How to export Instagram chat history and turn DMs into a book
Request your Instagram messages export, download your DM history, and turn the conversation into a book you can hold onto.
Joshua Z
Founder, My Forever Books
Instagram DMs often end up holding the story of a relationship without anyone planning for that to happen. Early flirting, daily check-ins, shared memes, voice notes, big news, and ordinary little moments all pile up there. This guide shows how to export that history cleanly so you can keep it.
If the file is already downloaded, you can start your Instagram book now. If not, follow the steps below and you will be ready to upload it.
Table of contents
- Why export Instagram DMs?
- What Instagram export file you need
- Step-by-step guide
- Tips for a better Instagram book
- FAQs
Why export Instagram DMs?
The value of the conversation is usually obvious. The annoying part is getting Instagram to hand it over in a format you can use. Once you request the right file, the thread stops living only in your inbox.
- Instagram DMs are easy to treat as temporary even when they are emotionally important.
- Exporting gives you a copy outside the app and outside one device.
- A book makes a long DM history feel readable again.
What Instagram export file you need
Instagram gives you more than one export option, but you only need one of them. Choose the version that keeps the messages intact and uploads without extra fuss.
- Request the export from Instagram Accounts Center.
- Choose Some of your information.
- Select only Messages.
- Change the format to JSON, not HTML.
JSON works best with My Forever Books, so it is the format you want here.
Step-by-step guide
Instagram does not hand the file over instantly, so this process is partly about setting up the request correctly and partly about knowing what to do once the .zip arrives.
- Open the Instagram Accounts Center.
- Choose Download or transfer information.
- Select Some of your information, then choose Messages.
- Choose where you want the export delivered.
- Set the format to JSON.
- Click Create files and wait for Instagram to prepare the export.
- Come back and download the finished .zip file.
- Upload the file to My Forever Books and continue in the editor.
Once the export is ready, you can keep going on your phone too. Both the book editor and cover editor fully work on mobile.
And if the thread is huge, that is fine. There are no file limits, and we split long conversations into neat volumes labeled by message dates so everything stays organized.
Tips for a better Instagram book
Upload first, edit later. Once the thread is laid out in the editor, it is much easier to see what belongs in the book and what does not.
- You do not need to cut down a long DM thread before uploading it.
- There are no file limits, and if the export runs long, we split it into neat volumes.
- Each project is labeled by the message dates so long chats stay organized.