How to Export a WhatsApp Chat on Android

By Josep Mampel Marques, updated November 9, 2026

To export a WhatsApp chat on Android, open the chat, tap More options (the three vertical dots), then More, then Export chat. Choose Without media or Include media, then pick where to send the file, for example Gmail, Quick Share or Google Drive. The result is a text file with the conversation, plus recent media if you included it, which you can open in PrintChats to read or save as a PDF.

Steps to export a chat on Android

1. Open WhatsApp and open the individual or group chat you want to export.
2. Tap More options, the three vertical dots in the top right corner.
3. Tap More, then Export chat.
4. Tap Without media or Include media. WhatsApp says that with media, the most recent media sent is added as attachments.
5. Choose how to send or save it. WhatsApp's help lists examples such as Quick Share, Gmail or Chat. The options depend on the apps installed on your phone.

Menu names can vary slightly by WhatsApp version and phone language. If Export chat is not there at all, see why Export chat is missing or blocked.

Where to send the export

• Google Drive or Files: keeps the export on your phone or in your Drive, ready to open later. Good for long chats with media.
• Gmail: emails the export to yourself so you can open it on a computer. Email services limit attachment size, so a large chat with media may not fit. More in how to email a WhatsApp chat.
• Quick Share: sends the file to a nearby device.

A 2018 test by the human rights group WITNESS found that on Android, exports with media above 25 MB only carried the most recent 25 MB of media, and that media saved through Google Drive lost the date and time that was otherwise kept in the file name. Behaviour may vary by version, but it is a good reason to check your export before deleting anything from the phone.

What the file looks like

The chat text is usually a file named like WhatsApp Chat with Ana.txt (the wording follows your phone language). Each message is a line that starts with the date and time, then the sender's name and the text. Photos and other media keep their WhatsApp file names, such as IMG-20240115-WA0003.jpg, and the text mentions them with "(file attached)". If you chose Without media, the line only says that the media was omitted. More detail in what is inside a WhatsApp export.

Read it or turn it into a PDF

1. Open PrintChats in your phone or computer browser.
2. Tap Choose your WhatsApp export (.zip or .txt) and pick the file. If you have a .zip, choose it so photos show up. If you only have the .txt, the messages appear without pictures.
3. If your export arrived as a .txt plus separate media files, put them together into one .zip (most file managers can compress a selection) and open that .zip instead.
4. Choose your name under I am, search or filter by date, and tap Save as PDF. In Chrome on Android, pick Save as PDF in the print preview.

The file is opened in the browser tab and never uploaded. Close the tab and nothing is kept.

Export versus backup

Android backups to Google Drive are for restoring chats into WhatsApp. An export is for reading or keeping a copy outside WhatsApp, and WhatsApp states it cannot be re-imported. If you are switching phones, use backup or transfer. If you want a readable copy or a printout, export. When you are about to switch phones, follow the checklist in save WhatsApp chats before changing phones.