icon for example.
2. Click settings.
3. Go to interface.
4. Click on "Set taskbar preferences"
5. There you can select the offline option, then you press OK.
6. To go offline right click the steam icon and there you can change your status.

Again sorry for my english i did my best

Big News (28th of July, 2018)

Valve has rolled out a a Beta Update where you can check a Do Not Disturb status combined with Online, Away or Invisible, making the notifications of any kind (chat, announcements, events) not pop-up, as far as I know (I haven't actively tried it)

And Offline status is added and it works Almost OK... it would be awesome that every friend is shown Offline instead of remembering the last status that friends got before logging out.

Final Addition (03rd of August 2018): I marked this new post as the answer because Offline (and Do Not Disturb) status are implemented in the main stable client for everyone. Steam still remembers the last status in the Library section when you go from logged in friends to Offline, but that's a story for another post.

[YaseiChan]

When I check "Offline" in the tray the way you described, when I after restart steam I stay offline. I hope it will continue working like that.

[KenshinMau]

Not sure if a good way, but here I still in invisible, better than nothing:
(acessing by Settings)

https://i.imgur.com/CPw 0Phr.jpg

[The General]

Bring back the old way to go offline please :(

[Mark]

Btw my english sucks but i hope this tutorial helps you

Follow my steps:

1. Right-click the steam icon of the task bar, the little one at the right, not the one as big as Chrome icon for example.
2. Click settings.
3. Go to interface.
4. Click on "Set taskbar preferences"
5. There you can select the offline option, then you press OK.
6. To go offline right click the steam icon and there you can change your status.

Again sorry for my english i did my best

[Old Man Smokey]

From another thread in this support...

Add this to the shortcut of steam. -nochatui -nofriendsui

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -nochatui -nofriendsui

Enjoy.

[Lil C]-[ew C]-[ew is ☂д☂]

Nicely remembered that I still have unchecked the option to Automatically Sign in to Friends when I start Steam and from today's update having this option not ticket...somehow I am always being showed as online when I'm logging in.

This update must be reverted ASAP!

[Sicmendor Obscurox]

I'm adding this in the main post after reading some of the solutions:

Addition 1 (2018-Jul-25): I forgot to mention. I'm searching for a way to go offline or deactivate the chat at any moment without restarting steam (as well as go back online/invisible the same way). I would like to enter the chat and disconnect from it at any moment without having to restart Steam. Sorry, I forgot this important info.

On a side note:

Originally posted by Old Man Smokey:

From another thread in this support...

Add this to the shortcut of steam. -nochatui -nofriendsui

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -nochatui -nofriendsui

Enjoy.

This solution may be good, but to go online in the chat I'd have to restart the whole Steam without the parameters in order to chat. I haven't tried this myself yet, so I will be grateful if anyone tries it and confirms.

[jc]

Family view seems to work. Don't you love it when they force ♥♥♥♥ like this down your throat, you even have to wait for it while they do it in stead of letting you play the game you bought. If steam carries on like this it's bye bye for me.

[Glimmer]

Originally posted by Sicmendor Darkaxe:

This solution may be good, but to go online in the chat I'd have to restart the whole Steam without the parameters in order to chat. I haven't tried this myself yet, so I will be grateful if anyone tries it and confirms.

Are you trying to put the who client into offline mode, or just the friends list? The launch options provided (specifcically -nofriendsui) gives you the friends list largely similar to previous Friends list, complete with the drop down menu to set your list to offline mod.

If you want to set the whole client of off-line, that has always required a restart.

The launch options also work with the "Run Steam when my computer starts" option, although that requires editing the registry.

hkey_current_user\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

There will be an key labeled Steam, modify that key to add the launch options.

If you want have Steam start with windows with those options but do not want to edit the registry, you can make a shortcut to Steam with those launch options in the Startup folder.

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp

[Sicmendor Obscurox]

Originally posted by Glimmer:

Originally posted by Sicmendor Darkaxe:

This solution may be good, but to go online in the chat I'd have to restart the whole Steam without the parameters in order to chat. I haven't tried this myself yet, so I will be grateful if anyone tries it and confirms.

Are you trying to put the who client into offline mode, or just the friends list? The launch options provided (specifcically -nofriendsui) gives you the friends list largely similar to previous Friends list, complete with the drop down menu to set your list to offline mod.

If you want to set the whole client of off-line, that has always required a restart.

Only the friends list to go Offline (not Invisible). I'll try the parameters and check.

[Sicmendor Obscurox]

Originally posted by Old Man Smokey:

From another thread in this support...

Add this to the shortcut of steam. -nochatui -nofriendsui

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -nochatui -nofriendsui

Enjoy.

Alright, I've finally tried this solution and it works the way that I was asking about.

However... this solution puts the Steam friends chat to the old style before the new chat update, meaning that I won't be able to upload image attachments in the chat in this mode (and possibly not see images from others).

Nonetheless, I'm fine with this solution, thank you Old Man Smokey

Also, I suggest naming the shortcut "Steam (Old Chat)" for the ones that has the parameters.

[postapokalyptic]

This is extremely frustrating that I have to edit the command line just to stop spam-like popups for a platform that makes money off my purchases. As part of this solution, I now have to disable Steam from starting up when my computer starts up, which means every time I want to play a game I have to manually launch and then wait for what is becoming bloatware to load. This is very much dissuading me from spending more money on this platform and better be fixed soon or I will have little faith in Valve's commitment to customer experience over their own greed.

Now all gamers enjoy the social aspect, and I do not use chat at all, so stop trying to force me to.

[treesaver4future]

"Bring back the old way to go offline please :("

I second the motion. It was simple and a great feature, why remove it?

[Sicmendor Obscurox]

Originally posted by treesaver4future:

"Bring back the old way to go offline please :("

I second the motion. It was simple and a great feature, why remove it?

I'm also adding the Busy status. That one is useful too. I want both Offline and Busy status back (and I want Busy status to work better).

[Mark]

My method doesnt need restart its instant my friends