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When I build a project and there are errors, the Messages window that shows all the errors does not always show. I have to build the project (i.e. Ctrl + F9 ) twice or more in order to see the window.

When the window is not shown, View > Tool > Messages Alt + 0 is grayed out as shown by the following screenshot. How can I show the window when there are build errors?

I am running the latest Android Studio on Windows 8.

Android Studio Messages Windows disabled

[Edit] 2018-04-02

Android Studio 3.1 seems to have this window removed, many people may come here because of missing the Messages Window due to a different reason, and yuval's answer may be the right one in this case.

Hong
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    I have the same problem in an App Engine project which was originally created with an older version of Android Studio. Google messed up with the project and one update didn't work at all, after that a new version came out which worked, but the Messages window was disabled since? Maybe they introduced an external build somehow, but it's not working as supposed. Could you resolve your problem in the meantime? – Oliver Hausler Feb 06 '15 at 00:02
  • The problem remains - I still need to build twice sometimes in order to see the error list. I am using Android Studio 1.0.2. – Hong Feb 06 '15 at 03:37
  • What I do is invoke the appEngineExplodeApp gradle build from "Gradle tasks" tab (right hand side) before I start the app, otherwise it won't work. Probably the same effect as starting it twice. Have you tried to rebuild your project from scratch using a new template from the current Android Studio? I always wanted to try that but didn't get around to it. – Oliver Hausler Feb 06 '15 at 21:45
  • No, I have not tried that. It would be too much work to start the 3-year old project from scratch. – Hong Feb 07 '15 at 05:25
  • But at least the fact that you're saying it's an old project seems to prove my theory that it may have to do with a pre-release version of Android Studio that messed up the project. I will most possibly get around to re-building my project when I have some time and post results here. – Oliver Hausler Feb 10 '15 at 15:10
  • This project was started a few years ago with Eclipse, and was ported to AD only a month and half ago. – Hong Feb 10 '15 at 21:16
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    I just rebuilt my project from scratch and everything is working fine now (messages window reappeared). I believe Android Studio missed some "link" between your modules when importing from Eclipse. Due to my experience importing an old project will not work, if modules are linked somehow (except for references). You will need to write your gradle files yourself, and here it is probably easier to re-create a new empty gradle project and manually move your files from your Eclipse project. If you import your ant project as is, you'll have a mess that won't work. – Oliver Hausler Feb 17 '15 at 16:07

5 Answers5

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I got here after upgrading to Android Studio 3.1, in which they removed the Messages window, replacing it with the Build window. After some poking around, I found this button on the left side of the Build window:

Toggle view

Clicking this button toggles the view between the new "Build" view and the old "Messages" view.

UPDATE: per suggestions in the comments, since this doesn't really answer the asked question, I opened it up as its own question: Where is the Messages Window in Android Studio 3.1

UPDATE 2: In Android Studio 3.3 the button now looks like this:

Toggle View 3.3

UPDATE 3: In Android Studio 3.6 the button is gone. Instead, the build window is permanently split between text output and visual output. If you can't find the text output, it might be fully collapsed, so look on the top right of the build window for something like this:

enter image description here

And try to drag it left to reveal the build window, like this:

enter image description here

starball
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yuval
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  • It is looks like good answer. But now with --stacktrace option I got in log all warnings as well as errors. Is there a way how to apply filter? Because I don't need to see warnings, I am interested only in errors... – Sirop4ik Mar 27 '18 at 13:05
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    It doesn't look like previous Messages window. It sucks actually, you must scroll a lot to see an error and the click on file link. – Anton Breusov Mar 28 '18 at 08:49
  • you guys are right, it isn't exactly the same :( but for now it solves what I need. I hope Android Studio will fix this in the future! – yuval Mar 28 '18 at 21:17
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    @yuval This answer was exactly what I was looking for, but it doesn't really answer the question. You might consider asking a new question specifically about Android Studio 3.1 and supplying the answer yourself, just for the sake of others being able to find this solution. – nukeforum Mar 30 '18 at 19:39
  • Second the comment of @nukeforum - it is a great answer for clarifying a deficiency of AS 3.1 – Hong Apr 02 '18 at 13:24
  • Thanks all, I've done as you suggested: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49616379 – yuval Apr 02 '18 at 18:22
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    thanks, I came here for the reason of AS 3.1 telling me to check a view it does not have anymore :-D – martn_st May 11 '18 at 14:11
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    Android Studio: an example of modern UI best practice ... NOT. There is upwards of 50 controls on screen, most of which have to be clicked to discover what they do. If you silly enough to delve into the help, you get dropped into a web browser. – andy256 Oct 28 '19 at 03:43
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    This has been changed again in 4.0, now there's nothing, the eyeball icon does nothing except show successful steps: https://imgur.com/XIf2ZrI I'm lost... – Daniel Wilson Jul 08 '20 at 11:13
  • "Update 3" works still in Android Studio Bumblebee in 2022, cool, thanks! (how do they expect people to know they have a hidden build window fully collapsed and we need to drag left?!) – auspicious99 Apr 26 '22 at 04:17
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It was a bit different in my case. I just closed the Message Tool Window with this red cross on the left and then this window completely disappeared and would not show again even after several rebuilds, View > Tool > Messages Alt+0 was also grayed out. The only thing that helped to bring the Window back is to break the build, so it would be some compiler errors. After that the window has reappeared showing those errors. Now the window is still there, does not vanish. Hope this helps somebody.

Kate
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Build -> Make Project

(Ctrl+F9 or ⇧⌘F9)

Mir-Ismaili
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Just to have the whole picture. Go to the Build and then on the left side of the window you will find your Messages icon.

How to access to the messages window.

Marija
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    not in AS 4.2.1...They once again moved it elsewhere...I have no words. It is not that hard to redirect you to messages window, instead of showing message "You can find the errors in the 'Messages' view." especially when they keep changing it. Aargh Googlers... – qkx Aug 24 '21 at 08:11
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Can't find the button @yuval provided, but here it is to toggle to show it enter image description here

Jeb50
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    This seems to be how to get to the build window... the one which tells you to look at the legendary "Messages" window where the actual reason it failed to build your APK will supposedly be revealed to you. – Dronz Oct 22 '19 at 05:27