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ChatExport user guide

Last updated 15 October 2026

This page walks through ChatExport version 1.2.1 screen by screen, in the order the program shows them, and names every switch the way the program labels it. Where an option has a limit, the limit is written next to it rather than at the bottom of the page.

The program is a wizard with one main action per screen: choose a backup, choose a conversation, set the options, export.

What you need before you start

  • A Windows PC, Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. There is no macOS version.
  • One of two sources. Either an iPhone backup on that PC (ChatExport can make one for you over a USB cable, described below), or the file WhatsApp writes when you choose Export chat, from an iPhone or an Android phone.
  • No account and no internet connection. The export reads the backup from your disk. Once the backup exists, the iPhone does not need to be connected.

The download runs as a trial until a licence key is entered. A trial export contains the 50 most recent messages of the conversation and every page carries a watermark; everything else works without limits, so you can check the whole process on your own backup before paying. The licence section below says how to remove both.

The first screen: iPhone or WhatsApp

The first screen offers two ways in. iPhone Messages reads SMS, MMS and iMessage from a backup on this PC. WhatsApp chat imports a chat you exported from WhatsApp. Below them, Check a document I was given opens the verification screen, which is for the person receiving an export rather than the person making it.

Above every screen there is a narrow bar with the interface language (fourteen languages, starting in your computer's language when it is one of them), a light and dark theme switch, About ChatExport and Report a problem.

Choosing a backup

Choose Backup lists every iPhone backup found on this computer, with the device name, the date of the last backup and the iOS version. Click one to open it. Backups from iOS 11 up to the current release open.

  • An old backup is flagged. When the newest backup is days old, a banner says how many days of messages will not be in the export, and Update the backup makes a new one.
  • Delete backup erases a backup from this computer, together with the messages and photos inside it. Before you confirm, the dialog shows how much disk space it frees. It cannot be undone, and nothing on the iPhone changes.
  • A backup still being written carries an In progress badge and opens once it is finished.

When there is no backup yet

Instead of an empty list, the screen walks you to one, depending on what it finds:

  1. No Apple software: Install Apple Devices, with a link to the Microsoft Store. ChatExport talks to the iPhone through the USB driver that comes with it.
  2. No iPhone connected: Connect your iPhone with a USB cable. The screen notices the phone by itself.
  3. An iPhone connected and no backup: ChatExport makes the backup itself. Unlock the iPhone and keep its screen on, click Back up now, then watch the phone: tap Trust and enter its passcode the moment it asks, because the backup waits silently until you do. Opening Apple Devices and backing up there works too, and the screen lists those steps beside it.

Before a backup starts, ChatExport checks the free space on the disk. It warns below 15 GB and refuses to start below 5 GB, because the iPhone refuses anyway once it sees the space is not there. If the backup is interrupted, Resume automatic backup continues from what was already copied. A second backup of the same phone copies only what changed, so it is much faster than the first. With more than one iPhone connected, the automatic backup does not start, and the screen says why.

An encrypted backup and its password

A backup marked Encrypted asks for its Backup password: the one you set when you turned on encrypted backups, not the iPhone's passcode and not your Apple ID password. Checking it takes a few seconds, because Apple deliberately makes a backup password slow to test.

  • Remember this password on this computer opens the backup without the wait next time. What is stored, in this computer's secure storage, is the unlock key and never the password itself. Forget the saved password removes it.
  • A forgotten backup password cannot be recovered by ChatExport or by anybody else. What to do when the iPhone backup password is rejected covers the options that exist.

An encrypted backup is worth the password: Apple writes the call log into encrypted backups only, so the calls in the document need one. How encryption works on Windows, and why it is not a reason to avoid it, is in how to read an encrypted iPhone backup on Windows.

The conversation list and the preview

Choose Conversation lists every conversation in the backup. The search box (Ctrl+F) finds conversations by name, phone number or message text. Click one to preview it on the right, with photos, delivered and read ticks, and deleted and edited messages marked.

  • The preview shows the most recent 300 messages. That is the preview only: the export always covers the whole conversation, or the date range you choose. Show all messages loads the rest into the preview.
  • Search messages (Ctrl+Shift+F) searches the whole conversation, not only the part on screen. Clicking a result opens the thread at that message, in its context.
  • The list says what the backup does not hold. A conversation the backup names but has no messages for says so, rather than opening empty.

Export at the top of the preview takes the selected conversation to the options.

Before you export: how far the backup reaches

The options screen opens with Before you export, check how far this backup reaches. It states the first and last date the backup holds, and it reads two iPhone settings that remove history without leaving a trace in the transcript:

  • Messages in iCloud. When it is on, older messages can sit in iCloud instead of in the backup. The phone still finds them when you search; an export cannot. The fix is to open them on the phone first, make a new backup and export again.
  • Keep Messages set to one year or thirty days. Anything older was deleted by the phone itself, so it is in no backup and no program can bring it back.

On an ordinary backup this section only states the dates. Why messages go missing, and where they went, is in are text messages saved in iCloud.

