How to Print Text Messages from Android for Free

This How.com.vn teaches you how to print text messages from your Android phone for free. You will need a computer with a printer hooked up to it in order to do so. You can use an app called SMS Backup + in order to back up your texts to your Gmail inbox and then print them from there, or you can take screenshots of your texts and then print them from your Google Drive folder on a computer.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Using SMS Backup +

1
SMS Backup + creates a folder in your Gmail inbox and backs up your text messages to it, allowing you to print texts from a computer at your leisure. Open the
Google Play Store, then do the following:^{[1]XResearch source}
- Tap the search bar.
- Type in sms backup +
- Tap SMS Backup +
- Tap INSTALL
- Tap ACCEPT when prompted.
. Tap OPEN in the Google Play Store, or tap the SMS Backup + app icon in your Android's App Drawer.
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This will take you to the main page.
Tap Connect in the middle of the page, select your Google account, tap ALLOW when prompted, and tap Backup when prompted. This will both link the app to your Google account and back up all current text messages to your Google account.
5
Back up any recent texts. If you don't see the option to back up your texts when connecting your Gmail account, tap Backup near the top of the screen and then wait for the backup to complete.
- You can review the backup's progress at the top of the screen.
6
Open your Gmail inbox on a computer. Go to https://www.gmail.com/ in your computer's web browser, then enter your email address and password if prompted to sign in.
- If a different Gmail inbox than the one that you want to see opens, click the circular profile image in the upper-right side of the inbox, click Add account, and sign in with the correct account.
You'll find this folder on the left side of the Gmail inbox, though you may first have to click More labels on the left side of window. This will open the SMS Backup + folder in which your Android's text messages are stored.^{[2]XResearch source}
8
Open a text conversation. Click the text conversation that you want to print. This will open the most recent message in the conversation.
- Your text messages will be backed up by contact name. For example, if you have a 100-message conversation with someone named Sarah, you'll see an email thread with "SMS with Sarah" in its subject line and "(100)" next to her name.
It's in the upper-right side of the email window, to the far-right of the subject line. Doing so opens a print window.
Select your printer if necessary, review the print settings to make sure that your color and orientation preferences are correct, and click the Print button. As long as your computer is connected to your printer, this will print your Android's text messages from the selected conversation.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Using Screenshots

1
Open your Android's Messages. Tap the Messages app icon to do so. This should open to a list of current conversations.
- This method will work for any messaging app, including ones such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google Voice, and so on.
Tap the conversation from which you want to print messages. The conversation will open.
of your conversation. You may first need to scroll up or down to frame correctly the conversation.
Once you've taken a screenshot of the entire section of the conversation that you want to print, you can proceed.
Tap the Google Drive app icon, which resembles a yellow, green, and blue triangle, to do so.
It's in the lower-right side of the Google Drive main page. Doing so opens a pop-up menu.
This option is in the pop-up menu.
You'll find this album in the list of locations from which you can upload photos.
Long-press one screenshot, then tap the rest of the screenshots that you want to print.
It's in the top-right corner of the screen. Your screenshots will upload to Google Drive.
11
Open Google Drive on your computer. Go to https://drive.google.com/ in your computer's web browser, then log in with your Google account's email address and password if prompted.
- If a different Google Drive account than the one that you want to see opens, click the circular profile image in the upper-right side of the inbox, click Add account, and sign in with the correct account.
While holding down Ctrl (Windows) or ⌘ Command (Mac), click each screenshot that you want to download.
Click ⋮ in the upper-right corner of the Google Drive page, then click Download in the resulting drop-down menu.
14
Open and extract the downloaded ZIP folder. This process will vary depending on whether you're using a Windows computer or a Mac computer:
- Windows - Double-click the screenshots' ZIP folder, click the Extract tab, click the Extract all option, click Extract, and wait for the extracted folder to open.
- Mac - Double-click the screenshots' ZIP folder, then wait for the extracted folder to open.
Click one screenshot, then press Ctrl+A (Windows) or ⌘ Command+A (Mac) to select every screenshot.
16
Open the "Print" menu. You can do this by pressing Ctrl+P on Windows or ⌘ Command+P on Mac.
- On Windows, you can also click the Share tab at the top of the window and then click Print in the "Send" section of the toolbar.
- On a Mac, you can also click the File menu item at the top of the screen and then click Print... in the drop-down menu.
17
Print your screenshots. Select your printer if necessary, review the print settings to make sure that your color and orientation preferences are correct, and click the Print button. As long as your computer is connected to your printer, this will print your Android's screenshots.
- If color printing isn't absolutely necessary here, consider using black-and-white (or "grayscale") printing instead since screenshots will consume a large amount of ink.
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Community Q&A

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Question
How do I print text messages from a BLU Samba cell phone? There is no SMS setting on the phone.
Community Answer
The easiest way is to screenshot or take a picture of the text message, and then email it to yourself. Open the email on your PC and the picture will be there, ready to print.
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Question
I followed the directions using SMS Backup + to the letter, but for some reason it's only backing up and printing one side of the conversation. What's going on?
Community Answer
I had the same problem, but it was backing up only the received messages, not the messages I sent in a given conversation. However, I noticed it WAS backing up my sent messages in a few of the conversations. I researched an entire afternoon and eventually found that others had resolved the problem by changing the message settings to NOT use Advanced Messages. (Open the Message app, Go to Settings, Look for Advanced Messaging, and make sure it is or turn it off). Once I did that, I tested it and found both sides appeared with no problem. It will not allow you to retrieve the messages already backed up, unfortunately, but should help with future messaging.
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Tips

In addition to the free options listed here, there are several paid apps that allow text message printing. If you print text messages on a consistent basis, spending the $2 or so to buy a higher-quality SMS printing app might be worth it.
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Warnings

Due to ink and paper costs, printers can be expensive to operate. Consider using black-and-white printing for texts if possible.
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