Facebook Messenger is a popular messaging app that allows you to have conversations with friends and family. Sometimes you may want to save these conversations to view later or have a record of them. Here are a few ways to save your Messenger conversations to your computer.
Save Messenger conversations on desktop
If you use Messenger on the desktop version of Facebook, saving your conversations is straightforward:
- Open the conversation you want to save in the Messenger window.
- Click on the name or profile picture of the person you’re chatting with at the top of the window.
- Click on “Message Information” below their name.
- On the Message Information page, click “Print Messages” on the right side.
- In the print preview window, change the destination to “Save as PDF.”
- Choose where you want to save the PDF file and click “Save.”
This will save your entire conversation with that person as a PDF that you can view or print later.
Use third-party apps or extensions
If you primarily use Messenger on your mobile device, there are a few third-party apps and browser extensions that allow you to save your conversations:
- Messenger Save Chat for Chrome – This Chrome extension lets you save your Messenger chats as PDFs, Word docs, or TXT files.
- Save Messenger Chat for iOS – This iOS app lets you save your Messenger conversations as PDFs or TXT files.
- Messenger Chat Export & Backup for Android – An Android app that saves chats as PDFs or TXT files.
To use these, you’ll need to grant access to your Messenger account. But they provide an easy way to export and save your chats from your mobile device.
Use Google Chrome to save web-based chats
If you use Messenger through the web browser on your phone or computer, you can use Google Chrome’s functionality to save web pages and conversations:
- Open the Messenger conversation in Chrome.
- Click the menu button (three vertical dots) in the top right corner.
- Go to More Tools > Save page as.
- Choose a save location on your computer.
- Change the file name and click “Save” to save the entire conversation as an HTML file.
This creates a complete record of the chat that you can open in any web browser. The formatting may be different than the app, but the conversation text will be preserved.
Use email or cloud storage for long chats
For very long conversations, the easiest way to save them may be to email the chat history to yourself or upload screenshots to cloud storage.
On mobile Messenger you can tap into a conversation, tap your own profile icon, and tap “Email chat.” This will send the complete back-and-forth conversation to any email account you specify.
Alternatively, you can take screenshots of segments of long chats and upload them to cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox. This takes more effort but may be easier for thousands of messages.
Save group Messenger chats
Saving group chats works similarly to saving one-on-one conversations:
- On desktop Messenger, find the group conversation and click on the group name at the top.
- Click on “Conversation Information” below the name.
- Click “Print Messages” and save as a PDF.
On mobile or web Messenger, you can email a group conversation to yourself or use Chrome to save the web page.
However, group chats may be very long, so it’s often easier to take screenshots and upload to cloud storage over time. Each method has tradeoffs based on convenience and how much history you need to save.
Ways to find and view saved Messenger conversations
Once you’ve saved your Messenger chats, here are some ways you can find and open them later:
- Saved PDFs can be found in your computer’s Downloads folder or wherever you selected to save them.
- Text exports will also be in the location you chose while saving the chat.
- Emails of chat history will be in your email inbox like any other message.
- Screenshots saved to cloud storage can be accessed from your storage service’s website or mobile app.
- HTML chat exports can be opened from their save location in any web browser.
Most operating systems and apps also have a search function to find files by name or content. So you can easily search for keywords from a particular chat if you need to refer back to an old conversation.
Other options for exporting Messenger chats
In addition to the methods above, there are a few other ways you may be able to export your Messenger conversations:
- Use an Android file explorer or file manager app to directly access and export the Messenger database files on your device.
- Root or jailbreak your Android or iOS device to access Messenger’s database and chat logs at the system level.
- Use a desktop virtualization tool like Bluestacks to run the mobile Messenger app on your computer and export chats.
- Hire a software developer or forensics expert who can sometimes recover chat logs even if they are deleted.
However, these options involve more specialized knowledge and access. For most purposes, the simpler methods of saving chats to PDF or email are easier and give you what you need.
Important things to know about saving Messenger chats
Here are some key points to keep in mind when saving your conversations:
- Messenger does not have a built-in feature for exporting or backing up all chats. You need to save them conversation-by-conversation.
- Only the most recent history is available. Older messages may be unavailable.
- Media like photos and videos will be included in exports.
- Chats are encrypted end-to-end, so only you and the recipient can read them.
- Exports only save one side of group conversations.
- Edited or deleted messages may not be captured in exports.
- Third-party apps require granting access to view chats.
- BACK UP REGULARLY! Chats won’t be retrievable if you lose access to your account.
Keeping these limitations in mind will help ensure you don’t miss anything important when saving your chats.
Conclusion
While Messenger doesn’t have its own built-in backup features, there are several straightforward ways to save your chats on both mobile and desktop. The best options are:
- Saving as PDF from desktop Messenger
- Using specialized mobile apps to export chats
- Emailing chats to yourself from mobile
- Saving web pages in Chrome on desktop or mobile
Regularly exporting and backing up your Messenger conversations guarantees you’ll have a record of your chats. Just be aware of some limitations with exports. Overall, it just takes a few clicks to preserve your messaging history.