Guides

How to print text messages from an Android phone

The free ways to print Android texts, how to save them to your computer, and how to print a whole conversation as a book.

Joshua Z

Founder, My Forever Books

Start your Android message book (You'll be surprised how easy we made this.)

Can you print text messages from an Android phone?

Yes. Android messaging apps have no print button, but there are good free ways around that:

• A few messages: take screenshots and print them from your phone or a computer.
• A whole conversation, on paper or as a PDF: back it up with the free SMS Backup & Restore app, open the backup in our free Android SMS viewer, and print it from your browser.
• A conversation you want to keep: upload the same backup and have it printed as a book, with photos, in order.

Table of contents

1. Can you print text messages from an Android phone?
2. Option 1: Print screenshots
3. Option 2: Back up your texts and print them free
4. Option 3: Print the whole conversation as a book
5. Which option should you use?
6. Printing texts for a record or court case
7. FAQs

Option 1: Print screenshots

Best for a handful of messages.

1. Open the conversation and scroll to the first message you want.
2. Press the power and volume down buttons together to take a screenshot. Scroll, and repeat with a little overlap until you reach the end.
3. Open a screenshot in Google Photos or your Gallery app, open the menu, and choose Print. On some phones it sits under Share.

No printer connected to your phone? Share the screenshots to your email or Google Drive and print them from a computer. Past a few dozen messages, the next option is much faster.

Option 2: Back up your texts and print them free

This prints a full conversation without screenshots, and the backup file it starts with is also the best way to save your texts to your computer.

1. Back up your texts with SMS Backup & Restore

1. Install SMS Backup & Restore from the Google Play Store.
2. Open it, choose to set up a backup, and select messages. Include photos (MMS) if you want them.
3. Save the backup to Google Drive, or to your phone and then over a USB cable to your computer.

The backup is an XML file. Keep a copy somewhere safe: it is your archive if the phone is ever lost or reset. If you just want to read it, see how to view SMS Backup & Restore files on your computer.

2. Print it from the free viewer

1. Open the Android SMS viewer on your computer and upload the XML file. No sign-up needed.
2. Pick the conversation and check that the messages and photos look right.
3. Open your browser's print window (Ctrl+P on Windows, Command+P on Mac).
4. Print on paper, or choose Save as PDF to keep a digital copy.

The limits: page breaks fall wherever they fall, there is no cover or structure, and a long conversation becomes a very long printout. For a quick record that is fine. For something to keep, the next option holds up better.

Option 3: Print the whole conversation as a book

Upload the same backup file to My Forever Books and we lay the conversation out as a bound book: message bubbles, names, dates, and photos in order, with a cover you design.

Years ago my mother lost all our texts and it really hurt her. Ever since, I wanted to create a book for her from my archived record of our chats. The process was incredibly easy, the production was fast, and the quality was fantastic.

- Chris M., verified customer

1. Upload the XML backup. Your conversations load into the editor.
2. Remove messages, fix typos, add pages of your own, and choose a cover. You can edit on your computer or your phone.
3. Preview every page, then order. Production and delivery usually take about 1 to 3 weeks.

See how Android books work on the Android message book page, or start your book now.

I got my wife a book of our first two years of text messages and she absolutely loved it. The process was super easy, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a meaningful gift.

- Gaurav, verified customer

Which option should you use?

Book prices are on the pricing page.

Printing texts for a record or court case

If the printout is for a court, a lawyer, an employer, or an insurance claim, ask whoever needs it which format they accept before you start. A record should show who each message is from and when it was sent, so keep names and dates visible in screenshots, or print from the viewer.

A book from us is a keepsake rather than a record: you can edit messages before it prints, so it is not the right choice when the exact original matters.

Printing from another app?

• How to print text messages from iPhone
• How to print WhatsApp messages