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How to print text messages for court

Text messages are some of the most common evidence in custody, divorce, small claims and protective-order cases. How you present them matters. This guide covers what judges usually expect and how to prepare them.

General information, not legal advice. Court rules differ. Check your court's website or ask the clerk.

What every printed message should show

• The date and time it was sent or received
• Who sent it, ideally with the phone number, not only a nickname from your contacts
• The full text, unedited
• Any photos sent in the conversation, where they were sent

A judge needs to see who said what, and when. Messages without timestamps or phone numbers are easier for the other side to challenge.

Print the whole conversation, not only the good parts

It's tempting to print only the messages that help you. Judges and opposing parties will ask what came before and after. Print the full conversation for the period that matters, then point the judge to the key messages. You can mark those, but don't leave the rest out.

How to print them

Method	Good for	Drawbacks
Screenshots	A handful of messages	Slow for long chats. Timestamps and numbers often not visible. Easy to say something was cropped.
Mac Messages, Print to PDF	Mac owners with Messages in iCloud	No message or page numbers. Stalls on long chats. Only prints what's loaded on the Mac.
Transcript from a backup (TextTranscript)	Whole conversations, on Windows or Mac	Needs a backup on a computer first. Encrypted backups aren't supported yet.
Forensic extraction	Cases where authenticity is seriously disputed	Costs hundreds of dollars or more and needs an examiner.

See the step-by-step guides for iPhone and Android.

Prepare the exhibit

1. Label it. Courts often want exhibits labeled, such as "Exhibit A" or "Petitioner's Exhibit 3". Ask the clerk which format to use.
2. Number the pages. Page numbers or Bates numbers (like SMITH-000001) let everyone find the same message quickly.
3. Add a short index of the key messages and the page each is on. Judges have little time, and an index helps them find the point.
4. Prepare a declaration if needed. Some courts want a signed statement that the printout is a true and accurate copy. TextTranscript's Court Pack includes a template.
5. Check deadlines. Some courts require evidence to be filed or exchanged days before the hearing.

At the hearing

• Bring three copies: one for the judge, one for the other party, and one for you.
• Bring the phone, charged, in case the judge wants to see the original messages.
• Don't write on the copies you hand over. Keep your notes separate.
• Be ready to say, in a sentence, how you made the printout: for example, "I backed up my iPhone to my computer and printed the conversation from the backup."

Common mistakes

• Scrolling through your phone in front of the judge to find a message. Print it beforehand.
• Cropped screenshots that hide the date or the other person's number.
• Deleting messages or the whole conversation after printing. Keep everything as it is.
• Bringing hundreds of pages with nothing marked. Point to the messages that matter.