Download Text Messages to PC

[TMoto]

I need to download some text messages from my Samsung Galaxy S10 phone to my Windows 10 PC to save and print those messages. I've found some backup programs but they seem to save in a format that can't be viewed or printed. I tried the Your Phone program that comes with Windows but it only showed recent texts. It wouldn't show anything going back very far.

I found programs that seem to do what I want but I can't tell if they're from sketchy sources or not. It would be nice if the program was also able to include emojis and gifs but that's not a dealbreaker. I'm willing to pay for the app if necessary but free would be better as this is a one and done situation. I'm only going to use it to save and print conversations from a specific person that go back several years and will likely never touch it again. Hopefully someone has some experience with this and can make a recommendation.

 

[MikeMcC]

Google Messages? I get all my texts sent to both my phone and my PC.

 

[TMoto]

Google Messages? I get all my texts sent to both my phone and my PC.

They're just regular text messages through my phone. I'm guessing they're SMS but I have no idea really. They go back several years so it's for past messages, not going forward.

 

[Leo99]

I'm pretty sure the police can do it or at least get it done if it's something exonerating you. Sometimes that comes in handy.

 

[TMoto]

This has nothing to do with a legal matter in any way.

 

[Jethro_Bob]

If you tried Samsung Kies you can open the files with Notepad++


Once you have it open you should be able to save as a different file type or send it to a printer.

 

[ctechbob]

I'm pretty sure Samsung uses their own messaging ap, but if they use the stock android one you can go to

messages.android.com

in chrome and pair your phone, you'd still have to print one page at a time, but it will be in your browser at least and a little easier to deal with than on the phone.

 

[atikovi]

Can't you send them in an email to yourself?

 

[BISCUT]

I think I know what you are looking for. I used one and saved my arse in a divorce when false claims of not knowing certain information was made. This is what it looked liked. Each message is clearly outlined with a date and time stamp. All in a PDF format. It made every text linear and did not have the bubbles. Was free at the time as well. 2014-2016 was my usage of it. Andro Expert Solutions was the name on the top of the PDF. Hope it is still avail for you.

This PDF file has been generated by Andro Expert Solutions' Backup Messages/Texts Mobile Application.

 

[JohnnyG]

First of all, you can print right from your S10 if you have a wireless printer. Other than that, what aticovi said will work the best. Usually you can also save as a PDF file from the S10.

 

[Hall]

Are you willing to pay for software that can do this ? If so, there's many options.

Otherwise, look into Google's Android Messages that you run on a computer. Get it installed and get all of the texts from this contact sync'd. Now find the first text message you want to copy and highlight the text just like you highlight in a Word document, in a browser, etc, then pull or drag the mouse down and down and down until you've highlighted all messages. Now you can hit CTRL+P to print or CTRL+C to 'copy' and then you can CRTL-V into a document to 'paste'.

 

[TMoto]

Thanks for the ideas guys, I'll try to figure out which one works best. I'm using whatever standard messaging app comes with the Samsung phone. I have no idea if it's an android app or something proprietary from Samsung.

From what I see, Samsung Kies is only available for devices running Android 4.2 or older. Pretty sure I'm way past that. I see something about Samsung Smart Switch, so I'll look into that. What I don't want is something that's a backup program that's only for restoring back to a phone. I want to be able to view and print from my computer.

I don't see how I can print directly from the messaging app. I can select a specific text and email it to myself, but I don't see how I can select years of messages to email. If this is possible, this seems the easiest so please let me know how.

I just don't understand how flipping difficult this seems to be for what should be a simple solution built into the app. The option to select all (or multiple) messages and share would be perfect, but I don't see it available.

Here's why this is so important to me. My wife passed away unexpectedly recently; we were married 34 years and she was my best friend. I very much want to save and print our text messages, some of them quite funny as we both have a good sense of humor. So, like I said, I doubt I'll ever need to do this again so would prefer a free solution but would be willing to pay for an app if necessary.

 

[Hall]

Thanks for the ideas guys, I'll try to figure out which one works best.

look into Google's Android Messages that you run on a computer.

 

[TMoto]

Thanks Hall. While the Google Messages program worked, it dropped some messages for some reason. There are large gaps of missing messages and I'm not sure why. When I switch back to the Samsung default messaging app, they're there, but when I switch over to Google Messenger, they're not. This is both on my phone as well as on the computer. This looked like a really good solution too. Any ideas about how to fix this?

 

[Hall]

Do you have to wait for the message(s) to fully sync ? The messaging app is just a front-end to the database that stores all of the messages so no matter what app you use, all of the messages should show up the same. Just a wild guess, but could the missing messages have some Samsung-messaging-app specific features ?

 

[TMoto]

Do you have to wait for the message(s) to fully sync ? The messaging app is just a front-end to the database that stores all of the messages so no matter what app you use, all of the messages should show up the same. Just a wild guess, but could the missing messages have some Samsung-messaging-app specific features ?

I don't think it's an issue of it syncing to the computer as the texts are missing when I switch to the Google Messenger app on my phone. They're missing on the phone so they don't sync to the computer.

I don't think they're specific to Samsung, the ones I've specifically noted as missing are just text with no emojis or gifs, although other texts with emojis came through. For example, there will be only one text for an entire month on the Google app but when I switch back to the Samsung app, there are plenty more. It's very odd as it seems to be random.

I appreciate the help on this.

 

[TMoto]

I "think" I've figured out why some messages are showing up and some are not. When I select the message of what's showing up in the Google Messenger app and click "view details", they type is "Text Message". The ones that aren't showing up, the type is "Chat". When I search for what that means, Text is SMS and Chat is not.

The problem is I don't know what to do about it. I don't see any way of doing a mass change for all messages to Text so I can download them. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

I'm about to change to a new phone soon anyway so maybe I'll just keep this one and browse through it when I want to travel down memory lane.

 

[Hall]

The "chat" option must be a feature of the built-in Samsung messaging app. Did your wife use a Samsung phone and the Samsung messaging app as well ? I'd suggest using the standard Google/Android messaging app in the future just to avoid compatibility concerns.

 

[TMoto]

Yes we both have Samsung phones, hers is a Note something or other. I can't access her phone since she had a login PIN that she didn't write down in her p/w book.

In the next day or so I'll be getting an IPhone 13 of some sort and I have no idea what Apple uses. One of my boys ordered it for me as this S10 started acting up after a recent Android update. I've never had an Apple product before so it'll be all new to me.

 

[AndyinAL]

I haven't read this entire thread but for years I have been using the Textra app for my texting. I know it has the capacity to email an entire text conversation to an email address. Not sure if you were to download the app and set it as your default texting app whether all your old messages would import or not. Perhaps.