Hi:
Sorry, I guess I failed to explain in detail.
I have not lost any messages. I am not trying to restore them. The messages are there, however there are literally thousands of messages between a family member and myself and they have emotional value. I want to download and archive them in a format that is easily searchable. As of now, all you can do keep scrolling down and have the older messages show up on the screen after they are downloaded -I think- from iCloud. It takes forever to go even for a few months back to find a certain message. Not practical at all. If iCloud keeps the whole history of messages, then there should be a way to locate the texts folder/file with that specific number. And hopefully then download them and search and view them...
As for "If you are syncing Messages with iCloud, there isn't a way to access the conversations in iCloud." I was hoping to download them and maybe convert them a text file?
Otherwise, this question is dear Apple, what is the point of keeping an archive of text messages going back for years, if there is no practical way of reaching and retrieving them easily? Why archive something that you cannot search and view?
Thanks
Murat