You can delete a conversation thread, but it is remarkable there still isn't a way to archive a long conversation thread. I know iMazing can archive a conversation from the iPhone, but not from the Mac.
MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 11.6
Hello Maxplanar,
Welcome to Apple Support Communities. Although there is no way to archive your conversations on the Messages App on your Mac, you can set how long to keep them. You can also, export them as PDF files.
Set how long to keep messages
1- In the Messages appon your Mac, choose Messages > Preferences, then click General.
2- Click the “Keep messages” pop-up menu, then choose an option.
Important: If you choose an option other than Forever, your conversations (including all attachments) are automatically removed after the specified time period elapses.
Also, check out the Apple recommended section in the following post:
You can also, leave a feedback about this here:
We hope this information is useful. Kind regards.
Hello Maxplanar,
Welcome to Apple Support Communities. Although there is no way to archive your conversations on the Messages App on your Mac, you can set how long to keep them. You can also, export them as PDF files.
Set how long to keep messages
1- In the Messages app
2- Click the “Keep messages” pop-up menu, then choose an option.
Important: If you choose an option other than Forever, your conversations (including all attachments) are automatically removed after the specified time period elapses.
Also, check out the Apple recommended section in the following post:
You can also, leave a feedback about this here:
We hope this information is useful. Kind regards.
I was on Catalina last week, and recently upgraded to Monterey. When doing so, the Messages App lost it's ability to simply "Close conversation", which used to preserve the entire history of the conversation; when I would start a new chat with a Closed conversation contact, all the history would re-appear for my enjoyment.
As of Monterey Messages, there is only the option to Delete Conversation - and it warns that it will be deleted, of course. This behaves just like the iOS version of Messages, of course. However, on the macOS, I always kept my history. Now this option seems gone. FYI, I would formerly "Close" convos just to keep my list of active convos clean and tidy. Now, I guess I have to keep every conversation active for all time to preserve the life-long history which, in some business situations, is required.
I am responding to this topic because the OP wanted to know how to Archive, and felt the need to point out a loss of functionality in the new(er) iOS-like macOS Messenger app.
Any way to archive conversations from Messages.app?
