# Capture a Text Conversation > Paste a text thread and file it onto the right person. Source: https://groupthink.com/docs/capture_texts/ Last updated: 2026-09-16 Groupthink can take a text conversation and file it onto the right person's record. Copy a thread out of Messages, or forward one to yourself and copy that, then paste it into Capture. Groupthink reads it for commitments and context the same way it reads a meeting recap or a forwarded email, and the conversation shows up as a **Text** interaction on that person's timeline. There are two ways to get texts into Groupthink. This page covers pasting one thread at a time, which works on the web and in the desktop app. If you use Messages on a Mac and want the history that is already sitting there, see [Import Your Messages History on a Mac](/docs/messages_back_catalog). ## Paste a conversation 1. Open the **+ New** menu at the top of the left sidebar and choose **Paste or attach a file…** (there is no longer a **Capture** row in the sidebar; the page itself is unchanged at `/capture`). 2. Find the **Paste a text conversation** card. 3. Paste the thread into the box. 4. Optionally enter **Their phone number**. Groupthink matches it against your contacts. 5. Click **Capture conversation**. The conversation text is the only thing required. Everything else is optional. When it goes through, the card turns green and says Groupthink is reading the conversation for commitments and context. ### Adding a title or date Click **Add a title or date** to open two more fields. - **Title** names the thread, for example "Texts with Sam about Hawaii". - **When was this?** dates it. Dating the thread keeps "last interaction" accurate for that contact. Leave it blank and the thread is still captured, it just does not move that contact's recency clock. ## How Groupthink decides who the thread is from A text rarely contains a name or an email address in its body. The identity of a text is the handle it came from. So that is what Groupthink matches on: a phone number, or the Apple ID email address that iMessage uses in place of one. Formatting does not have to line up. A contact saved as `4155550100` matches a thread from `+14155550100`. Country codes, spaces, brackets, and dashes are ignored on both sides. When it matches, the result reads **Matched to [name]**, and the conversation lands on that contact's timeline. The paste box asks for a phone number. Apple ID matching is what the [Mac Messages import](/docs/messages_back_catalog) uses, because iMessage identifies some people by an Apple ID email address instead of a number. If you are pasting a thread from someone who texts you that way, leave the number blank and pick the contact afterwards. ## When nothing matches Nothing is dropped and nothing is quietly filed to the wrong person. If you gave a number and it matched no one, Groupthink says so and tells you the capture is saved but not filed to anyone yet. If you left the number blank, it says the capture was saved without a contact. In both cases a contact picker appears right underneath. Search your existing contacts, or create a new one. When you attach it, Groupthink re-reads the conversation for that person and the result reads **Attached to [name]**. You do not have to decide right then. A conversation that belongs to no one keeps its place on the **Captures** page, marked **Not routed to a contact**, with an **Attach to contact** button on the row. Attaching it there does the same thing: the conversation moves onto that person's timeline and Groupthink reads it for them. ## Pasting the same thread twice If you paste a conversation you already captured, Groupthink tells you that you already captured it and stops there. No second interaction is recorded, and no duplicate card appears on the timeline. This also means you can safely re-paste a thread you are not sure about. ## Where the conversation ends up - On the **Captures** page, which you reach from **Captures** in the left sidebar. The row is headed with the thread's title and shows the most recent messages in it. A long thread says how many messages it is holding back, and the copy button takes the whole conversation, not just what is on screen. - On the contact's [relationship page](/docs/relationship_intelligence), as a **Text** card in the timeline with the full thread body. This one waits until the thread belongs to someone. - In what Groupthink knows about that person, because the thread goes through the same extraction as a meeting or an email. Captured conversations are **not** listed in Recaps. Recaps is for meetings and for interactions you logged as they happened. A text thread is something you captured, so it lives with your other captures, next to your voice snippets and pasted notes. This matters most if you import your Mac's message history: a few hundred conversations would otherwise bury the meetings you actually want to look back on. The conversation is stored as a note in Groupthink, and you can delete it like any other note. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Does this work in the desktop app? Yes. Capture is the same page in the desktop app, and the card behaves the same way. ### Can I import my whole message history instead of pasting threads one at a time? On a Mac, yes. See [Import Your Messages History on a Mac](/docs/messages_back_catalog). It reads the conversations already on your machine, with your permission, one conversation at a time. ### Can I forward texts to Groupthink live, the way I forward email? Not yet. Live text forwarding would need Groupthink to run its own phone number, and that does not exist today. For now the two routes are pasting a thread and, on a Mac, importing from Messages. ### Does the extraction run before I pick a contact? No. An unattributed capture is stored and left alone. Groupthink reads it once it belongs to someone, which is why attaching a contact afterwards kicks off a fresh read for that person. ### Are group threads supported? The paste box takes whatever you paste, including a group thread, but a group thread has no single person to file it to. You will be asked to pick the contact it belongs to. ## Related - [Import Your Messages History on a Mac](/docs/messages_back_catalog): bring the conversations already on your Mac into your contacts' records. - [Capture: Upload Images, PDFs, and Voice Memos](/docs/capture_uploads): the other things the Capture page takes. - [Voice Dictation](/docs/voice-dictation#your-captures-history): more about the Captures page, where your conversations are listed. - [Relationship Intelligence](/docs/relationship_intelligence): where captured conversations show up. ## Getting Help Questions about capturing texts, or a conversation that landed on the wrong person? Email [support@groupthink.com](mailto:support@groupthink.com).