How to print text messages from Android - News Block

Android phone with text messages on the screen. — Justin Duino / Instruction Geek

The easiest way to print text messages from Android is to take screenshots of the messages, place them in a blank document, and print it. There are also third-party apps for creating text transcripts, which you can then print.

Texting pretty much just lives on your Android phone. However, there may come a time, whether for a court date or personal records, when you want a physical copy. Printing a text conversation isn’t as simple as it sounds, but we’ll walk you through it.

How to Print Screenshots of Android Text Messages

To preserve a sense of authenticity and avoid any kind of backup or transfer tool, it’s best to take screenshots and print them. It’s a bit clunky, but it works.

First, open the text conversation and navigate to the beginning of the part you want to print. To take screenshots on an Android device, press and hold Power + Volume Down buttons for one second.

Press the Power + Volume Down physical buttons until the screen flashes.

An even better option to take a screenshot of a text conversation is to “scroll screenshots”. This will capture more of the screen than you can see and will result in fewer screenshot images. You can take scrolling screenshots with most Android devices. Here are instructions for taking screenshots on Samsung Galaxy devices.

then tap "catch more" from the image preview menu.

Note: Keep in mind that you want the screenshots to be easy to read. Scrolling screenshots can be very long, making the text small if confined to a single page of paper. Crop screenshots (be careful when cropping if you need screenshots for legal purposes) or spread them across multiple pages.

When you’re done with the screenshots, we’ll add the screenshots to a word processing application. We’ll be using Google Docs for Android in this guide, but you can just as easily use Microsoft Word. Insert the screenshots into a blank document to get started.

Insert image in Google Docs.

You can resize screenshots to fit more than one on a page and adjust for readability.

Resize and move images.

When you have the screenshots embedded, tap on the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner and select “Share & Export”. Look for a share button in any app you choose to use.

Open the menu and select "Share and export."

Select “Print”.

Select "Print."

The Android built-in print dialog will appear. You can print to a printer connected to the same Wi-Fi network or “Save as PDF” and transfer the PDF to a computer connected to a printer.

Choose a printer or PDF.

You can also adjust the size, color, and orientation of the paper by expanding the menu.

Set the printer options.

Tap the printer icon or the “PDF” button when you’re ready!

Tap print or "PDF."

This certainly isn’t the most elegant solution, but if you just need a quick and dirty way to text a piece of paper, it’ll do the trick.

How to print an Android text message transcript

If printing screenshots isn’t a viable option, there are also apps that can create printable transcripts. However, this may not be an accepted method if you need a chat log for legal purposes. (Disclaimer: We are not lawyers, and we recommend contacting an attorney for advice on legal matters.)

SMS backup and restore app.

We will use an application called “SMS Backup & Restore”. It is a free app with over 10 million downloads and a 4-star rating. Open the app and give it permission to access your call logs, contacts, and SMS messages.

Give the app permission.

Next, we need to create a backup of your text messages. This is what creates the transcript that we can print. Tap the “Set up a backup” button.

Tap "Set up a backup."

Make sure “Messaging” is selected, then tap “Advanced Options.”

Select "Messages" and Advanced Options."

In the Advanced Options, select “Only selected conversations” and tap “Change” to select specific conversations to back up. You may also want to enable “Attachments and Media” here.

Select the conversation you want to backup and print.

Tap “Next” at the bottom of the screen to continue.

Tap "Next."

Choose where you want to store the backup and tap “Next” again.

Choose where to store the backup.

Turn off “Schedule regular backups” and tap on “Back up now”.

Tap "Copy now."

Once the backup is complete, open the hamburger menu button in the upper left corner and select “View Backups”.

Open the menu and select "View backups."

Open the backup you just created.

Open the backup.

Tap the three-dot menu icon for the conversation you want to print.

Finally, select “Print Conversation” from the menu.

Select "print conversation" from the menu.

Android’s built-in print dialog will appear, and you’ll see a preview of the conversation in spreadsheet format. You can print to a printer connected to the same Wi-Fi network or “Save as PDF” and transfer the PDF to a computer connected to a printer.

Choose a printer or PDF.

You can also adjust the size, color, and orientation of the paper by expanding the menu.

Android printing options.

Tap the printer icon or the “PDF” button when you’re ready!

Tap print or "PDF."

This method has a much cleaner result, but also looks easier to edit, if that’s something you should consider.

Unfortunately, there isn’t really a simple built-in method for printing text messages. However, it is strangely easier to transfer text messages from iPhone to Android device. If you need to recover deleted text messages on your Android device, there are options for that too.