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Guided workflow variation

Every photo underthe message that sent it.

Export a WhatsApp chat with media and the photos, stickers, voice notes and videos arrive as separate files beside the text. ThreadBind matches each file to its message and builds a PDF where pictures sit inline and everything else is named.

Export with media, pick the folder, and ThreadBind places each photo and sticker under its message and names every voice note, video and document.

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windows · export only read · nothing uploads · 15-day free trial

If this sounds like your week

The media arrive as a heap of oddly named files.

An export with media is a text file plus a long run of attachments named like IMG-20231224-WA0001.jpg on Android or 00000012-PHOTO-2023-12-24-18-04-05.jpg on iPhone. The chat text mentions each one on its own line, but nothing puts the picture back beside the words it belonged to.

Where tooling usually breaks

Matching them by hand is slow and easy to get wrong.

Rebuilding the thread means searching the text for every filename, finding that photo in the folder, and inserting it at the right spot. Stickers come as WebP images that many programs will not place at all. Voice notes and videos cannot go on paper, so unless someone writes them in, a reader never learns they were sent.

Where ThreadBind lands

ThreadBind matches every file to its message.

Open the export folder and ThreadBind reads each attachment reference in the chat, finds that file in the folder, and shows its kind in the Files column. Export with Include pictures in the PDF on, and photos land under their message, scaled to the page, with stickers at sticker size. Voice notes, videos, documents and contacts are written as named links, and anything the folder lacks is flagged.

Pay once. Own it forever.

One-time purchase on the Microsoft Store · No subscription · Instant install

Buy through the Microsoft Store—instant install, automatic updates, and a Microsoft receipt for easy expensing. No account needed on our site, and no subscription on Store purchases.

Learn more about ThreadBind

windows · export only read · nothing uploads · 15-day free trial

What you get

Feature highlights

Opens the export WhatsApp made

pick the export folder, or the _chat.txt or WhatsApp Chat with text file with its photos, from Android or iPhone, made with media or without.

Dates and senders read for you

12- and 24-hour clocks, slashes, dots or dashes, AM and PM words in many languages, and the day and month order worked out from the dates, with a Day first or Month first switch.

Pictures in place

every photo and sticker in the export folder is placed under the message that sent it, scaled to the page, with stickers printed small.

Every file accounted for

voice notes, videos, documents and contacts are listed by name under their message, and files the export left out are noted in place and listed at the end.

Paged like a document

a title block with the message count, date range and participants, a heading for each day, the chat name and a page number on every page, on A4 or Letter.

Local, with the export only read

nothing uploads, there is no account or telemetry, and the PDF is a new file you name in the Windows save dialog.

Especially when

  • Turn a WhatsApp chat export, the text file and its media folder, into one readable PDF without pasting it into a word processor
  • Put every photo back beside the message that sent it, and name every voice note, video and document, instead of matching file names by hand
  • Print a whole WhatsApp conversation with day headings, times, senders and page numbers instead of a stack of screenshots
  • Keep the chat on the PC, with no upload and no account, and leave the original export exactly as it was

Who benefits

Real-world scenarios

Holiday photos in a group chat

Five friends shared a trip in a group chat: about two hundred photos, a few stickers, and plenty of running jokes. One of them wants a printed album of the conversation, with the photos where they were posted.

She exports the chat with media, copies the folder to her PC, and opens it in ThreadBind. Each photo lands under the message that posted it and each sticker prints small, so the PDF reads the way the trip unfolded, day by day.

A chat full of voice notes

Half of the messages in a long chat with a relative are voice notes. The family wants a written record that shows when each voice note was sent and by whom, alongside the typed messages.

ThreadBind writes each voice note as a line such as Audio: PTT-20231224-WA0003.opus under its time and sender. The audio files stay in the export folder beside the PDF, so anyone reading can find and play the one they need.

An export from an iPhone

An iPhone export arrives as a zip that holds _chat.txt and files named like 00000012-PHOTO-2023-12-24-18-04-05.jpg. The owner wants the pictures in the PDF, not a list of file names.

Extract the zip to a folder, choose Pick folder in ThreadBind, and select it. The photos and stickers are matched to their messages from the iPhone names, and the detail pane shows each one as Image, placed in the PDF before you export.

Deep dive

How ThreadBind handles each kind of file in a WhatsApp export

Photos. JPEG and PNG photos go straight into the PDF, and other picture formats that Windows can open are converted on the way in. Each one is scaled to fit the page width and at most about four inches tall. Photos larger than 1600 pixels on the long side are scaled down before they are embedded, which is ample for print and keeps a chat with hundreds of photos a manageable file.

Stickers. WhatsApp stickers are WebP images, named STK- on Android and with STICKER in the name on iPhone. ThreadBind recognizes them, keeps their transparency, and prints them at most about 1.3 inches across, the way they look in the chat.

Voice notes and audio. OPUS, M4A, MP3, AAC, OGG, WAV and AMR files are written under their message as Audio followed by the file name. Android voice notes, named PTT-, are included.

Videos. MP4, 3GP, MOV, MKV, AVI, WEBM and M4V files are written as Video followed by the file name.

Documents and contacts. PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, TXT, CSV, RTF and ZIP files shared in the chat are written as Document lines, and shared contact cards (VCF) as Contact lines.

Links, not paths. Each named file is written as a link to its file name. The link is relative, so the PDF never carries your folder path or Windows user name, and it points at the file when the PDF is kept in the export folder.

Missing files. Exports sometimes mention files that did not make it into the folder. ThreadBind matches names regardless of letter case, writes Missing file and the name at the message, and adds a Missing files section at the end with each name and the time it was sent.

