If you are an active WhatsApp user, you probably know firsthand how easy it is to lose the necessary information among a large number of messages in different correspondences.
To help users avoid this problem, a chat archiving function was added to the messenger. In this article, you know everything about how to create this archive, how to unarchive a chat in WhatsApp, and also why this option is needed.
What does it mean to archive a chat on WhatsApp?
Archiving correspondence is an incredibly useful and convenient feature. It allows the user to slightly (and sometimes significantly) unload his chat list without losing important information.
However, despite this usefulness of the function, not all users know what it means to archive a chat in WhatsApp. Let's try to figure it out.
If you communicate a lot and often via WhatsApp, then very soon your chat list will be full of various correspondences. Moreover, most likely, among the current correspondence that you are currently conducting, there will be at least several old correspondence that you do not delete because they contain some information or file that is important to you. By archiving such a chat, you will transfer it to virtual storage, from where you can retrieve it at any time if necessary.
Correspondence data will be stored separately and will not constantly disturb you. In addition, since they will be stored in the cloud, they will no longer take up space on your phone. If you accidentally delete the application, then all your saved correspondence will remain in place.
When you reinstall the application, you can easily get everything you need from the archive. Considering that we are talking about chats in which something important is recorded, such an extra precaution won’t hurt even if you don’t have many of them.
How to archive a conversation on WhatsApp?
The process is actually not too complicated, although not many people are familiar with it. You need to carry out the following sequence of actions:
- Login to WhatsApp;
- Select the desired dialogue that you want to archive;
- Long press on this dialogue;
- In the menu that opens, select “Archive chat.”
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Now correspondence will be better organized, and not a single message will be lost in virtual oblivion.
How to archive a chat on WhatsApp instructions for Android and iPhone
Below you will find step-by-step instructions on how to create a chat archive in WhatsApp for Android and iOS
How to create an archive on Android
- Go to the application.
- Go to the chats tab.
- Find the conversation you want, then tap and hold your finger on it.
- On the panel that appears at the top, select the last icon with a box and an arrow.
How to create an archive on iOS
- Turn on the application.
- Switch to the desired dialogue.
- Click the “ Archive ” button.
At the end of the procedure, you can check whether the selected dialogs have disappeared from the general list. If yes, then “the operation was successful.”
In addition to archiving individual chats, you can also add all your chats to the archive at once.
Instructions for iOS:
- Open settings.
- Go to the “ Chats ” section.
- Select “ Archive all... ”
Instructions for Android:
- Click on the three dots in the top right corner of the screen.
- Select “ Settings ”.
- Open the “ Chats ” section.
- Go to the “ Chat History ” tab.
- Hide the archive by pressing the appropriate button.
After this, all your correspondence should immediately go to the archive.
Video instructions on how to archive chats on WhatsApp
What is archiving of WhatsApp correspondence?
However, no, chats are still available. And they can be restored at any time. The fact is that WhatsApp sends those conversations that have not been used for a long time to a special archive section. Thus, firstly, the workspace is cleared by eliminating unused chats, and secondly, storage space is saved. However, we repeat, the chats themselves do not disappear anywhere; you can start using them again at any time. To do this you will need to unzip them.
How to find and view a WhatsApp chat archive
After the archive is created, you will probably find out how to find the archive, at least to make sure that your correspondence is safe and sound. This is done very simply. If you have an iOS device, then you will need to do the following:
- Login to the application.
- At the bottom, open the “ Chats ” section.
- Swipe down from the center of the screen.
- After this, a blue “ Archived chats ” button will appear at the top of the screen (if you have archived all chats, the button will appear at the bottom); click on this button.
- You will see a list of all archived chats, to view any of them just click on it once.
Now let's figure out how to open the WhatsApp archive on Android:
- Launch the application.
- At the top of the screen, select the “ Chat ” tab.
- Scroll to the very bottom of the list.
- At the bottom you will see the line “ Archived chats ( X) ”, where instead of “X” you will have a number; click on it.
- After this, you will be taken to a page with a list of your chats; to view the archive just click on it.
Just like that, you can view archived chats and make sure everything is okay with them.
Extracting chat on Android and iPhone
In order to unarchive a WhatsApp chat on smartphones or tablets based on Android OS, you can do the following:
- Scroll down the list of conversations to the very bottom.
- Find the “Archive” button and click on it.
- Select the ones you want to unpack and perform a long tap.
- A menu bar will appear at the top of the screen.
- Click on the "Unzip" icon - it looks like an upward arrow inside a square.
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Archived conversations are not deleted, they are saved in the device’s memory unchanged, which means you can restore them when the need arises.
Don't forget that even hidden dialogues, individual and group, reappear on the main screen when the list of messages in them is updated - that is, if someone writes to this chat.
For owners of Apple technology, in order to unarchive a chat on WhatsApp, you need to follow a similar algorithm:
- Scroll up the list of dialogs and, without releasing, pull down to open the curtain.
- Click the “Archive” button.
- Having selected the correspondence, move along the line with it from right to left, as if moving it to the side.
- In the menu that appears, click on the “From archive” line.
For owners of iOS-based smartphones, there is an easier way:
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- open the “Chat” tab;
- click the “Search” line;
- remember the name of the dialogue you want to unpack, or a phrase from it;
- enter your query in the search field;
- the system will display a list of suitable correspondence;
- select the one you want and swipe it from right to left.
How to unzip a chat on WhatsApp
If you kept old correspondence not because it contained important information, but because you intended to continue it, then before you do this you will have to remove it from the archive. But for this you need to know how to unarchive a chat in WhatsApp. Fortunately, this is not at all difficult to do.
How to unzip a WhatsApp chat on iPhone
If you use iOS, then after you have found your conversations you need to select one of them and drag it to the left. A list of various commands will open in front of you, select the “ From archive ” option.
