How to print a WhatsApp conversation (or save it as a PDF)

What you need

• An exported chat: the ZIP, or the .txt with its media files. If you don’t have one yet, follow how to export a WhatsApp chat first.
• A phone or computer with a current browser: Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox or Samsung Internet all work.
• A printer, or nothing at all if you’re saving a PDF.

There’s nothing to install and no account to create. chatinprint reads the export in your browser, lays out the pages, and hands them to the browser’s own print engine.

Step by step

1. 1
   Export the chat from WhatsApp, with media if you want the photos in your printout.
2. 2
   Open chatinprint and choose the file. It’s read on your device; nothing is uploaded.
3. 3
   Pick which participant you are, so your messages sit on one side of the page.
4. 4

   Choose a layout: Chat (speech-bubble style with photos, good for family records) or Transcript (a numbered table, good for HR or legal files).

5. 5

   Choose the paper: A4 or Letter. The default follows the site’s language: Letter in English.

6. 6

   Choose a text size: S (10.5 pt), M (12 pt), or L (14 pt).

7. 7

   Tap Create PDF. chatinprint prepares the pages, then shows the exact steps for your browser.

8. 8
   In the print dialog, pick your printer, or choose Save as PDF.

Before step 7, the preview lets you scroll through the chat and check that the right participant is on your side and the right dates are in, before any paper is used.

The print dialog in your browser

Every browser words its print dialog a little differently. These are the same steps chatinprint shows you after you tap Create PDF, one set for each browser it recognises. Find yours:

Paper or PDF: the same dialog

Printing and saving a PDF are the same step: choose a printer to print, or Save as PDF to keep a file. You can do both, too: save the PDF first and print it whenever you need a paper copy.

The PDF has selectable text and clickable links in Chrome and Edge.

On an iPhone or iPad, chatinprint shows the document on the page itself and then opens Safari’s print options, because Safari prints more reliably that way. When you’re done, a button takes you back to the options.

Page numbers

Page numbers are added automatically when you print from Chrome, Edge and other Chromium browsers from version 131. Other browsers can’t add them yet; the cover page says so, and the Transcript layout numbers every message so you can still refer to “message 412”.

Big chats print in volumes

To keep your phone responsive, long chats are split: about 2,000 messages or 250 photos per volume on a phone, 8,000 / 1,000 on a computer.

Splits fall at month boundaries where possible, each volume has its own cover (“Volume 2 of 7”), and all carry the same fingerprint of your export. chatinprint tells you how many volumes to expect before it starts. Print them one after another from the Done screen.

Photos, voice notes and files

• In the Chat layout, photos print inline, scaled to fit the page. The originals stay untouched, and the HTML archive keeps them at full size.
• Voice notes, videos and documents print as cards with their name and size.
• HEIC photos print as a card too, which says the photo isn’t shown and that its fingerprint is recorded.
• Anything the export didn’t include is marked “Not included in export”.

Every photo is matched to the message that sent it, by the file name WhatsApp wrote in the chat, so pictures land next to the right words.

Tips for a clear printout

• Printing for someone with low vision? Choose size L and the Chat layout.
• For a dispute or HR file, use Transcript: every message has a number and its original date and time.
• Use the date range to print one period. The cover says a filter was used and shows how many messages are in the document out of the whole chat.
• Hide system messages if you want, and the cover discloses that too.
• Right-to-left chats (Arabic, Urdu, Hebrew) print right to left automatically, or choose the direction yourself.
• Check the page estimate before printing a long chat: chatinprint shows about how many pages each volume will take.

No printer?

Save as PDF and print it later anywhere, or download the HTML archive — it opens in any browser, offline, and can be printed from there.

If you’re keeping the chat as a record, also keep the original export as WhatsApp made it. The cover records its SHA-256 fingerprint, so a copy can be checked against it later; using a WhatsApp conversation as evidence explains what that does and doesn’t show.