Help

Requirements

• Chrome or Edge on a computer.
• Firefox 142 or later.

Export a chat

1. Open web.whatsapp.com and open the chat.
2. Click the extension in the browser's toolbar and choose Export this chat. Outside WhatsApp Web the button is off, and the popup says why.
3. The first time, read the notice and choose I understand. Export only chats you are allowed to keep: an export holds other people's messages.
4. Choose dates or a sender if you want only part of the chat, then press Start.
5. Keep the WhatsApp Web tab open while the export runs. Press Stop to end it early; the files then hold what was read so far, and the report says the export was stopped.

The export is saved as a ZIP with the TXT, JSON, CSV, and HTML files. In Chrome and Edge you can choose a folder instead.

The files

• TXT: one line per message, for reading or printing.
• JSON: every field, for programs.
• CSV: one row per message, for spreadsheets.
• HTML: an offline page with the messages, a date jump, and a search box. It loads nothing from the internet.

Each file starts with the completeness report: the dates covered, where the export stopped, and counts of what was not available.

What an export may miss

• WhatsApp Web may not load a chat's oldest messages. The export says where it stopped.
• View-once and disappearing messages are not available, and are counted in the report.
• Videos, voice notes, and documents are reported as missing when WhatsApp Web does not hold the full file in the page.
• Restricted chats cannot be exported.

Media

On All tools, the export saves the photos and files the browser session can reach. Every media item the extension cannot save is listed in the missing-media report with a reason: not loaded, not on the device, failed, or needs All tools.

A separate checkbox, off by default, lets the extension click a photo's or file's own download control during one export, so WhatsApp Web loads that file. Without it, only media already loaded is saved.

In Firefox, saving very large media files uses a lot of memory. Unlocking a locked archive with very large files also uses a lot of memory in Firefox; Chrome and Edge unlock them more efficiently.

Several chats in one queue (All tools)

Tick several chats on the export page, tick the box that lets the extension open the next chat, and press Start. Chats are exported one at a time, with a 5 to 15 second pause between them. If the export page or the WhatsApp Web tab closes, the queue pauses and continues only when you choose Resume. Each chat gets its own files, and queue-report.html lists each chat's dates covered, message count, and missing-media count. A chat that can't be opened is skipped, and the others still finish. On the free plan the queue is shown, but Start is off.

Save as PDF (All tools)

Each chat in the library has a Save as PDF button. The PDF shows one block per message with the time, sender, text, quoted replies, reactions, captions, and thumbnails of saved images. Page 1 carries the completeness report, and every page has "Page n of m". Long chats are split into volumes of up to 10,000 messages, each naming its date range. Every page prints the SHA-256 hash of the chat's JSON file, and a .sha256 file lists that hash and the hash of every saved media file, so you can check the files haven't changed. Right-to-left text and color emoji print correctly. In Firefox, the browser may print its own default footer if its direct PDF save isn't available.

Refresh a chat (All tools)

Each chat in the library has a Refresh button. Open the same chat and press Start: the extension reads only the messages added since the last export and joins them into the library export. The earlier export's files are left untouched. If it can't find where the last export ended, it runs a full export and says so. Refresh never runs on its own. On the free plan, a full re-export is still allowed within the daily limit.

Locked archives (lock with All tools, unlock free)

On the extension's Locked archives page, pick an export folder or its ZIP files and type a passphrase twice. It must be 15 to 1,024 characters, and common passphrases are refused. Use a password from a password manager, or at least six words chosen at random. The file is named Locked archive <yyyy-mm-dd>.waarchive, without the chat's name, because a file name isn't encrypted. Locking deletes nothing: the original export stays on disk and in the library.

Unlock is free on every plan, so a lapsed license never locks you out of your own archive. Unlock first checks every part of the archive, then restores the original files. In Chrome and Edge, it writes into a new folder and never writes over a file that has content. In Firefox, the files are saved as ZIP downloads. A wrong passphrase and a damaged archive give the same message.

If you lose the passphrase, this archive cannot be opened. There is no way to recover it. Anyone who has the passphrase can open the archive. The browser may keep unencrypted temporary copies while unlocking, which the extension can't erase.

Library

Each export is kept in the library as its own entry, even when another chat has the same name. Each entry shows its message count, export date, and a short label that never changes, so two exports of the same chat can be told apart. Each entry uses storage on this computer; delete the ones you no longer need.

Search by word, sender, and date across every entry. A result whose photo or file was not saved says why, such as needing All tools. If a search holds a term the extension cannot use, it says so and searches nothing, so results never get broader than you asked.

Plans and license

The free plan exports any chat 3 times a day, to all four formats, without media. An export counts when it saves its first file; one that saves no file doesn't count. It never counts when you press Start, and it counts once, even if it is stopped or fails after that first file. One that finds nothing to export, or whose window is closed before any file is saved, doesn't count. Free exports that are still running hold their places, so you can't run more than 3 at once. Exports on All tools are not counted. The count resets at local midnight. Searching the library is free on both plans. All tools ($8.99 a month, $49.99 a year, or $74.99 lifetime) removes the daily limit and saves media.

Buy from the extension's upgrade page. Payment runs on Stripe's checkout page, and the license key arrives by email. Paste the key on the upgrade page and choose Activate. Activating sends only the key to the license server. The extension checks the key again when its last answer is more than a day old; if the server cannot be reached, All tools stays on for a short grace period.

When WhatsApp Web changes

The extension reads WhatsApp Web's page, so a change there can break capture. The extension checks a signed status file on this site at most once a day. If that file pauses the extension's selectors version, the export page says export is paused until an update ships. If the file cannot be checked, export stays enabled, unless an earlier good copy already paused this selectors version; that pause stays until a newer signed file lifts it.

Contact

Email SUPPORT-EMAIL-PLACEHOLDER. WA Chat Export & Backup is not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta, so WhatsApp support cannot help with the extension.