A macOS app for exporting your iMessage conversations to Markdown files.

Part of the Proofbound family of tools.

• Export to Markdown - Save your message history as clean, readable Markdown files
• Group Chat Support - Export both individual conversations and group messages with full participant attribution
• Contact Integration - Displays contact names from your Contacts app instead of raw phone numbers
• Smart Consolidation - Groups multiple phone numbers for the same contact (e.g., "+1 (555) 123-4567" and "5551234567" are recognized as the same person)
• Message Preview - See recent messages before exporting to verify you have the right conversation
• Attachment Support - Copies images, videos, and audio files to an attachments/ folder with proper Markdown links
• Date Range Filtering - Export only messages within a specific date range
• Reaction Support - iMessage reactions displayed with emoji (❤️ Loved, 👍 Liked, 😂 Laughed at, etc.)
• Group Actions - System messages for member changes formatted clearly (added/removed participants)
• Built-in Help - Comprehensive documentation accessible from within the app

• macOS 13.0 or later
• Full Disk Access - Required to read the Messages database (~/Library/Messages/chat.db)
• Contacts Access (optional) - For displaying contact names instead of phone numbers

1. Download the latest release from GitHub Releases
2. Unzip TextKeep-v1.3.6.zip
3. Move TextKeep.app to your Applications folder
4. Launch and follow the permission prompts

1. Clone the repository
2. Open TextKeep.xcodeproj in Xcode
3. Build and run (Cmd+R)
4. Grant Full Disk Access when prompted (System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access)

1. Launch TextKeep - You'll see a welcome screen on first launch
2. Grant permissions when prompted:
   • Full Disk Access - Click "Open System Settings" and enable TextKeep (required to read your Messages)
   • Contacts - Click "Allow" when the system dialog appears (optional, but recommended for showing names instead of phone numbers)
3. Select a contact from the sidebar
4. Review the message preview to confirm it's the conversation you want
5. Set your desired date range
6. Click "Export to Markdown" and choose a save location

# Messages with John Doe

**Contact:** +1 (555) 123-4567
**Date Range:** January 1, 2024 - January 20, 2025
**Total Messages:** 142
**Exported:** Jan 20, 2025 at 3:45 PM

---

## January 15, 2024

10:30 AM - **Me**
> Hey, how's it going?

10:32 AM - **John Doe**
> Great! Just finished that project.

10:33 AM - **Me**
> ❤️ Loved: "Great! Just finished that project."

![Image: photo.jpg](attachments/1_photo.jpg)

# Group Chat: Weekend Plans

**Participants:** John Doe (+1 555-123-4567), Jane Smith (jane@example.com), Bob Wilson (+1 555-987-6543)
**Date Range:** January 1, 2025 - January 22, 2026
**Total Messages:** 234
**Exported:** Jan 22, 2026 at 3:45 PM

---

## January 15, 2025

9:15 AM - **System**
> ℹ️ [System] John Doe added Bob Wilson

10:30 AM - **John Doe**
> Hey everyone, meeting at 3pm?

10:32 AM - **Me**
> Sounds good!

10:33 AM - **Jane Smith**
> I'll be there

• Read-only - TextKeep only reads from your Messages database; it never modifies it
• Local only - No data is sent anywhere; everything stays on your Mac
• No telemetry - No analytics, tracking, or network connections
• Open source - Full source code available for review

• Built with SwiftUI
• Uses SQLite3 to read the Messages database directly
• Uses the Contacts framework for contact name resolution
• Handles both modern (NSKeyedArchiver) and legacy (typedstream) attributedBody blob formats
• Dual-source text extraction ensures complete message recovery from database

• iCloud Messages - Attachments stored only in iCloud may show as "not found". Scroll through old conversations in Messages.app to trigger downloads.

TextKeep is developed by Proofbound, creators of AI-powered book creation tools. We believe in building useful, privacy-respecting software.

• Window Size Controls - Added Cmd+0 keyboard shortcut and double-click on header to reset window size
• Window Size Limits - Enforced min/max window dimensions to prevent UI layout issues
• Proofbound Footer - Added "Generated with Proofbound™" footer to all exported markdown files
• Improved Default Layout - Increased default window height from 500 to 700 for better content visibility

• Update Checker - Check for new versions directly from the app with "Check for Updates..." menu command (Help > Check for Updates or Cmd+U)
• Smart Version Display - All version displays now read dynamically from app bundle (no more hardcoded versions)
• In-App Update Notifications - Get notified when new versions are available with one-click download links
• Privacy-Focused - Manual checking only, no automatic background checks or telemetry

• Fixed Message Truncation - Added NSUnarchiver support for legacy typedstream format messages (fixes truncated text from older conversations)
• Dual-Source Text Extraction - Compares both text column and attributedBody blob, uses whichever is more complete
• Improved Blob Parsing - Increased heuristic scanning limit from 5KB to 100KB for very long messages
• Enhanced About Menu - Displays Proofbound copyright and link to proofbound.com
• Help Menu - Added Help menu (Cmd+?) that opens comprehensive help documentation in separate window
• Reaction Formatting - Display iMessage reactions with emoji (❤️ Loved, 👍 Liked, etc.)
• Group Action Messages - Show system messages for group member changes (ℹ️ [System] Added Person)
• Cleaner Exports - Removed attachment identifier artifacts and metadata leakage from exports

• Group Message Support - Full support for exporting group chats with proper sender attribution
• Enhanced UI - Added Proofbound logo, improved header with tagline, consistent custom fonts throughout
• Built-in Help - Comprehensive help page with documentation, troubleshooting, and about section
• Protocol-Oriented Architecture - Unified handling of individual and group conversations
• Performance optimizations with sender name caching for group exports

• Fixed Contacts permission dialog not appearing on first launch
• Added required addressbook entitlement for proper macOS permission prompts

• Welcome screen with onboarding instructions
• Custom fonts (Crimson Text, Inter)
• Privacy Policy and Terms of Service links
• Updated bundle identifier to com.proofbound.textkeep

• Initial release
• Export iMessage conversations to Markdown
• Contact integration with name display
• Attachment support with automatic copying
• Date range filtering

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.