Import Your Messages History on a Mac
If you use Messages on a Mac, the conversations already sitting there can become part of your contacts' records. Groupthink reads the Messages database on your own machine, you tick the conversations you want, and each one is filed onto the contact whose phone number or Apple ID it matches. It then shows up as a Text interaction on that person's timeline, alongside meetings and forwarded email.
This lives in the Groupthink desktop app for Mac, under Settings > Ingestion > Messages on this Mac. The web app shows the same card with a Mac app only label, because the reading happens on your machine.
What is read, and what leaves your Mac
The card states this before you turn anything on, and it is worth repeating here:
- Your Messages database is read on this Mac only. Nothing is read until you turn this on. That includes the list of who you text, which is itself private information.
- Only the conversations you tick are sent to Groupthink. Group chats are never read.
- Uploaded conversations are stored and can be deleted from your notes at any time.
- Disconnecting stops all future reading and clears what this Mac remembers about the import.
Nothing runs on a schedule. There is no background sync and no timer. A conversation is read when you press the import button and at no other time.
Before you start
- A Mac running the Groupthink desktop app, signed in.
- Messages history on that Mac. If your texts live only on your iPhone, turn on Messages in iCloud and let them sync down first.
Step 1: Turn on Messages import
Open Settings > Ingestion in the desktop app and find Messages on this Mac. It starts Off.
Click Turn on Messages import. This is the consent step. Nothing has been read up to this point.
Step 2: Grant Full Disk Access
macOS blocks every app from reading the Messages database until you grant Full Disk Access. Two things about this surprise people, so here they are plainly.
There is no in-app prompt. macOS gives apps no way to ask for Full Disk Access. Groupthink can only send you to the right settings pane. The card gives you an Open Privacy & Security button that opens it directly.
macOS quits Groupthink the moment you flip the switch. That is macOS applying the change, not a crash. The card has a Restart Groupthink button for exactly this, and once you reopen the app you can come back to the card and click Check again.
The steps:
- Click Open Privacy & Security on the card.
- Under Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access, turn on Groupthink.
- macOS quits Groupthink. Reopen it.
- Go back to Settings > Ingestion. The card now reads On.
Step 3: Choose conversations
Click Choose conversations. Groupthink lists the one-to-one conversations on this Mac, with a message count and when the last message arrived.
A few things about that list:
- Only one-to-one conversations appear. Group chats are never read, so they are never listed.
- Each conversation is shown by its handle, the phone number or Apple ID exactly as Messages stores it. Groupthink does not guess a name here, because matching a handle to a contact is decided after the import.
- Conversations you have imported before are marked Imported, or New messages since import if there is anything new.
Tick the conversations you want. You can pick up to 25 per import. The import button tells you roughly how many notes that will produce before you press it.
Step 4: Import
Click the import button. Groupthink reads each conversation you ticked, uploads it, and files it onto the matching contact.
When it finishes you get a plain summary: how many conversation notes were created, how many were already captured, and how many did not go through. Notes appear on each contact's timeline once Groupthink has read them.
If a conversation was long enough that Groupthink stopped partway, the summary says so. Run the import again and it picks up where it left off. Nothing is sent twice.
Limits worth knowing
- 25 conversations per import. Run it again for more.
- One-to-one only. A group chat has no single person to file it to, so it is never read.
- Re-importing sends only what is new. Groupthink remembers where each conversation left off, so a second run on the same conversation sends only the messages that arrived since. If nothing arrived, it reports that there is nothing new to import.
- Messages still syncing down from iCloud may not appear yet. Groupthink reads the database without disturbing it, which means a message that has not been written out yet is picked up on the next import instead.
- Messages.app is left alone. Groupthink opens the database read only. You can keep Messages running throughout.
Turning it off
Click Disconnect on the card. That stops all future reading and clears what this Mac remembers about the import, including where each conversation left off.
Conversations you already imported stay in Groupthink, because they are your record now. You can delete any of them from your notes.
If you disconnect and later turn it back on, Groupthink starts from an empty imported state and will offer you the full list again.
If the card says something else
| What it says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Needs permission | Full Disk Access has not been granted yet. See Step 2. |
| There is no Messages history on this Mac yet | The Messages database is not there. If you use Messages on your iPhone, turn on Messages in iCloud so it syncs down. |
| Reading the Messages history is macOS-only | Windows has no Messages database to read. |
| This Mac is missing the system database tool Groupthink needs | Groupthink reads the database using a tool that ships with macOS. Contact support and we will take a look. |
| Sign in to Groupthink on this Mac before importing | The desktop app is not signed in. Sign in and try again. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Groupthink read my texts in the background?
No. There is no background sync, no timer, and no scheduled run. Reading only happens when you click import.
Does Groupthink upload my whole Messages database?
No. The database is read on your Mac. Only the conversations you tick are sent, and only the messages inside them.
What about group chats?
Never read. Not listed, not imported.
How does Groupthink know which contact a conversation belongs to?
By the handle. A phone number matches the number on a contact's record, in any format. An Apple ID email matches any email address on the record, including a secondary one. If nothing matches, the conversation is stored without a contact rather than filed to the wrong person.
Will importing an old conversation change when I last spoke to someone?
Yes. An imported conversation counts as an interaction and moves that contact's last interaction date to match the conversation.
Can I do this on Windows?
No. This is macOS only, because the Messages database only exists there. On any platform you can still paste a text conversation into Capture.
Related
- Capture a Text Conversation: paste or forward a single thread, on web or desktop.
- Groupthink Desktop App: downloading, installing, and signing in.
- Relationship Intelligence: where imported conversations show up.
Getting Help
Stuck on the Full Disk Access step, or a conversation that imported empty? Email support@groupthink.com.