How to Export a Telegram Chat to PDF

Short answer: export the chat in Telegram Desktop on a computer, because the phone apps and Telegram Web have no chat export. Then drag the folder Telegram writes onto Telegram to PDF, choose a layout and press Convert to PDF. The PDF is built in your browser, so your messages stay on your computer.

How to export the chat from Telegram Desktop

1. Open Telegram Desktop on a computer. On a Mac, install it from desktop.telegram.org: the Telegram app in the Mac App Store is a different client.
2. Open the chat, click the three dots at the top right and choose Export chat history (the wording can vary by version).
3. Pick JSON or HTML. Both work here. Only photos are ticked at first, so tick videos, voice messages or files if you want them, then click Export.
4. Leave the computer on and do not quit Telegram until it finishes. A long chat full of files takes a while.

You get a folder named ChatExport plus the date, by default in a Telegram Desktop folder inside Downloads.

The first time, Telegram may hold the request for about a day and notify your other devices. That is an anti-abuse measure, not a problem with your account. Confirming from a phone or tablet where you are signed in usually lifts the wait. Otherwise repeat the export at the time Telegram gives you, on the same computer.

How to turn the export into a PDF

1. Drag the whole folder onto the page, or use Select the whole folder instead. With that button your browser asks you to confirm and uses the word upload, but nothing is uploaded.
2. Check Which of these is you above the preview. That person sits on the right in Chat bubbles. A private chat usually has it filled in, and a group starts on None of them.
3. Under Layout, choose Chat bubbles (looks like the conversation), Document (compact, for paper) or Transcript (plain lines, the fewest pages).
4. Under Options, set Date range, Include photos and Page size.
5. Press Convert to PDF.

Say a contractor disputes what you agreed about a job in March. Set Date range from 1 to 31 March, choose Document and keep Show times on. The counter at the top of the preview shows how many messages of the whole chat will go in.

What the page accepts

• The whole folder. Use this one: it brings the photos and every part of a long chat.
• A zip. The folder zipped, or only what is inside it.
• Only result.json or messages.html. The words come through, the pictures do not, and the page says how many are missing.

Telegram cuts a long HTML export into messages.html, messages2.html and so on. The folder gives you one PDF, in order. Add one part alone and the page names the missing file.

When the export or the PDF will not help

• You only have a phone. For a few messages, take screenshots and join them with JPG to PDF.
• Secret chats. They live only on the device where they started, so no export holds them.
• Chats that restrict saving. While a group, a channel or a private chat has this on, Telegram Desktop does not offer the export.
• Voice messages and videos. If you ticked them in Telegram, a voice message becomes a labelled line and a video a still frame. Unticked or over the size limit set there, they read as not included, and the page counts them. Keep the export folder if you need the sound.
• Thousands of photos. One PDF holds 5,485 pictures at most, and past 787 each is stored smaller. Over the limit, shorten the Date range, turn off Include photos or turn on Group media sent in a row, which turns a run of media into one line such as 98 photos.

Frequently asked questions

Can I export a Telegram chat on my phone?

No. The iPhone and Android apps have no chat export, and neither does Telegram Web. You need a computer.

Should I choose JSON or HTML?

Either works, and replies, forwards and reactions come through from both. JSON names each sender by a fixed id, so the tool tells which side is yours more reliably. If the page says Telegram wrote your result.json in an unreadable form, that is a known bug in some versions, triggered by custom emoji. Export the chat again as HTML.

Can I use the PDF as evidence?

It keeps the whole thread with its timestamps in order, which covers most workplace and business records. It is not a certified forensic capture, so keep the original export folder next to it.