The new free command line tool exports your iMessage chats, SMS texts and attachments to plain text or HTML format for easy searching and backup.
- A new free and open source utility called imessage-exporter can conveniently export all your conversations and attachments to iMessage and SMS.
- The entire database of the Messages app can be exported in text format (TXT) or as a web page (HTML) for easy searching, retrieval and backup.
- Exporting the Messages app database to HTML allows you to view the exported conversations and attachments in a web browser such as Safari.
Introducing imessage-exporter
As MacGeneration.fr points out, after exporting iMessage data in TXT or HTML format, viewing chats in Safari is very easy.
Since Apple’s Spotlight search indexes both text files and web pages stored locally on disk, you can quickly search for any iMessage chat by keyword.
How to save iMessage data with imessage-exporter
As a command line tool, imessage-exporter runs through the Terminal app on your Mac. It can be downloaded from GitHub in two versions, one for Apple Silicon Mac (“aarch64”) and one for Intel-based Mac (“x86_64”).
Once the correct version is installed, run the following terminal command to export the iMessage database as a text file:
imessage-exporter -f html
Running this command will save your messages and attachments as separate HTML files in the ~/imessage_export/ folder on your Mac.
To export the message database as a TXT file instead:
imessage-exporter -f txt
Depending on the size of your message database, it may take some time to export all of your conversations and attachments. You will lose styling (bold, italics, etc.) when exporting as plain text, but metadata such as date stamps and reactions will be preserved.
Exporting in TXT format instead of HTML is much faster, but be aware that no attachments will be saved in this format, and chats will not retain style.
Read the GitHub documentation for more information.
Why imessage-exporter is useful?
It is important to note that this tool was not intended as a way to back up your iMessages database, although there is nothing stopping you from using it for this purpose.
There are better ways to view and backup iMessage chats like iMazing. But the beauty of imessage-exporter is that it exports the Messages database to file formats that work out of the box, without the need for any specific application.
In addition, imessage-exporter is a convenient way to collect, search, and link to any images, videos, and other attachments sent via iMessage. You can also view iMessage attachments in the Messages app, but the process is cumbersome.