Export options: the five choices on top

The top of the options screen holds what nearly every export needs. A line pinned to the bottom of the screen says what will be produced, for example "PDF · Court View · whole conversation", and where it will be saved.

Format

PDF (marked Recommended), TXT, HTML, CSV and RSMF. The formats section says which to pick.

Theme

For a PDF, one of three styles: Chat View, Court View and Book View. The styles section compares them.

Document language

Headings, dates and labels in the document are written in this language; the messages stay exactly as they were sent. It is chosen separately from the interface language, from fourteen: English, Polish, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Czech, Romanian, Swedish, Ukrainian and Russian. A document in English writes times on a 12-hour clock; the other thirteen use a 24-hour clock.

Photos & attachments

Include photos, Include attachments and a Photo size of Small, Medium or Large. A smaller size makes a smaller file. TXT and CSV are text only, so for those two the switches are off.

Date range

From and To, or one of the presets Everything, Last year and Last month. The screen states the dates the conversation runs between and counts the messages in the chosen range as you type, so a range that catches nothing is visible before you export. Left empty, the range is the whole conversation.

Where the file goes

The program proposes Documents\ChatExport, so the export button works the first time. Change picks another folder.

More options, switch by switch

Everything else sits under More options, folded by default. When the panel is closed it still says how many extra options are switched on, because a folded panel must not add anything to the document out of sight. Which switches appear depends on the format and the source: a WhatsApp import has no receipts, no recovery and no call log to offer, so those rows are not shown for one.

Document title, file name and your number

  • Document title is printed on the title page. Left empty, it is the conversation's name.
  • File name takes a pattern with markers for this export's facts: {title}, {date}, {from}, {to} and {format}. A line under it shows the name the file will be saved as. The extension always matches the format.
  • Your phone number is printed next to "Me" on the title page. It is read from the backup when the backup recorded it; correct it if it does not match, or type it in if it is missing.

Who this document names

Names come from the iPhone's address book, and an address book can be wrong or out of date. Correct names lets you fix them before exporting, and the document states every correction next to the number it applies to, so a changed name is never silent.

Message recovery

  • Recover deleted messages includes messages from the Recently Deleted store (iOS 16 and later, roughly the last 30 days). They are no longer visible in Messages, so the document marks them clearly. The switch shows how many it found in the chosen range.
  • Show edit history spells out earlier versions of edited messages and marks the ones their sender unsent.
  • Include calls puts calls with this person between the messages. It has a section of its own, because it has five limits.
  • Skip automated network messages leaves out notices a mobile network injects into the thread under the other person's number, such as "the user of this number tried to call you". It is meant for preserving a conversation as a keepsake, and the document states how many were skipped. It recognises a notice only by its exact wording, and in this version every wording it knows comes from Polish networks; elsewhere it skips nothing. For other notices, use the next switch.
  • Hide messages containing takes one phrase per line, three characters or more, ignoring case and accents. The document lists the phrases and states how many messages they hid, because otherwise it would be a silent removal. It is not available in Court View: an evidence document must not lose content to a word nobody can audit.

Advanced options (PDF)

  • Paper size: A4 or Letter (US).
  • Bates numbering stamps every page, the cover included, with a sequential number. You set the Prefix (for example SMITH-) and the First number,.
  • Device and dates in the page footer adds a third footer line with the device name, the moment of export and the backup date, so a single page torn out of a bundle still says where it came from.
  • Wide margin for notes leaves room on the right for handwritten comments.
  • Add attachment index lists the photos and files at the end. Each one gets its own number in the order the reader meets them (EX-001, EX-002 in an English document; each document language has its own prefix), the page it appears on, and the SHA-256 of the original file in the backup, so a single photo can be handed over and checked on its own.

Document details

Extra facts read from the backup, each a switch of its own:

  • Full timestamps (date, seconds, UTC offset)
  • Date on every message (otherwise only on the day's first)
  • Sender phone numbers
  • Delivered / read receipts
  • Message numbers (#1, #2 and so on), for precise reference
  • Photo file names and sizes

Choosing Court View turns all six on. For court or evidence use, leave them on.

Integrity

Package the export writes a zip holding the document and everything saved beside it, plus a hash report listing each file, one checksum for the whole set and the Bates range. The package section says when that is worth it.

Which format to choose

Format What it is Choose it when
PDF A paginated, searchable document with a title page, an integrity page, bookmarks, a table of contents and the photos in place Somebody will read it, print it or file it. Nearly always
TXT Plain text, no photos You need to copy text into something else
HTML One page that opens in any browser, with the photos in a folder beside it. Original photo files are copied as they are, and an iPhone HEIC photo gets its original next to the converted copy You want the conversation on screen, with full-size photos
CSV One row per message, for a spreadsheet or a script You want to sort, count or filter the messages
RSMF The Relativity Short Message Format, a container that review platforms load rather than a document anybody reads A law firm asks for it for an eDiscovery platform. The free RSMF viewer opens one in a browser

Whatever the format, a file named like the export with .sha256 on the end is saved beside it. It holds the export's checksum, and the verification screen reads it.

Chat View, Court View and Book View

The three PDF styles print the same messages. None of them changes a message; they differ in how the page looks and in which details are switched on.

