Archive WhatsApp conversations
You are interested in understanding how to archive WhatsApp conversations and use a smartphone Android or a iPhone? Then read the instructions on what to do that you find below and you will immediately find out how to proceed. The operation, I anticipate, is also feasible from Windows e MacOS, using WhatsApp for computer, and on Web, taking advantage of the browser variant of the service. You will always find everything explained in the following lines.
Android
You have a device Android and want to archive WhatsApp conversations? All you have to do is take your mobile phone, unlock it, access the Home screen or the drawer (the screen with the list of all the apps installed on the device) and press the WhatsApp app icon. Now that you see the main screen of the app, select the tab Chat attached to it (top left) and identify the discussion to hide.
At this point, press on title chat to archive (which could be the subject of a group or the name of a person) and hold your finger on the phone screen for a few seconds. After doing this, you will see a toolbar appear at the top of the screen. Press the button with the box and the down arrow And that's it.
In case of second thoughts, to restore the discussions archived in WhatsApp, select the tab Chat from the main menu of the application, scroll to the bottom of the screen that opens and tap on the item Archived chats. Next, press and hold your finger on title of the conversation to bring back to the foreground and presses the button with la scatola e la freccia verso l'alto appeared at the top of the display.
Do you want to completely free the home screen of your WhatsApp by archiving all the conversations present in it? Then go back to the main menu of the application, press the button with i three dots vertically collocato in alto a destra and seleziona la voce Settings from the box that appears.
At this point, select the icon Chati went his Chat history and tap on the item first Archive all chats and then on the button OK which is displayed in the center of the screen to confirm the choice made.
If you have second thoughts, you can easily retrace your steps. To restore individual conversations, use the instructions I gave you a little while ago. To bring all archived chats back to the foreground, instead, go to the menu Settings> Chat> Chat history of WhatsApp, select the option Extract all chats from the archive e pulsing sul pulsating OK which appears in the center of the screen.
iOS
You have a iPhone? So to archive WhatsApp conversations all you have to do is take your device, unlock it, access the home screen, press the WhatsApp app icon, select the tab Chat present on the home screen of the app (below) and locate the chat to hide.
At this point, swipe your finger from right to left on the title of the reference conversation (it could be the subject of a group or the name of a person), presses the button Archive that appears from the side and that's it.
In case of second thoughts, you can restore the discussions archived in WhatsApp by returning to the section Chat application, by dragging the screen downwards and selecting the item Archived chats that appears at the top of the screen. Then find the conversation you want to bring back, swipe your finger from right to left on hers title e pulsing sul pulsating Extract that appears from the side.
Would you like to archive all WhatsApp conversations at the same time? Well, it's a pretty drastic operation… anyway, no problem, it can be done. To do this, go back to the WhatsApp home screen, select the item Settings located at the bottom right, tap on the item Chat in the new screen displayed and presses the button Archive all chats which is at the bottom of the page that opens. Then confirm the operation by pressing the button Archive all that appears on the screen and that's it.
After archiving all the discussions, in case of second thoughts, you can retrace your steps by following the same procedure described above for single messages. If, on the other hand, you want to restore all chats in one go, go to the menu Settings of WhatsApp and presses the button Extract all chats from the archive which is at the bottom of the screen.
Windows
And to archive WhatsApp chat conversations from Windows? How should we proceed? I'll explain it to you right away. First, launch the WhatsApp application on your PC, then connect to your account, if necessary, by scanning the QR code. If you don't know how to do it, open WhatsApp on your smartphone, go to the section Settings> WhatsApp Web / Desktop> Scan QR Code and scan the code with the mobile phone camera.
Now that you see the main WhatsApp screen on your desktop, locate the chat which you intend to store in the list on the left, click on freccetta verse il basso that you find in its correspondence and select the wording Archive chat give the menu that I will share.
In case you have to think again, to restore archived chats click the button with three dots vertically located at the top left of the WhatsApp window for Windows and select the item Archived from the menu that appears, in order to access the complete list of archived chats.
Then click the button with the freccetta verse il basso that you find next to the title chat (it could be the object of a group or the name of a person) to restore and, from the menu that appears, click on the wording Estrai chat dall'archivio.
MacOS
Use WhatsApp on MacOS and would you, therefore, understand how to archive the chats in this case? Then first start the WhatsApp application on your Mac. Once the application window appears on the desktop, scan the QR code, if necessary, to connect to your account. If you don't know how to do it, open WhatsApp on your smartphone, go to the section Settings> WhatsApp Web / Desktop> Scan QR Code and scan the code with the mobile phone camera.
Now, locate the conversazione for which you are interested in going to act in the list on the left, click on freccetta verse il basso that you find in its correspondence and select the item Archive chat from the menu that opens. Alternatively, after selecting the conversation to be archived in the WhatsApp window, presses on the menu Chat at the top left and choose the option Archive chat.
