How to open, read, print and keep your Chatcove export
When an export finishes, click Reveal in Finder to see the folder, then open the file that matches the format you chose. Web pages open in any browser, PDFs in Preview, text files in TextEdit and spreadsheets in Numbers or Excel. Everything stays on your Mac.
Find the export
Section titled "Find the export"- At the end of an export the dialog shows "Export complete" with the number of chats, messages, files and the size. Click Reveal in Finder to open the folder, then Done.
- Any time later, open the Exports section. It lists past exports from the folder you last saved to, newest first, with the format, the number of chats, messages, size and date. Click the folder icon on a row to reveal it in Finder, or use the refresh button to rescan.
- A row marked "(partial)" was cancelled before it finished.
The folder layout is described in What gets exported.
Which app opens what
Section titled "Which app opens what"| Format | Opens with | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Web page (.html) |
Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge or any browser | Double-click the file. Photos, videos and voice notes play inline from the media/ folder next to it, with no internet needed. It follows your Mac's light or dark appearance. |
PDF (.pdf) |
Preview, or any PDF reader | Paginated, with the chat name at the top of each page. Long chats are split into -part-001.pdf, -part-002.pdf and so on. Photos, videos and voice notes are not shown inside the PDF; with Include media they are saved in the media/ folder next to it. |
Text (.txt) |
TextEdit, or any text editor | One line per message, with the date, time and sender in brackets. |
Spreadsheet (.csv) |
Numbers, Excel, Google Sheets | One row per message. The first row has the column names. |
If you chose Text only, or exported to text or spreadsheet, there is no media/ folder. Only web page and PDF exports with Include media copy the files.
Reading and searching
Section titled "Reading and searching"- In a browser or Preview, press Command-F to search inside a chat.
- In the spreadsheet, filter or sort by the
sender_name,timestamporkindcolumn. - To search across all chats at once, use Search messages in Chatcove's Chats section before you export.
Printing
Section titled "Printing"- A PDF prints straight from Preview.
- To print a web page, open it in your browser and use Print. Because Chatcove's PDF format does not show photos, this is also the way to get a PDF with photos in it: print the web page export and choose to save it as a PDF in the print dialog.
- Each exported page names the app version and the export date in its header and footer, so a printed copy shows where it came from.
Times are in UTC
Section titled "Times are in UTC"Message times in every export are UTC, not your local time. The spreadsheet shows them as ISO 8601 with a Z. The web page, PDF and text file say UTC in the header or footer but do not label each message. Keep this in mind if you quote a time.
Keeping and archiving
Section titled "Keeping and archiving"- Keep the whole export folder together. A web page links to its photos and videos with a relative
media/path, so copy the entire folder, not only the.htmlfile. If you move the.htmlalone, the media will show as missing. - To send or store an export, compress the folder in Finder (right-click, Compress). Media can make the folder large.
- Each export gets its own folder, so earlier exports are never overwritten. Delete old ones in Finder when you no longer need them.
- To keep a copy that does not depend on Chatcove or your iPhone, the export folder is all you need. Web pages are self-contained and open offline.
- The iPhone backup that Chatcove made is separate and stays in Chatcove's own storage. See How the local backup works.