Message Extractor

When the story of your case lives in years of texts, scrolling a phone isn't a workable way to find things — and screenshots lose the dates and context. The Message Extractor reads the export file your phone or app produces, turns every message into a row with its date, time, direction, and sender, and keeps the original export file with a fingerprint so you can show where the log came from.

Where to find it#

Open Cases, choose a court case, go to the Evidence tab, and click Import messages. The Messages page lists your imported conversations with their participants, source, message count, date range, and tags. From the header you can open How to import for step-by-step export instructions, or Export case messages.

Supported formats#

The file limit is 25 MB per import.

Getting the export off your phone#

These are the same steps the app shows under How to import.

Android texts — SMS Backup & Restore#

1. Install SMS Backup & Restore by SyncTech from the Google Play Store and open it.
2. Tap Set up a backup (or Back up now).
3. Turn on Messages. Call logs aren't needed.
4. Choose a local backup saved to the phone (not cloud-only), and keep the format as XML.
5. Run the backup and note where the .xml file was saved — usually a folder called SMSBackupRestore.
6. Move the .xml to your computer and import it with Platform set to SMS.

iPhone texts — iMazing#

1. Install iMazing on a Mac or PC and connect your iPhone with a cable.
2. Open Messages in iMazing and select the conversation.
3. Click Export and choose Excel / CSV.
4. Import the file with Platform set to SMS / iMessage. Import one conversation at a time when you set Other participant.

WhatsApp#

1. Open the chat you want to keep.
2. Android: tap ⋮ → More → Export chat. iPhone: tap the contact or group name → Export Chat.
3. Choose Without Media — text-only exports are much smaller and import cleanly.
4. Send the file to yourself (email, Files, or AirDrop) and download it on your computer. Unzip it if needed.
5. Import the .txt with Platform set to WhatsApp, and fill in Your name so your messages are marked as sent. Export each chat separately.

Facebook Messenger#

1. In Facebook go to Settings & privacy → Settings → Your information → Download your information (in Accounts Center).
2. Choose Messages, set Format to JSON and Date range to All time.
3. When the download is ready, unzip it and find the conversation's folder.
4. Import message_1.json, then message_2.json and so on. Encrypted-chat exports are supported.

Instagram#

1. Request a JSON download of your information from Accounts Center.
2. Unzip it and find the conversation under messages/inbox.
3. Set Platform to Instagram and import message_1.json, then the rest. Import each file once to avoid duplicates.

Importing a conversation#

1. Open the import panelExpand Import a conversation.
2. Fill in the detailsPlatform (leave on auto-detect unless it's Instagram), Your name (you), Other participant (labels every message with this name so it all groups into one conversation), and optionally the Device.
3. Choose the fileClick Select File.
4. Confirm where it came fromTick the box confirming the export came from your own device or account, or one you're legally authorized to access.
5. ImportClick Import. You'll see how many messages came in, and any notes from the reader.

The original export file is stored with its SHA-256 fingerprint. You and anyone with full access to the case can download it again from the conversation's Original files panel.

Fixing an import#

• My messages show as received. Use Set my name (fix direction) and enter the name the export used for you. Every message from that name is marked as sent.
• Wrong file, or imported twice. Undo last import works right after an import, in the same browser session. Otherwise delete the conversation and import again. Importing the same file twice creates duplicates.
• Start over. Clear all imported removes imported messages but keeps messages you logged through Comms Guard.

Reading and searching#

Click a conversation to open it.

• Search within the conversation highlights every match; step through them with Next → and ← Previous, or Enter and Shift+Enter.
• Tags: add tags to individual messages with + tag, then filter the conversation with the tag chips at the top.
• Rename participants changes how names display. The original names are kept and shown in exports as "(original: …)".
• Long conversations load 2,000 messages at a time — use Load more messages to keep going. Each message links back to its source file (and, for iMazing PDFs, the page).

Asking questions with AI#

AI search answers questions about your messages with quotes and message-number citations such as [MSG-00042], so you can check every claim against the source. Each question uses 1 AI operation from your Message Analyzer allowance.

• Across everything: Search with AI · All conversations.
• In one conversation: Ask AI about this conversation. Here the AI can also tag messages for you if you ask it to — for example, "Tag messages about missed pickups as missed pickup". It only adds tags; it never removes them.

Good questions are factual: "When did she first mention moving?", "How many times was pickup changed in March?", "List every message about the school conference." The AI sticks to what's in the messages — dates, frequency, who said what — and doesn't draw legal conclusions. For very large conversations it reads the first portion and tells you how much it scanned.

Exporting a message log#

Use Export conversation (one conversation) or Export case messages (everything in the case). The log opens as a printable page — click Print / Save as PDF to save it.

• Every message gets a number (MSG-00001, MSG-00002…), with its date and time, direction (sent or received), participant, channel, and text.
• The header shows your case caption and numbers, the filters used, the message count, when it was generated, and a SHA-256 fingerprint of the whole log.
• It ends with a records declaration template for you to complete. Ask a licensed attorney in your state whether and how to use it.

The DRAFT watermark and the one-time Message Log#

During your trial and on any paid plan, message logs export clean. On the Free plan they carry a "DRAFT — NOT UNLOCKED" watermark. You can remove it for one case with a one-time Court-ready Message Log purchase ($39, no subscription) — use Unlock this log on the export, or buy it from My account. One purchase unlocks the message log for one case.