How to save a Telegram chat: export and bot
You can save a chat to a file in Telegram Desktop: it has an export of chat history in HTML or JSON, with media. We did not find such a function in the mobile apps, where forwarding to Saved Messages and screenshots remain. An export is a snapshot of the moment you run it. The Flashback bot keeps a copy going forward, from the moment you connect it, but only for 7, 30 or 60 days, so it is not a backup.
Open in TelegramTelegram opens. No Premium needed, and the bot will see only the private chats you choose.
Exporting one chat in Telegram Desktop
Open the chat on your computer, click the “⋯” menu at the top and choose Export chat history. Telegram lets you pick what to include (photos, videos, voice messages, files and more) and the format: HTML is easy to read, JSON is for processing. The result is a folder on your computer; if you exported one chat, the main file in it is called messages.html.
Exporting all your chats at once
In Telegram Desktop open the settings and choose Export Telegram data, as Telegram’s blog describes. You can pick some chats or all of them and choose which data to include. The format is the same, HTML or JSON.
On a phone: iPhone and Android
Telegram describes export only for Telegram Desktop, and we did not find it in the iPhone and Android apps. There are workarounds: select the messages you need and forward them to Saved Messages, copy the text, or take screenshots. Messages cannot be forwarded from secret chats, as Telegram’s FAQ says.
What an export will not bring back
An export is a copy of what was in the chat at the moment you ran it. What the other person deleted before that will not be in the file, and what is in it stays there even if the message is deleted later. So an important chat is better exported in advance. A chat that is already deleted cannot be exported.
The bot as a copy for the future
Flashback saves messages of the connected private chats from the moment you connect. Deleted and edited ones arrive as cards, and the whole chat is visible in the Mini App in read-only mode, with text search. A copy of the archive can be downloaded in the Mini App. This works only going forward: what was in the chat before you connected, the bot does not save.
Why this is not a backup
The bot’s archive is kept for 7, 30 or 60 days and then deleted automatically, and if you disconnect the bot it is erased after 48 hours. It exists so that you learn about a deletion or an edit and have time to take what you need. If you need a conversation for the long term, run an export and keep the file yourself.
How to handle an export
The file holds the whole conversation, including what the other person wrote, and sits on your disk as an ordinary file. Keep it somewhere only you can access, and do not publish it.
More questions
- Can I export a chat from my phone?
- Telegram’s blog describes export for Telegram Desktop, and we did not find it in the mobile apps. On a phone you can forward messages to Saved Messages or take screenshots.
- Will a deleted message survive in an export?
- Only if it was in the chat when you ran the export: it stays in the file even if the message is deleted later. What was deleted before the export will not be in it.
- How can I save a conversation so the other person cannot delete it?
- The other person can delete messages in the chat, but not your file. Run an export, or connect a bot that saves messages from that moment on.
- How long does the bot keep the saved conversation?
- 7, 30 or 60 days, then the archive is deleted automatically. For long-term keeping use an export.
Related questions
Past deletions are gone. The next ones you can see
Connect Flashback before something important gets erased. The bot walks you through connecting step by step, and you can disconnect it at any time.
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