In case of second thoughts, you can always restore the archived chats. To do this, press the symbol of down arrow that you find in the upper left part of the WhatsApp window for macOS and select the wording Archived from the menu that appears: by doing so you will be able to view the complete list of archived chats.
At this point, press on the symbol of freccetta verse il basso that you find next to the title conversation (it could be the subject of a group or the name of a person) to restore and choose the option Estrai chat dall'archivio give the menu check if you press.
Web
Use WhatsApp via Web? In this case, to archive the conversations, the first step you need to take is to start the browser that you generally use to surf the Net from your computer (eg. Chrome) and go to the WhatsApp Web home page.
At this point, if necessary, scan the QR code on screen by opening WhatsApp on your smartphone, by going to the section Settings> WhatsApp Web / Desktop> Scan QR Code and framing the code with the mobile phone camera.
Now that you see the main WhatsApp Web screen, locate the conversation you want to archive in the list on the left, click on the freccetta verse il basso that you find in correspondence with his title (could be the subject of a group or the name of a person) and select the entry Archive chat give the menu check if you press.
When and if you want, you can restore archived conversations by clicking on the button with i three dots vertically in the upper left part of the WhatsApp web page, by choosing the item Archived from the menu that appears, by clicking on freccetta verse il basso that you find next to the title of the conversation you are interested in and selecting the option Estrai chat dall'archivio from the menu that is shown to you. That's all!
Backup WhatsApp chats
Do you want to archive WhatsApp conversations in the sense that you intend to create a backup copy of them? It's that easy, don't worry. Here are all the steps you need to follow on Android and iOS (from Windows, macOS and from the Web this is not feasible).
- Android - go to the menu Settings> Chat of WhatsApp, presses on the voice Backup of chats and then on the button Back up, to create a backup of the discussions on the phone memory (in the HomeWhatsAppDatabases folder). Starting with version 2.12.317, WhatsApp also officially introduced support for Google Drive. To back up your chats on this cloud service, you need to go to the menu Settings> Chats> Chat Backup I will select the voice Backup to Google Drive. You will then be able to choose the frequency with which to save your online conversations, theGoogle account reference and you can indicate whether to backup only through Wi-Fi (recommended) or even using the Data connection. If in backups you also want to include the videosposta su ON the relative levetta.
- iOS - select the item Settings placed in the lower right part of the main WhatsApp screen, presses on the item Chat and calls the function Backup of chats. At this point, press the button Back up now and all your discussions will be automatically saved to iCloud. To set the frequency of the automatic backup, presses on the item Automatic backup and select one of the available options from daily, weekly, monthly e Off (to disable the automatic backup function). If you want to include the videosposta su ON the relative levetta.
On both Android and iPhone WhatsApp automatically "notices" the presence of backup files and allows you to restore them with a simple "tap". Just remove and reinstall the app on your phone. For more details on the backup procedure and the restoration of chats, see, respectively, my tutorial on how to backup WhatsApp and my post on how to restore WhatsApp conversations.
Delete WhatsApp chats
Do you want to permanently delete a WhatsApp chat instead of hiding it in the archive? Then go to the WhatsApp screen where thelist of all conversations, find the discussion to delete and proceed in this way.
- Android - tap on title of the chat, hold down your finger on the screen and press the button with the dustbin you see appear at the top, then choose if keep media files of the conversation or not on your phone by ticking or leaving the appropriate box unchecked and tap on the item Delete.
- iOS - swipe your finger from right to left on the title of the discussion to be deleted, presses the button [...] which appears on the side and then on the item Delete chat twice.
- Windows / macOS / Web - click on freccetta verse il basso located next to the conversazione you want to delete, select Delete chat from the menu that opens and click the button Delete in the new window that appears.
There is also a way to delete all WhatsApp conversations in one go, which only works on Android and iOS, but I strongly advise against adopting it. How do you say? Are you well aware of this but do you want to continue anyway? Well, below you will find all the information you need, but I do not take any responsibility for any loss of important messages in your WhatsApp!
- Android - press the button with i three dots vertically placed in the upper right part of the main WhatsApp screen, go to the menu Settings> Chat> Chat history and first presses on the wording Delete all chats and then Delete. Instead, pressing on the voice Empty all chats you can delete the messages in the chats without deleting the conversations themselves.
- iOS - go to the section Settings of WhatsApp by selecting the relevant item in the lower right part of the main screen of the app, tap on the wording Chat and presses on the wording Delete all chats, enter your mobile number in the screen that opens and complete the operation by pressing the button Delete all chats.
If you think you need more details about the practices described in this step, you can refer to my tutorial dedicated specifically to how to delete a chat from WhatsApp.