How to unzip a chat in WhatsApp on Android
For Android owners, the instructions on how to return a chat from an archive are similar. Select the desired conversation, click on it and hold your finger until a pop-up menu appears in which you need to select the “ Unarchive chat ” option.
After these simple manipulations, your chat will return to its place and you can continue communicating.
Manual deletion of data archive
If for one reason or another it is not possible to erase correspondence through the Whatsapp application, you can use a radical manual method to delete not only saved, but also all downloaded multimedia data. To implement the method you need:
- Open a file manager on your phone. Most devices have the application as a basic one, but it can also be downloaded from the market.
- Select “Smartphone memory or “SD card” depending on the path where your WhatsApp application files are stored.
- Select the folder with the application name from the list.
- Next, select the Databases folder and hold it for a few seconds to bring up the menu.
- Click on the “Delete” item.
How to Unzip a Whatsapp Chat - Data Extraction Method
Uninstallation may take some time, the duration depends on how long you have used the program without clearing the cache. Along with the archives, downloaded pictures, videos and other files will be deleted from the application.
How to delete unnecessary correspondence from the WhatsApp archive
If at some point the information recorded in the archive is no longer useful to you, you can easily and quickly delete it from the cloud so that it does not take up unnecessary space.
If you are looking for an option on how to delete an archive from an Android device, then you need to mark it with a long press and in the menu that appears, click on the “ Delete ” item.
If you are the owner of an iOS device, then you need to move the unnecessary archive to the left and click on the “ More ” button, and then select the “ Delete archive ” item.
How to delete a contact from the archive on WhatsApp
How to delete an archive on WhatsApp in a few steps without using third-party applications. There are two ways to implement deletion.
Method 1:
- Go to the phone book of your smartphone or directly to the WhatsApp application.
- Scroll through the list of contacts until you find the one you want.
- Hold contact for a while until the context menu opens.
- Click on the "Delete" button.
- Confirm your intentions.
The second method is suitable for cases when you can do without deleting, but you want the subscriber to never write to you again, either in personal or group chats. To do this, it is enough to blacklist the user himself.
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How to view the archive in WhatsApp on iPhone
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Archives created in the application are stored on an SD card or in the memory of a smartphone. You need to go to the WhatsApp directory on the memory card using a file manager and find the copies necessary for recovery.
Note! The Databases folder stores the latest version of chats, as well as previous snapshots. That is why it is possible to restore the dialogue any day.
To view information saved in a local copy, you need to follow the instructions:
- Delete WhatsApp from your phone and install the application again from the App Store.
- A message appears asking you to return the deleted data. You need to click the “Restore” button
- Wait until WhatsApp unpacks the missing correspondence.
The application restores the latest version of the correspondence by default. If you need to find older messages, you will have to rename several files manually:
- Find the “Databases” directory on the phone’s memory card in the “WhatsApp” folder. Depending on the selected file manager, the memory card may be called “SD card” or “Main memory”.
- A large number of folders with names similar to “msgstore-2018-06-01.1.db.crypt12” will appear. If the program has been installed for a long time, some databases will have the extension .crypt10. You need to find the archive with the desired date and change its name to “msgstore.db.crypt12”. This is the name of the snapshot that is used for recovery by default.
Important! As soon as the files take the appropriate form, you should reinstall the program.
What you need to know about the CRYPT12 extension
The files in the “Databases” directory are archives in which encrypted databases are stored. The last digit of the extension indicates the version of the application with which the messages were archived. Databases of older versions of the application use the CRYPT7, CRYPT8 and so on algorithms.
One of the easiest ways to view the archive is to restore correspondence using the above instructions. However, if a phone with the messenger installed is not nearby, then the archive can be converted to another format and opened using a computer.
How to unzip a group on WhatsApp
The procedure for working with group conversations in WhatsApp is no different from managing private dialogues with one interlocutor. Therefore, if you need to extract such a chat from the archive, it is enough to follow the scheme given in the previous section.
If there is a need to return several conversations from the archive on a gadget using Android, you need to sequentially select them with a long press, and then click the “From Archive” icon.
To extract all dialogs at once:
- select 1 any conversation;
- click on the ellipsis in the upper right corner of the screen;
- in the menu that appears, click on “Select all”;
- Click the “From Archive” icon.
Similar actions are available on iPhone.
What does it mean to archive data on WhatsApp?
Archived chats in WhatsApp are private and group conversations hidden from the general list of active conversations located on the main screen of the application. This function is created solely for the structured display of dialogues. It does not allow you to save space in the gadget’s memory.
You should differentiate between an archived contact and a blocked one. Despite the fact that in the first case it will be hidden from the main screen, storing the conversation in the archive does not deprive the contact of the opportunity to contact the subscriber.
As soon as a new message is sent in a chat sent to the archive, it will immediately move to the list located on the main screen.
Archived chats in WhatsApp are hidden from the general list of active conversations located on the main screen of the application.
You can archive a chat in 3 steps:
- Find among all the correspondences available from the main screen of WhatsApp the one that you plan to hide.
- Press and hold it until a check mark appears on it. When using the gadget on iOS, while in the “chat” section, swipe your finger from right to left across the dialogue.
- In the menu that appears at the top of the screen, click on the archiving icon (a white square with a green arrow pointing down, located on the right side). On iPhone, click on the “Archive” text that appears.
In addition, there is a function that allows you to hide all conversations at once. To do this you need:
- From the main screen of the application, go to settings. To do this, click the icon with 3 dots and select the line of the same name in the menu that appears.
- Click on the “Chats and calls” item.
- Go to the "Chat History" section.
- Click on “Archive all chats”.
