Exporting and printing
Including WhatsApp photos, voice notes and documents in a court PDF
What “Include media” exports
WhatsApp says that with Include media, “the most recent media sent will be added as attachments” (Help Center). Two practical consequences:
- Older media may be left out. Very long chats may only include recent files.
- Media that isn’t on the phone can’t be exported. If a photo was never downloaded or was deleted to free space, the transcript still mentions it (for example
<Media omitted>,image omitted, or<attached: …>) but the file isn’t there.
Before exporting, scroll back through the important part of the chat and tap any photos that show a download icon.
How attachments appear in the transcript
| Phone | Line in the export |
|---|---|
| Android | IMG-20231228-WA0003.jpg (file attached) |
| iPhone | <attached: 00000004-PHOTO-2023-11-05-10-03-02.jpg> |
| Media not included | <Media omitted> or image omitted |
TextExhibits matches these lines to the files in the ZIP. Photos (JPEG, PNG, and WebP stickers) appear inline under the message with their file name. Videos, voice notes and documents are listed by name, type and size. Media that was referenced but not exported is marked as such, never silently dropped.
Hashes for each attachment
The paid hash certificate page lists the SHA-256 of the source ZIP and of every attachment in it. SHA-256 is defined in NIST’s Secure Hash Standard (FIPS 180-4). If a photo is later produced separately, anyone can hash it and compare. The committee notes to U.S. Federal Rule of Evidence 902(14) explain why matching hash values matter: if the hash values of the original and the copy are the same, “it is highly improbable that the original and copy are not identical.”
Downscaled images
To keep the PDF small, the tool can shrink very large photos for display. The hashes always describe the original files from the export, not the display copies. Turn off “Downscale large photos” if you want full resolution in the PDF.
Voice notes and video
A PDF can’t play audio or video. List them in the transcript (TextExhibits does this automatically) and ask your court how it accepts media files. Many courts have specific procedures for audio and video exhibits.
Open a WhatsApp export, SMS Backup & Restore XML or iMazing CSV and get a page-numbered transcript with the source file’s SHA-256 fingerprint. Nothing is uploaded.
Sources
- WhatsApp Help Center — How to export your chat history
- Federal Rules of Evidence, Rule 902 — Evidence That Is Self-Authenticating, incl. 902(13)–(14) and committee notes (Cornell LII)
- NIST FIPS 180-4 — Secure Hash Standard (SHS)
Sources were opened and checked on 2026-10-17. Laws and rules change; always read the current version.