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How to export a WhatsApp chat to PDF for court (Android)

By Kayabyte · Last updated 31 October 2026

Short answer: on your Android phone, open the chat in WhatsApp, tap the three dots, then More, then Export chat, and choose Include media or Without media. WhatsApp makes a text file (a .zip when media is included) but not a PDF. Send the file to a computer and print it to PDF, or use an app that builds a numbered PDF from it. Courts decide what they accept, so keep the phone and the original export, and check your court’s rules or ask a lawyer.

This guide is practical help, not legal advice.

Step 1: Export the chat

  1. Update WhatsApp first.
  2. Open the chat, tap the three dots, then More, then Export chat.
  3. Choose Include media or Without media.
  4. Send the file to yourself: email, Google Drive, or copy it with a cable. Android may split a chat with many photos into a .txt and a .zip, so keep both.

WhatsApp limits the size of an export. Its help pages give about the latest 10,000 messages with media and about 40,000 without media, so a very long chat may be cut off.

Step 2: Keep the original untouched

Copy the export to a safe folder and work only on copies. Keep the phone: it is the source. Exhibitly does not read Android phone backups (Google Drive or local), so for an Android chat the export file is the route.

Step 3: Turn the file into a PDF yourself (free)

  1. On a Mac, open the .txt in TextEdit, choose File, Print, then PDF at the bottom left, then Save as PDF. On Windows, open it in Notepad or Word and print to PDF.
  2. Open the PDF and read through it. Each message should have a date, time and sender.

You will be missing page numbers, photos next to their messages, and any sign that the file was not changed. The phone’s date order (day first or month first) is not written down in the file, so a date such as 03/04 needs checking by you. See also How to print WhatsApp messages on a Mac.

Step 4 (optional): Let Exhibitly build the PDF

Exhibitly is a Mac app we make. Version 1.1.0 reads WhatsApp export files from Android as well as iPhone, in many languages and date formats:

  1. In Exhibitly choose File, Import WhatsApp Chat…, or drop the .txt and the .zip on the window. Help, How to Export a WhatsApp Chat repeats the Android steps in the app.
  2. When the date order is ambiguous, Exhibitly asks you, showing a real date from your file. You can also choose which person is you, and the time zone the times are in.
  3. Pick the whole chat or some messages, and hide what should not be shared.
  4. Export a PDF with page numbers and photos inline, an Excel file, the original attachments with SHA-256 fingerprints, and a verification page. Evidence Bundle adds Bates numbers and an exhibit cover page.

The verification page says that the source was a WhatsApp export file, not a database read, that Exhibitly cannot tell whether it was changed before import, and that its SHA-256 was recorded at import. Exhibitly does not read Android backups. Everything stays on your Mac. Free preview: 50 messages per export, watermarked PDF.

Download Exhibitly (free preview) or look at a sample export first. macOS 14 or later. Personal USD 39, Evidence Bundle USD 69, one time.

Is a WhatsApp export accepted in court?

The court decides. An export is a text file and anyone could have edited it, so courts often want more, such as the phone, the other person’s copy or a statement from you that the messages are genuine. Ask a lawyer what your court expects. More: export file or iPhone backup.