Guides to keeping your messages

How to save, print and export iMessage and SMS conversations on a Mac, with the steps built into macOS first and what Textbound adds.

• Export iMessages to PDF on your Mac — the whole conversation, exactly

  How to export an iMessage or SMS conversation to PDF on a Mac — including the messages from your iPhone — without screenshots or scrolling: every message with its time and sender, photos inline. Nothing is uploaded.

• How to print text messages for court — complete, exact, from your Mac

  Print iMessage and SMS conversations for a lawyer or a court from your Mac: every message with its date, time to the second and sender, page numbers, attachments with SHA-256 and a fingerprint anyone can check. Nothing is uploaded.

• How to save text messages from your iPhone — the whole conversation

  The iPhone has no Save button for a conversation. Sync it to your Mac with Messages in iCloud and keep the whole thread as a PDF, with dates and photos.

• How to print text messages from an iPhone

  Messages on the iPhone has no Print command. Print screenshots, print from Messages on a Mac, or export the whole thread to a PDF on your Mac and print it.

• Can text messages be used in court, and how are they authenticated?

  Yes, but they must be authenticated: who sent them and when. What courts look for, why screenshots get challenged, and how to prepare a full record.

• How to turn your text messages into a book

  Make a book from a text conversation: bubbles as in Messages, large photos, a chapter per month. A PDF made on your Mac, ready to print.

• How to get your iPhone messages on your Mac, and what to do when they don't sync

  Turn on Messages in iCloud on both devices with one Apple Account, then Sync Now on the Mac. What to check when iPhone messages don't show up on the Mac.

• How to see when a text message was sent, on iPhone and Mac

  iPhone: swipe left in the conversation. Mac: Control-click a message and choose Show Times. How to see the time to the second and keep it.

• How to export text messages to a spreadsheet (CSV)

  Export an iMessage or SMS conversation to a CSV file on your Mac: one row per message with the date, time, sender, phone number, text and attachments.

• How to export a group chat from iMessage

  Save a whole iMessage or SMS group chat from your Mac as a PDF, web page or spreadsheet: every sender named, people joining and leaving, photos included.

• How to back up your iMessages, and keep a copy you can read

  Messages in iCloud, an iPhone backup and Time Machine protect your texts but can't be read as files. How each works, and how to keep a copy you can open.

• Where Messages keeps your texts on a Mac

  Messages keeps your texts in ~/Library/Messages/chat.db and attachments in ~/Library/Messages/Attachments. What is in them and how to read them safely.

• Full Disk Access and Messages: why apps ask for it and whether it's safe

  macOS lets an app read the Messages history only with Full Disk Access. What it allows, how to turn it on or off, and how to tell a careful app.