One of my iPhone users has an iMessage conversation she needs to capture to use as evidence in a legal matter. What's the best app or method of getting the conversation into a printed form or PDF-type digital format? She uses a PC, so Phoneview isn't an option. I'd love to find a PC-compatible alternative that looks like Phoneview, I just can't seem to find it. Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Rusty
iPhone 4, iOS 5.0.1
You can try taking the screenshots of your iMessages conversations. I agree, without the date & time stamps and speaker information your text conversations wouldn't help much in a legal matter. Remember you might also need to testify that you received these messages on that particular date and they are accurate depiction of what you recived, and for this you might need an affidavit.
A few months back, I needed to print my iPhone text messages/imessages to use them as evidence in a legal suit and a third party app recommended in this guide did the job for me. You can use this app to export your text messages and iMessages to your computer as PDF and then easily print them off. Text messages will be saved with all the vital information such as date stamps, time stamps and speaker information such as contact name and phone number. Similar to other tools this is also a shareware program. You might also find this Apple Stack Exchange discussion about printing iPhone text messages for court useful.
You can try taking the screenshots of your iMessages conversations. I agree, without the date & time stamps and speaker information your text conversations wouldn't help much in a legal matter. Remember you might also need to testify that you received these messages on that particular date and they are accurate depiction of what you recived, and for this you might need an affidavit.
A few months back, I needed to print my iPhone text messages/imessages to use them as evidence in a legal suit and a third party app recommended in this guide did the job for me. You can use this app to export your text messages and iMessages to your computer as PDF and then easily print them off. Text messages will be saved with all the vital information such as date stamps, time stamps and speaker information such as contact name and phone number. Similar to other tools this is also a shareware program. You might also find this Apple Stack Exchange discussion about printing iPhone text messages for court useful.
Thanks for the reply.
I'm using the trial of Touchcopy now. I don't see any of my iMessage conversations, only SMS. According to the website, the trial only restricts how many songs you can copy and 15 days of usage, so I don't think it's a limitation. The features do not list iMessage specifically but do specify SMS texts. Thinking I need to keep looking.
I appreciate the feedback, however.
Rusty
I sent a message to Wideangle asking them if it will also copy iMessages.
Rusty - were you able to find a way to print iMessage conversations. I am also in need to print out my sms messages for a potential legal suit. Thank you.
Check out PhoneView. I was able to use it to capture and print the messages with it (and lots more).
Good luck!
Rusty
It's my understanding that PhoneView is only for Mac. How would I do it on a PC? Thanks
Ok here is a workaround that might help. I don't know if it will be useful in legal matters but here is how I did it and it was free.
1. go to the top of the imessage you want to print and make sure the entire part of the conversation is viewable (press previous comments until you see the beginning of the part you want).
2. click edit
3. check the button beside each item in the conversation
4. when the entire part you want has been selected then press forward !!!MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HIT DELETE!!!
5. send it to yourself (what I did) or someone else
6. it comes in one long broken paragraph sort of thing so press it until the copy button appears
7. press copy and go to notes
8. press paste in a new note and send it to yourself as an email.
9. print, PDF, archive, whatever
I hope that helps. It looks more complicated than it is but I wanted to make sure anyone could follow the steps.
Am I doing something wrong? I don't see an "edit" option in my message.
First you need imessages linked on a mac.
then....
"On the Mac you need to scroll to the top of where you want to save or print from.
Then go to Messages – File – Print…
The on the pop up, bottom left where it says PDF, select Save as PDF
Make changes to file name / location and then save.
You then have a PDF copy of your whole iMessage conversation."
http://geekfairy.co.uk/saving-printing-imessage-conversation-on-a-mac/
BUT!
if you don’t want to scroll forever then just do a search in ‘finder’ for ‘sms’.
all threads will show up. Copy all to new folder. and sort by name and date.
This was the BEST answer. It printed everything as if it were a screen shot, including time stamps and everything. This is the best, most accurate way to preserve a conversation without editing or adding. This should be right on top.
That helped me a lot. Thank you for helping.
I realize this is an older thread but i wanted to let you know you answer helped me.
How can I print iMessage conversations
