Messages- copy entire conversation to desktop computer

Question

Level 1

13 points

Messages- copy entire conversation to desktop computer

Hello. Re: using Messages on iPhone 14, IOS 16.6.1

How does one copy an entire conversation to a desktop computer easily without selectring each and every message and uploading to a desktop? I see that an entire conversation may be deleted so why can't an entire conversation be copied by the "Select All" command or exported to an RTF or PDF on a computer? Note: I do have access to my phone Messages on my desktop computer.

I tried to reseach this but only found third-party options.

Mac Studio, macOS 13.5

Posted on Sep 12, 2024 6:29 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

245,189 points

Sep 14, 2024 8:17 AM in response to rgbnite

I have no phone, I was doing it on my Mac, but later than 13.5, & it as had to tell that it was Drag selecting, I also found I have to start dragging off of any Mesage or it would just select one.

I got it to paste into TE...

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

245,189 points

Sep 12, 2024 12:51 PM in response to rgbnite

Took me some doing but finally was able to drag highlight 135 lines of a conversation, then CMD+c & pasted that into Text Edit, funny thing was, though it all showed in Text Edit, trying to print insted it was only 1 page... Pasted it into Pages.app & all is fine with 9 pages.:)

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Answer 3

rgbnite Author

Level 1

13 points

Sep 14, 2024 6:38 AM in response to BDAqua

I get my iPhone Messages on my desktop Mac Studio- it's not allowing me to drag highlight multiple messages. I can select each message and copy and paste it into Text Edit, which is ridiculously time-consuming. Curiously, only certain message recipients appear on the desktop messages-?

Note: You can play around in Text Edit by > Format> Make Plain Text> and/or Make Rich Text and Wrap to Window- which makes a page layout. I use "Make Plain Text" to convert and clear web-formatted text.

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