Compatibility with "messages document" files generated from 2016-2020?

[polkadot4720-a11y]

Hi there!

I have a manual backup of the files that the iMessage app on macOS used to generate before switching to the chat.db format. What this looks like is a bunch of folders, separated by date, and then within those folders there are individual files containing each text exchange I had with each contact on that particular day.

These files used to be openable and readable individually by double-clicking, but sometime in the last few years that function went away and now there is no app on my mac that will read them. (it opens Messages but nothing happens; also, if I open them with TextEdit, the message contents are technically decipherable, but there is a bunch of code in the way that makes it pretty much illegible).

I can't see any file extensions but when I click get info it tells me it is a Messages Document.

I successfully used your tool on my chat.db on my current messages, but I am wondering if this tool is usable to extract my old messages from their current, unreadable format. I wasn't able to find any info on the FAQ or other discussions but that could've been my fault.

Thanks so much.

I attached a screenshot of what these old files look like. The "20XX imessage archive" folders were created by me, but the folders within them were automatically generated by my system at the time. I manually copy-pasted the contents from my old mac.

[ReagentX]

Those are stored in the old iChat file format, not the current Messages.app format. This software targets the latter, not the former.

[polkadot4720-a11y]

Okay, thank you, I appreciate the answer!

[ReagentX]

I have not tried either of these options, but it appears others have developed software that can read them properly:

• https://github.com/tuxedocurly/ichat_recovery_tool
• https://zeezide.de/en/products/past/

[polkadot4720-a11y]

That's great news -- I will look into it! Thank you again.