How to print text messages from your Android phone or tablet

Most online conversations happen through text messages. Since it is such a popular mode of communication, you might want to print out memorable chats. Or perhaps you need them as evidence. Although your Android phone does not have a built-in functionality to print messages, there are a few workarounds.

This guide discusses how to print text messages from an Android phone using the Google Messages app, the default texting app on most new Android phones. If you use another app to text, it might have other ways to print text messages that aren’t listed here.

How to print text messages from your Android phone

The most natural place to print your Android text messages is from the phone you texted on. Google Messages does not include a way to print texts from within the app. The best workaround is to print screenshots of the messages you want from your mobile phone.

1. Open the Messages app.
2. Select or search for the conversation you want to print messages from.
3. Find the messages you would like to print.

   

   

4. Press the volume down and power buttons simultaneously to take a screenshot.
5. If the text messages you want to print don’t fit on your screen, tap the Capture More button at the bottom of your screen. Then, drag the bounds of the capture box to select the content you want to capture. It may not capture all the content you want to print, but it captures more than the default.
6. Tap the Share button.

   

   

7. Scroll down and tap the Print icon.
8. Choose a printer and tap the Print button.

   

   

Check your printer. Your texts should be printed and ready to share.

How to print text messages from the Google Messages web app

If printing texts from your phone is bothersome, print them from your computer.

The screenshots in this section follow these steps using a Chromebook. If you use a Windows or Mac device, the steps for printing from Chrome or printing a screenshot may differ slightly.

1. Set up Google Messages on the web if this is your first time using it on your computer.
2. Next, go to messages.google.com on Chrome on your computer.

   

3. Find the conversation you’d like to print.

   

You now have two options to print messages:

• Click the three dots in the upper-right corner of the page. In the menu, tap the Print option. Use the Chrome print menu to choose a printer and printing options and print your messages.
• Take screenshots of your conversation like you would on your Android device. After you take the screenshot, go to your files, find the screenshot, and print it.

Either method should allow you to print your messages quickly and easily.

You can access your text messages using Microsoft’s
Phone Link
application if you’re a Windows PC user.

How to back up and search your Android messages quickly

You can also back up your Android SMS messages at once and save that backup in an easily accessed location. This way, you can revisit old texts reliably, search texts, and print what you want from the comfort of your computer. It’s one of the best options if you have a lot of texts to go through and not a lot of time.

1. Download SMS Backup & Restore. This service is free but has some ads.
2. Open the app and sign in to set up the service.
3. Choose Set Up a Backup when you are signed in.

   

   

4. Choose the media you want to back up. Choose Messages or Selected conversations. One of the advantages of this service is that you can search through backups whenever you want, even if you didn’t realize a conversation was important, so we suggest choosing all messages if you aren’t sure.
5. Choose a place to store your message backup. Select a cloud service you regularly use. You can save text messages in Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive. Toggle your preferred service, and make sure to toggle off other options. You can also upload to another device over Wi-Fi.

   

6. Sign in to your cloud account and select Save to complete the process.
7. If you want, you can now set that backup to update periodically, such as every week. It is one of the benefits of this service. You don’t have to manually update your text logs if you don’t want to. That can be useful in a professional setting or if you’re an avid texter.
8. Sign in to your computer and log in to your cloud storage platform, like Google Drive. Find the saved document of your messages and use the Find function to search based on specific words or dates. Use your cloud platform or browser to print the conversations you want.

Printing text messages for legal purposes

Do you need to print text messages for legal purposes, such as court evidence? The above methods should work fine for legal documents. However, we have a couple of bits of advice for this situation:

• Always ensure text conversations are carefully dated, even if you must manually add the dates. Don’t guess at dates if you don’t know for sure.
• In addition to hard copies, save your text conversations as a PDF file. PDFs are necessary to forward information to court clerks, lawyers, and others.
• Contact a lawyer if you have any other questions about using texts for legal purposes.

Your texts in print

Printing text messages from your phone or tablet is straightforward, whether you want a physical copy of conversations or evidence for court. Don’t worry if you have accidentally deleted crucial texts; you can easily find and retrieve them on your Android phone. You may also want to activate Rich Communications Services (RCS) chats on Google Messages for a superior messaging experience.