Pictures off, when you want text only. Turn off Include pictures in the PDF in the Export PDF dialog and every attachment is listed by name instead, for a shorter document.

The count at the end. Export complete shows a line such as 2 pages, 3 pictures placed, 2 files listed by name, 2 missing, so you know what went in before you open the file.

How it is built

Built to read the export and leave it exactly as it was.

The export is only read

ThreadBind opens the folder or files you pick for reading, writes the PDF as a new file you name, and refuses to save over the chat text or any file the chat refers to.

Nothing leaves your PC

It runs in the Windows app sandbox with no declared capabilities and makes no network connections. There is no account, no sign-in, no telemetry, and no log.

Every file accounted for

Photos and stickers are placed under their message, voice notes, videos, and documents are named, and files the export left out are listed at the end of the PDF.

Head-to-head

How ThreadBind compares

Feature ThreadBind Word processor by hand Online converter
Photos matched to their message Yes, by file name, straight from the export folder Found and inserted one at a time Varies by site
WebP stickers Placed inline at sticker size, transparency kept Often need converting first Varies by site
Voice notes, videos and documents Named under their message, as a link to the file Typed in by hand, if at all Varies by site
Files missing from the export Noted at the message and listed again at the end Easy to overlook Varies by site
Where the media goes Stays on this PC. Nothing uploads. Stays on this PC Uploaded to the site

FAQ

Straight answers—no glossary dump

How do I export a WhatsApp chat with media?

On Android, open the chat, tap More options, then More, then Export chat, and choose Include media. On iPhone, open the chat, tap the contact or group name, choose Export Chat, and pick Attach Media. Send or save the export to your PC, extract it if it arrived as a zip, and open the folder in ThreadBind.

Which media files end up inside the PDF?

Photos and stickers are placed inline under the message that sent them. Voice notes, other audio, videos, documents and contact cards are listed by name under their message, as links to the files. Files the chat mentions but the folder does not hold are noted at the message and listed again at the end.

What happens to the original export files?

They are only read. ThreadBind opens the folder or files you pick for reading, and the PDF is a new file you name in the Windows save dialog. Saving over the chat text or any file the chat refers to is refused, and a cancelled or failed export leaves an earlier file of the same name exactly as it was.

Where does the chat go while ThreadBind works on it?

It stays on your PC. ThreadBind runs in the Windows app sandbox, declares no capabilities, and makes no network connections, so nothing uploads. There is no account, no sign-in and no telemetry, and it writes no log. The Recent list of exports you opened stays in its own storage on this PC, and Clear list removes it.

How do I get ThreadBind, and is there a trial?

ThreadBind is a one-time purchase in the Microsoft Store, which shows the current price in your currency. The Store runs a 15-day free trial with every feature, and there is nothing to activate in the app. It runs on Windows 10 version 2004 or later and Windows 11, on x64 and ARM64 PCs.

The chat is already exported.
Turn it into a PDF you can keep.

ThreadBind reads a WhatsApp chat export on your PC and writes one paged PDF: the date, time and sender on every message, photos in place, and every other file named. The export is only read, nothing uploads, and the Microsoft Store runs a 15-day free trial.

Pay once. Own it forever.

One-time purchase on the Microsoft Store · No subscription · Instant install

Buy through the Microsoft Store—instant install, automatic updates, and a Microsoft receipt for easy expensing. No account needed on our site, and no subscription on Store purchases.

Open full product page

WhatsApp is a trademark of WhatsApp LLC. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc., and Android is a trademark of Google LLC. ThreadBind is not affiliated with or endorsed by WhatsApp LLC, Apple, or Google.

Technical specifications

Technical specifications for procurement

Spec Implementation
Data Sovereignty Reads only the export folder or files you pick in the Windows file picker, read-only; writes only the PDF you name in the Windows save dialog and refuses to save over the export’s own files; the Recent list stays in the app’s own storage on this PC, and Clear list removes it
Telemetry Status None; no account, no sign-in, no telemetry, and no log or cache files
Core Runtime .NET 10 (carried inside the package) and WinUI 3 (Windows App SDK), packaged as MSIX; runs in an AppContainer that declares no capabilities; the PDF is written by a managed PDF engine inside the app, and pages are previewed with the PDF renderer built into Windows
Network Requirements Fully functional offline; the package declares no internet capability, and the app makes no network connections
Deployment Compatibility Windows 10 version 2004 or later and Windows 11, x64 or ARM64; one-time purchase on the Microsoft Store with a 15-day free trial
Inputs WhatsApp chat exports from Android (WhatsApp Chat with … .txt) and iPhone (_chat.txt), made with or without media: the export folder, or the chat text file picked together with its media files
Chat text 12- and 24-hour times, optional seconds and brackets, dates with slashes, dots or dashes, and AM and PM words in many languages; day and month order read from the dates, with a Day first and Month first switch; UTF-8 with emoji
Media Photos and stickers placed inline (JPEG, PNG and WebP, plus other picture formats the Windows image decoders open); voice notes, audio, video, documents and contact cards listed by name with a relative link
Output One PDF on A4 or Letter pages: a title block with message count, date range, participants and export time; a heading for each day; time and sender on every message; chat name and page number on every page; a Missing files list at the end
Markers Chat events, deleted messages, edited messages, and media left out of the export are marked in the table and in the PDF
File safety The export is only read; the PDF is written through a transacted write, so a cancelled or failed export leaves an earlier file of that name intact; file names appear in the PDF without your folder path