# How can I print out FaceBook Message string? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 25, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-print-out-facebook-message-string/1030394 "2026-05-25T22:17:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-print-out-facebook-message-string/1030394/1 "2026-05-25T22:17:08Z")
I need to print out a string of Facebook dms. I was able to find a way to copy the file, which results in a .json file. But how can I print it out? Any help would be greatly appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-print-out-facebook-message-string/1030394/2 "2026-05-25T22:49:54Z")
Short of a third party extension/website, I’m not seeing anything. The best I can find is to take a screenshot (or multiple screenshots if it’s longer than a page) and print those out. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-print-out-facebook-message-string/1030394/3 "2026-05-25T22:56:26Z")
Nevermind, I found a way. Go to your privacy settings, search for “download” and click on “download your information”. Go to “customize information” and unselect everything but ‘messages’. Export it, open the file and print what you need printed. (I think, I’m testing it out, it takes a little while to download) ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-print-out-facebook-message-string/1030394/4 "2026-05-25T22:57:53Z")
Can you open the .json file with a text editor like notepad++. I guess it could contain binary info, but it also could be quite readable and could just need some copy/paste > **[JSON](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON)** > > This is an accepted version of this page > > > JSON (JavaScript Object Notation, pronounced /ˈdʒeɪsən/ or /ˈdʒeɪˌsɒn/) is an open standard file format and data interchange format that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consisting of name–value pairs and arrays (or other serializable values). It is a commonly used data format with diverse uses in electronic data interchange, including that of web applications with servers. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-print-out-facebook-message-string/1030394/5 "2026-05-26T02:37:57Z")
You could paste the contents of the json file (which is just a structured text format) into any decent AI, and say “give me a human readable, printable version of this”. it will immediately discover it’s json, parse it, and make it something more readable. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-print-out-facebook-message-string/1030394/6 "2026-05-26T07:15:49Z")
Or if you can get it as a single page, a single window or tab, in a web browser, a browser can print that. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-print-out-facebook-message-string/1030394/7 "2026-05-26T23:26:06Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > (I think, I’m testing it out, it takes a little while to download) Turns out ‘a little while’ is about a day. I just got the data dump from facebook and can confirm it’ll export your messages in a printable format. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-print-out-facebook-message-string/1030394/8 "2026-05-26T23:33:39Z")
thank you! ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2026, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-print-out-facebook-message-string/1030394/9 "2026-05-26T23:58:41Z")
Can you get the conversation in one big long web page? Then, instead scrolling etc., do CTL-A to select all, then CTL-C to copy the whole web page. Then paste it into Notepad to remove all the HTML , images, etc that messes things up, gets rid of all the formatting but the text. Clean up / delete things like the stuff at the top and bottom of the page, any web ads, etc. Delete extra linefeeds. (May be tedious, depending on the length.) Presumably the goal is to get a copy of just the text. This also works for websites like long news articles, or chat sites like Reddit. (Reddit now seems to hide some posts in long conversations until you scroll there…) Notepad is ideal for cleaning up to get just text from a website. As an added benefit, some news sites will show you the article but then overlay it with their subscrition notice or blur the text. CTL-A will for some sites copy everything, including the text and you can paste it into Notepad to read the article they have let you sort-of see.