How to export iMessages to PDF on a Mac, 3 ways.
Save a whole conversation, a date range or just a few texts as a PDF. 2 ways are free and built into your Mac, and 1 handles years of messages in one go.
Quick answer
In Messages on your Mac, open the conversation, scroll up until the oldest message you want is on screen, choose File > Print, then pick Save as PDF from the PDF menu. That works for short chats. For a long chat, a date range, or a PDF with numbers hidden, use an export app such as Textlore.
| Way | Best for | Catch |
|---|---|---|
| Print in Messages | Short chats, free | Only prints what has loaded. No date range. |
| Screenshots | A handful of messages | Many files to crop and join. Text becomes a picture. |
| Textlore | Whole chats, date ranges, picked messages | Paid app after a 14-day free trial. |
1. Print the conversation to PDF in Messages
Messages has no Export button, but the print dialog on every Mac can save a PDF instead of printing on paper.
- Open Messages and click the conversation in the sidebar.
- Scroll up until the oldest message you want is on screen. Messages loads older texts in batches as you scroll, so pause each time it fetches more.
- Choose File > Print, or press ⌘P.
- In the print dialog, open the PDF menu at the bottom and choose Save as PDF.
- Name the file, pick a folder and click Save.
Where it falls short
- Only loaded messages print. Anything above the point you scrolled to is left out. A chat with 5 years of history means a lot of scrolling and waiting before you press Print.
- No date range. You get everything from your scroll point down to the newest message. To keep only March 2023, you delete the other pages in Preview afterwards.
- No picking. You can't print just 3 messages from the middle of a chat.
- Photos are inconsistent. Some print, some come out small or split across pages, and photos that are only in iCloud may not appear at all.
- Nothing is hidden. Names, phone numbers and email addresses print exactly as Messages shows them.
2. Screenshot the messages and join them into a PDF
For 5 or 10 messages, screenshots are quick and keep the bubbles exactly as they look on screen.
- Open the conversation and scroll to the messages you want.
- Press ⇧⌘4 and drag over them. Press ⇧⌘5 instead if you want more options. Each screenshot is saved to your desktop.
- Scroll and repeat until you have every part you need.
- Select the screenshots in Finder, Control-click and choose Quick Actions > Create PDF. Open the new PDF and check the pages are in the right order.
Where it falls short
- It doesn't scale. A long chat turns into dozens of files, and every one needs cropping.
- The text is a picture. You can't reliably search or copy it, which matters if the PDF is a record.
- Private details stay in. You have to blur numbers and emails by hand in every image.
3. Export to PDF with Textlore
Textlore is a Mac app that reads your whole Messages history at once, so there is no scrolling to load old texts. You choose what goes in the PDF and see it before you save. It only reads: it never sends, edits or deletes a message, and nothing leaves your Mac.
- Install it. Download Textlore, open it and switch on Full Disk Access when it asks. macOS keeps your Messages history in a protected folder, and this lets Textlore read it. About 100,000 messages import in under a minute.
- Pick what to export. Open a conversation and press ⇧⌘E for the whole chat, or choose a date range. For a few messages, click Select, click each one (Shift-click picks everything in between, or use Select this day) and press ⌘E.
- Choose PDF and your options. Turn timestamps and date headings on or off. Show names in full, as initials, or hide them. Phone numbers and emails stay hidden unless you switch them on. Keep photos full size, make them small, or leave them out. Pick bubbles or a plain transcript, in light or dark.
- Check the preview and export. The live preview shows exactly what the PDF will look like. When it's saved, Textlore shows the file with buttons to Share, Show in Finder or Open it.
Photos stay in the PDF. When your Mac runs low on space, Messages removes its copies of older photos and keeps them only in iCloud. Textlore saves its own copy of every photo from the day you install it, so those photos still make it into your export later.
The same export also saves HTML, plain text, Markdown, CSV or an image of the selected messages. See Export in Help for every option.
Questions
Can I export a whole iMessage conversation to PDF for free?
Yes. In Messages on your Mac, scroll up until the first message you want has loaded, then choose File > Print and Save as PDF. It works well for short chats. For a chat with years of history, the scrolling takes a long time.
How do I export iMessages from a specific date range?
Messages has no date range option. You can print from the start date down and delete the pages you don't want in Preview, or choose a date range when you export in Textlore.
Can I save text messages as a PDF on my iPhone?
Messages on iPhone has no print or export option, so screenshots are the only built-in way. For more than a few messages, switch on Messages in iCloud on your iPhone and your Mac so the whole history is on your Mac, then use one of the Mac methods above.
Will the photos show up in the PDF?
When you print from Messages, photos are inconsistent. Textlore puts photos in the PDF full size or small, or leaves them out, as you choose. It keeps its own copy of every photo from the day you install it. Photos that were already only in iCloud before then can't be included in full.
Can I hide phone numbers and emails before I share the PDF?
Not when you print from Messages. Textlore hides phone numbers and emails by default, and can show names in full, as initials, or not at all.
Does exporting change anything in Messages?
No. Printing only reads the conversation, and Textlore only reads too: it never sends, edits or deletes a message, and nothing is uploaded.
Any chat, any year, as a PDF.
Download Textlore and export your first conversation today. Free for 14 days.