Print Telegram chats from Android
Telegram keeps its chat export in the desktop app, so a phone alone has no built-in way to print a chat. With 2doc you sign into your own Telegram account on the phone, turn the chat you pick into a dated PDF, and send it to Android's print dialog. Nothing goes to us.
What the printout shows
On paper, a Telegram chat keeps its structure:
- The date before each day's messages, and the time beside every one.
- In a group, each message carries its sender's name.
- Replies printed with the message they answer, and forwards, captions and edits kept with their message.
- Photos, and a frame from each video, with Media attachments on; an album stays together as Telegram shows it.
- Stickers, locations and polls; voice messages as text if transcription is on.
- Numbered pages. The free version marks each page's footer with a small "Created with 2doc" line.
Print a Telegram chat, step by step
- In 2doc, tap Create Document and choose Telegram.
- Sign in: your phone number, the code Telegram sends, and your two-step password if you set one. 2doc talks to Telegram for this; nothing passes through us.
- Search for the chat. Private chats, groups, channels and archived chats all appear.
- Choose the import options and tap Import chat.
- Choose the days, then tap Generate Document.
- When the document opens, tap Print.
Your Telegram session lives on the phone until you end it, from 2doc's Settings or from Settings → Devices in Telegram, where it is listed as "2doc app". The sign-in and every import option are shown screen by screen in the Telegram chat to PDF guide.
Groups and channels
A group prints with every speaker's name on their messages. A public channel can be printed too: search for it and it appears under Public results, whether or not you follow it.
A section can hold only so many messages. When a busy chat has more, the section keeps the newest ones and says so on the page; a shorter period brings them all in.
In the print dialog
Print hands the document to Android's print dialog. Choose the printer, or Save as PDF for a file instead of paper, then the copies, paper size and pages. Only the print service you pick receives the file.
If the printer you want is missing, install its maker's print app. If the phone cannot print at all, 2doc says "Printing is not available": email the PDF to yourself and print it from a computer. The text messages printing guide has more ways onto paper.
Print only some days
Choose the days before you generate; 2doc shows its progress as it works back through older messages. A period too far back to reach in full is marked incomplete on the page rather than cut short in silence, and a shorter or more recent one prints complete. Today and 7 days are free; a 30-day or Custom period, even a short one, needs Pro.
What is free
A free Telegram account and the free version of 2doc print everything on this page for Today and 7 days. 30 days and Custom take Pro, bought once and never a subscription; neither version has ads. The Telegram chat to PDF guide has the full list of what Pro unlocks.
What can be missing
- A secret chat can be read only on the device that started it, so no new session, 2doc's included, can print one.
- A group or channel with "Restrict saving content" turned on shows as "Saving restricted" in the chat list and is not imported (since version 1.12), so it cannot be printed. Telegram's own export skips it too.
- Voice messages reach paper as text only with transcription on. Telegram transcribes them on its own servers, and only for accounts it allows: Telegram Premium, or a free trial still left this week. Off by default.
Periods too far back and the section's message cap are covered above; the Telegram chat to PDF guide has the full list.
Questions
Do I need Telegram Desktop?
No. 2doc signs in on the phone and makes the document there, so nothing has to be exported on a computer first.
What does signing in give 2doc?
A Telegram session on your phone, of the kind a second phone would get, listed in Telegram under Settings → Devices as "2doc app". 2doc reads only the chat and the period you pick. The details are in the privacy policy.
Can I print several chats together?
One chat per printout is free. Combining several chats in one document needs Pro.
Do I need Telegram Premium?
Only if you want voice messages printed as text, since Telegram does the transcribing. A free account covers everything else.