Style What it looks like Details switched on
Chat View Bubbles, like the Messages app None by default
Court View A plain, professional transcript All six document details. Hiding messages by phrase is not available
Book View A printed book, 6 × 9 in, with a chapter for each month None by default

Court View is the style meant for evidence. Book View is for keeping a conversation as something to read rather than to check. What each style turns on, and why, is set out in how the export is made.

Calls in the document

Include calls reads the iPhone's call log from the backup and places calls with this person between the messages, at the moment they happened: answered and missed, with their duration, and with what carried them, a phone call, FaceTime, or WhatsApp where WhatsApp wrote the call to the phone's log. A call is not a message, so it gets no message number and is not counted in the statistics. When calls are included, the integrity page lists the SHA-256 of the call log they were read from.

The five limits, which the switch also states:

  1. Encrypted backups only. Apple keeps the call log in encrypted backups, so an unencrypted backup has no calls to add.
  2. One-to-one conversations from an iPhone backup only, not group conversations and not a WhatsApp import.
  3. A call is matched by number or e-mail address. A call from the same person's other number is left out.
  4. A declined call and an unanswered one look the same in the log.
  5. Calls in other apps appear only if the app wrote them to the phone's call log.

The package, the Export ID and Bates numbers

With Package the export on, the program writes a zip next to the export. It holds the document, every file saved beside it (the photos of an HTML export, the checksum file) and a hash report: a list of every file with its own SHA-256, one checksum covering the whole set, and the Bates range when Bates numbering was on. The success screen shows that set checksum under Package.

It is worth it when the export will be sent rather than printed: one file to attach, and one value that tells the recipient whether anything in it was changed or left out. A list of exhibits for a filing can be put together with the free exhibit list tool.

A PDF or HTML export also carries an Export ID, printed inside the document and shown on the success screen, to quote whenever you refer to that export.

Creating the export, and the success screen

Export starts the run. A progress bar shows the step, a count and the elapsed time. Cancel stops it for real: no file is added to the folder after you press it, and going back brings the options you started with rather than an empty form. Closing the window during an export asks first.

Export complete! shows the file size and three buttons: Open File (or Open PDF), Open Folder and Export Another. Under them is the SHA256 (evidence hash) with a Copy button. It proves this exact file has not changed since export. It does not prove who wrote the messages, or that the conversation happened as shown; that is a question for the backup and for a court.

Importing a WhatsApp chat

WhatsApp chat on the first screen asks for the file WhatsApp writes: in WhatsApp, open the conversation, tap the chat name, choose Export chat, then Attach media, and save the file to this PC. Drop the .zip or .txt onto the screen or use Choose file. Without media the document keeps every message, but the photos are replaced by their file names.

  • The screen shows what it read: the number of messages, the dates covered, the photos and files included, and the date format.
  • The date format is decided, and the screen says how. "03.04.2026" is the third of April or the fourth of March depending on the phone that wrote the file, so the decision is shown with what settled it, or with the word assumed when nothing in the file decides it.
  • The file records no time zone, so clock times are read in this computer's time zone, and the screen names it.
  • Which one is you? The file does not say who exported it, so you choose, and nothing continues until you do.
  • Lines about the group itself, such as a call or a member change, are left out and counted, and the count is on screen.
  • WhatsApp's own wording for a deleted or edited message, or for media left out is recognised in English and Polish exports. In a chat exported from a phone set to another language those lines are printed exactly as WhatsApp wrote them.

From there it is the same program: the preview, the search, the options and every format. The document names the WhatsApp file it was made from and that file's SHA-256 on its title page. How to export a WhatsApp chat to PDF covers the WhatsApp side step by step.

Checking a document you were given

Check a document I was given on the first screen opens Check a document. It is the one screen written for the person receiving an export.

  1. Choose the exported file: a PDF, TXT, HTML or CSV.
  2. If its .sha256 file sits beside it in the same folder, the program reads it and compares. If there is none, paste the 64-character value the sender gave you and click Compare.
  3. The verdict is This file is unchanged or This file does not match. When the checksum covers several files, each is listed as Unchanged, Changed or Missing.

This compares bytes, nothing more. A match proves the file has not changed since its checksum was recorded. The same check runs without the program on the verify page, and how to verify a PDF with SHA256 shows it with the tools Windows already has.

The licence

While the program runs as a trial, a Trial badge sits in the top bar. Clicking it opens Activate ChatExport: paste the licence key from your purchase email into License key and click Activate. The key is checked on your own computer; activation needs no internet connection and sends nothing anywhere.

  • A file exported during the trial stays a trial file after activation. Export it again to get the full document.
  • To move the licence to another computer, open the licence window, click Remove the license from this computer, then enter the same key on the new machine.

What the licence costs and what it includes is on the pricing page.

When something goes wrong

Every error screen says what happened, why, and what to change, and offers a way back to the step that failed. Report a problem in the top bar opens an email to support already filled in with the program version and system details; no messages, photos or personal data are sent with it. About ChatExport shows the version and the log file, which is worth attaching. Or write directly: support@getchatexport.com.