How can I export iMessage content into a machine searchable format for reference and to backup of those messages on my Mac desktop/laptop?
I'm running MacOS High Sierra (10.13.2) on my Mac Pro desktop and MacBook Pro laptop. I'm running 11.2.1 iOS on my iPhone X and iPadPro.
MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID, macOS High Sierra (10.13.2), 15.4" 2.9GHz i7 16GB 2TB SDD
What do you mean by "what is retrieved"? If you can't see the messages in the thread on your Mac, they're not there. There is no hidden database.
You need to make sure you scroll all the way to the beginning of the thread.
If you have the messages on your iPhone, you might look at PhoneView. It has a very nice export function for messages. I believe the developer is Ecamm.
Idris thanks for the reply and suggestion. I have messages that go back several years and are huge! When I tried the "Select All" it only went back so far based on what the Mac has retrieved. If I scroll back up the screen, more and more message content is presented. A "Select All" only captures what has been retrieved and does not capture all of the historical content.
Is there a way to get to the iMessage content file--a database file I assume--convert that into a searchable format for archival and reference use?
Messages go back for several years. The "select all" from within the Messages app within MacOS only selects the subset of the full message history that has been pulled into the Message app. After spending half hour scrolling or trying to jump to the top (oldest) message I only go about 1/4 of the way into the message history on one text chain. That exported into a 90 page text file that didn't do a good job separating comments between me and my friend. The messages are there, it just takes forever to wait for the Message app to scroll back into the history of the text messages. Retrieval on Mac Pro and full loaded MacBook Pro exceedingly slow. So looking for a tool that can decipher the iChat DB files ideally.
I'll look into PhoveView to see if that could be an option on the iPhone side.
Thanks!
Hi,
iChat documents (.ichat files) are what are stored.
They are stored in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages/Archive
They are in here in Folders by date (or session).
That is to say if Messages was Quit on one day and restarted there will be as many folders as there are Quits.
It is the app that can put these together is a cohesive way.
In iMessages itself the chat.db database files also play a significant part if the chats are iMessages ones.
The three Chat.db items are in ~/Library/Messages.
Within these are the saved iMessages and the data of Summaries about Saved Chats be they iMessages or other types pre High Sierra.
This App used to be able to do it
http://spiny.com/logorrhea/ However it is very old and has not kept up to date (it was never designed for Messages) and certainly does not work in Sierra or High Sierra.
You could search the Archive folder for the Contact's Name or ID or both to make sure you have all.
Stitching them together having found them is a little more difficult without a prop PDF app.
9:08 pm Monday; December 25, 2017
Tap in one message of a conversation. Then, Select All (command-A). Copy and paste the messages into Notes or other app. Or, print the conversation to a PDF. They're searchable.
How to Export iMessage to Searchable Format
