How to export a WhatsApp chat to Excel

The short answer

Export the chat from WhatsApp as a text file, then split each line into date, time, sender and message columns. You can do the splitting yourself with Excel's Text to Columns or Power Query, which is free but fiddly, or open the export in ChatXport and click Export XLS, which gives you a finished spreadsheet with one row per message.

People want a chat in Excel for different reasons: counting how often something came up, building a timeline for a dispute, handing a record to HR or a lawyer, or filtering a busy work group down to the messages that matter. A spreadsheet is better than a PDF for all of these, because you can sort, filter and add your own notes beside each message.

Step 1: Export the chat from WhatsApp

On Android:

1. Open the chat.
2. Tap the three dots in the top corner, then More, then Export chat.
3. Choose Without media if you only need the text, or Include media if you also want the photos and files.
4. Send the export to yourself by email, save it to Google Drive, or save it to the phone, then move it to your computer.

On iPhone:

1. Open the chat and tap the contact or group name at the top.
2. Scroll down and tap Export Chat.
3. Choose Without Media or Attach Media.
4. Send it on with Mail, AirDrop, Save to Files or a cloud drive.

Without media you get one .txt file. With media you get a .zip that holds the text file plus the media. For a spreadsheet, the text file is what matters.

Step 2, option A: Split the text file in Excel

This method costs nothing and keeps the chat on your computer.

1. If you have a .zip, extract it. On Windows, right-click and choose Extract All. On a Mac, double-click it.
2. Open Excel and start a blank workbook.
3. Go to Data, then From Text/CSV, and pick the .txt file. If Excel suggests columns that look wrong, choose to transform the data in Power Query instead of loading it straight away.
4. Split the column. Look at a few lines first to see how your export separates the parts. Many Android exports look like 12/03/2024, 14:05 - Name: Message, and many iPhone exports look like [12/03/2024, 14:05:31] Name: Message. Split on the first comma to get the date, then on the dash or closing bracket to get the time, then on the first colon after the name to separate the sender from the message.
5. Load the result into a sheet and turn on filters.

It works, but expect to clean up afterwards. Any message that runs over several lines puts its later lines on new rows with nothing in the date or sender columns. Splitting on a colon or comma also breaks when those characters appear inside a message or a contact name. System lines, such as "Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted" or someone joining a group, end up mixed in with real messages. And the date format follows your phone's settings, so a day and month can come out swapped if Excel guesses wrong.

Forum threads on this are common. In one, a user on the My Online Training Hub forum wanted to split a pasted WhatsApp chat of about 20,000 rows into one column per person. That shows how quickly this turns into formula work.

Step 2, option B: Use a script

If you are comfortable with code, a short script can parse the export and write a CSV or Excel file. Open source examples exist, such as whatsapp-converter on GitHub and the walkthrough on GeeksforGeeks. Scripts deal with multi-line messages better than a manual split, and they run on your own machine. You still need to match the date format of your export, and you need Python set up to run them.

Step 2, option C: Open it in ChatXport and export to Excel

ChatXport is a browser app that reads WhatsApp exports. It works out the dates, senders and multi-line messages for you, and it runs inside the browser tab on your own device. The export is not uploaded and there is no account.

1. Go to app.chatxport.com and drop in the .zip or .txt file.
2. Check the chat looks right. The table view shows each message as a row, which is close to what the spreadsheet will contain.
3. If you only want part of the chat, filter it first. You can search for a word or name, set a date range, pick one sender, or show only messages with images, videos, audio or documents.
4. Click Export XLS. The file downloads to your device.

The spreadsheet has a short header showing the number of messages, images, videos and documents, then one row per message with these columns: #, Date, Time, Sender, Type, Message and Attachments. The Type column marks each row as an ordinary message, a media message or a system notice, so you can filter system lines out in one step. The header row stays frozen while you scroll, and filters are already switched on. Long messages wrap inside their cell instead of spilling onto new rows.

Chats of 300 messages or fewer are free to view and export in full. For longer chats, the first 300 messages are free to read, and a one-time $9 unlock opens the whole chat along with Excel and PDF export. There is no subscription.

Which method should you use?

• A short chat, once. Splitting it in Excel is fine if you do not mind tidying a few rows.
• A long or messy chat. Multi-line messages and system notices make manual splitting slow. A parser, whether a script or ChatXport, saves the clean-up.
• Only part of the chat. Filtering by date, sender or search term before exporting keeps the spreadsheet to what is relevant.
• A private chat. Stay on your own device. Excel on your computer, a local script and ChatXport all qualify. Uploading the file to an online converter, or opening it in an online spreadsheet, puts a copy on someone else's server.

If the spreadsheet is for someone else, such as a lawyer or an HR team, keep the original .zip exactly as WhatsApp produced it alongside the spreadsheet. A spreadsheet is easy to read and filter, but it is also easy to edit, so the original export is the better reference if anyone questions what was said.

If you work with exports often

If you handle WhatsApp exports regularly, the ChatXport desktop app for Windows stores chats on your computer with no message limit, and adds workspaces, search across chats, bookmarks and notes. Its Excel export includes your bookmarks and notes as extra columns.

Frequently asked questions

Can WhatsApp export a chat directly to Excel or CSV?

No. WhatsApp only exports a chat as a .txt file, or as a .zip holding the .txt and any media. Turning it into a spreadsheet is a separate step.

Why do some messages end up in the wrong column when I split the text file?

Messages that span several lines put their later lines on new rows with no date or sender in front, so a simple split treats them as new messages. Commas or dashes inside the message text can also confuse a split based on those characters.

Will photos and voice notes appear in the spreadsheet?

No spreadsheet method puts the media itself into the cells. In ChatXport's Excel export, the Attachments column lists the filename of each photo, video, voice note or document sent with that message.

Can I export only some of the messages?

Yes. In ChatXport, filter the chat first by search term, date range, sender or media type. The Excel file contains only the messages in that filtered view.

Does the date format depend on my phone?

Yes. The export uses your phone's date and time settings, so a chat exported in one country can show dates in a different order, or 12 hour times instead of 24 hour, compared with one exported elsewhere. Check this before you split dates by hand.

Is it safe to use an online WhatsApp to Excel converter?

Many online converters upload the file to their server. If the chat is private, use a method that runs on your own device, such as Excel itself, a script you run locally, or ChatXport, which reads the export in the browser without uploading it.