Q: how can i transfer all messages/conversations from my iphone to messages.app on my mac?

Hi,

It cannot be done.

iMessages are pushed from the iMessages servers to the devices registered at that time.

They are not held on the servers and are deleted once the receiving Devices accept them.

(i.e. it's not like email that can be left on the sever (POP) or remains on the server (IMAP) to be retried by other devices that can login later).

The way the files/iMessages are stored on the iPhone and the way the Mac stores them are not the same.

It is possible to have the iPhone store a Backup via iTunes on the Mac.

From there it is possible to use third party Apps to read them (extract them and have them as Text files) but these cannot be forced into Messages.

Copy and Pasting whole conversations from one chat to another that is to the Mac send s it as one long piece of text with little (no usable) formatting.

Doing so may also have issues with effectively duplicating the whole file with storage space on the iPhone in the first place.

7:44 pm      Friday; September 2, 2016

If you want to archive old iMessages/SMSs from you iOS device to your Mac, I'd suggest PhoneView (Mac). TouchCopy (Mac or Windows) also has its adherents. Both will allow you to save your messages as either PDF or TXT files.

Hi,

https://www.apple.com/ipad/

The Pro version can have a Keyboard and pen.

    for the      Points.

Edit  I see you marked it Helpful as well

for the    Points

8:01 pm      Friday; September 2, 2016

Hi,

Thanks Meg.

8:03 pm      Friday; September 2, 2016

freudigerregt wrote:

(i guess you know the problem

No, not really, Never had much of a problem with iTunes. I use TouchCopy because it does something iTunes doesn't.

 

 

but this was not the issue, backing it up also does itunes ... the issue was to bring the messages into the messages-app of the desktop-mac. but this is not possible, because iOS and macOS are way to different from eachother.

PhoneView does not make a back up copy. I never suggested it did.  It makes an archive in a completely different format.

Yes, iOS and Mac OS are fairly different. But, even if you were the messages were on one iOS device and you wanted to move them to another, you couldn't so that's not really relevant.

No, you can't do what you want. However, if you want your messages saved, you have options.

My situation is similar to the OP: in my case, I've got one month worth of Messages (with my wife) that are on my iOS devices (both iPhone and iPad), but are not on my iMac, I guess because I was in a different country. Everything sent since I turned my computer on upon returning is on all three devices; messages sent before I turned my computer back on are on the iOS devices only.

I want to have an archive of those messages, because they serve as something of a journal. How can I get an archive of that month's worth of messages, all in a single conversation, somehow off my iPhone or iPad?

I've looked at both TouchCopy and PhotoView. I think they can do what I want, but the demo versions can't do it - with TouchCopy I can only see the first 10 messages on the phone, and with the PhotoView demo there seems to be no copy functionality at all (although finding that relevant chunk of messages is impressively easy). And, nothing against the software, but I don't really want to spend around $30 on something that I want for this one use only, and may never use again.

I don't need these messages to appear in the Messages app on my iMac - I just want a PDF or a TXT file or something like that. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I'm mildly surprised there isn't some kind of print/share function with Messages on the iPad, but I can't find anything like that.

Lost in Asia wrote:

 

 

I don't need these messages to appear in the Messages app on my iMac - I just want a PDF or a TXT file or something like that. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I'm mildly surprised there isn't some kind of print/share function with Messages on the iPad, but I can't find anything like that.

PhoneView will, as I said above, do exactly what you want. It's well worth the money.

Thanks Meg St._Clair. I'm sure it's a good app - the reviews are positive - and I may yet buy it, but it's one of those cases where the program is overpowered for what I need. If I'd needed this kind of functionality twice in the past few years, I'd probably buy it, but so far this is the only time I've needed it. (Hm. This is one of the few times when a subscription model has made sense to me - pay $5 for one week of access, great! $30 to perhaps use once and never again, eh, not so enthusiastic.)

I've also looked at SmsExport (man that's a program name that looks suspicious!): it's a cheaper and more minimalist way to get just messages off a phone. However, it doesn't include attachments, and from the reviews it seems like many people have problems getting it to work.

Lost in Asia wrote:

 

Thanks Meg St._Clair. I'm sure it's a good app - the reviews are positive - and I may yet buy it, but it's one of those cases where the program is overpowered for what I need. If I'd needed this kind of functionality twice in the past few years, I'd probably buy it, but so far this is the only time I've needed it. (Hm. This is one of the few times when a subscription model has made sense to me - pay $5 for one week of access, great! $30 to perhaps use once and never again, eh, not so enthusiastic.)

 

I've also looked at SmsExport (man that's a program name that looks suspicious!): it's a cheaper and more minimalist way to get just messages off a phone. However, it doesn't include attachments, and from the reviews it seems like many people have problems getting it to work.

Only you can decide if the price is worth it for you. Personally, I archive my message threads once a month or so, a bit more often for my call logs, a bit less often for my Contacts. And, it's never once given me a problem. For me the $30 I spent about four years ago has been well worth it. The developers upgrade regularly and so far, haven't charged for it.

I don't know anything about SMSExport but, it sounds from your description as if you get what you pay for.

Personally, I archive my message threads once a month or so, a bit more often for my call logs, a bit less often for my Contacts. And, it's never once given me a problem. For me the $30 I spent about four years ago has been well worth it.

Ha - we sound similarly obsessive about archiving. I do sometimes wonder why I do it ... I very seldom look at message threads from years past, and when I do, they're often quite hard to follow.

But I'm curious: why don't you just use the Messages app on your computer, if you also have a Mac? Once a month I just scroll back a month in the OS X Messages app, and then print it all as a PDF. That's always worked for me before, although I guess because my computer was turned off for the past month that I was away, those messages didn't wind up on my desktop at all. But perhaps I'm already answering my own question ... I didn't realize until now that the messages sent while my computer is turned off never appear on my computer. Now I'm wondering how many other messages didn't appear, and how much those archives I've assiduously kept have been missing big chunks. Oops. For example, I discovered, just a minute ago, that exactly the same thing happened to me on a month-long trip last year: I printed the PDF archive from the desktop Messages app, but it's actually missing the whole month that I was away, and suddenly jumps forward 4 weeks mid-thread!

Today's conundrum for me: if someone doesn't even notice problems with their archiving workflow until a year or two later, does that indicate (a) that they should improve their workflow, or (b) apparently they don't care that much about the archive anyway, so they should stop bothering?

Lost in Asia wrote:

But I'm curious: why don't you just use the Messages app on your computer, if you also have a Mac? ``

First, I started using PhoneView before you could get SMS messages on your Mac. Many of my conversation threads are with people without iPhones. So, in the past, it wasn't possible to use Messages on my Mac to archive them. Second, I like the format and options better with PhoneView. Third, I do 99% of my messaging from my phone. As you've noticed, sometimes the messages just don't sync if the computer has been off. I feel as if the archive from my phone is more complete.

Additionally, i like the ability to archive call logs that PhoneView gives me. I suppose that's weirdly obsessive but, I like to do it.

I do actually read through my archives. They function as a sort of journal for me.