This article explains how to save your Gmail Chat history.
How to Turn On Google Chat History
Google saves your conversations in Gmail Chats by default. Here’s how to turn this feature on and off for inidivdual conversations.
- In a web browser, go to your Gmail inbox and select the Chat tab.
- Choose a chat conversation in the left sidebar, then select the person’s name at the top to open a dropdown menu.
- Select Turn on history.
- It should change to Turn off history, indicating that your chat history is being saved.
- The steps are a little different if you’re chatting in the small chat window.
- To open the conversation in a small chat window, select the Open in Pop-up icon next to the conversation or in the upper-right corner.
- Select the three dots in the upper-right corner of the chat window.
- Select Turn on history. If you see Turn off history instead, chat history is already turned on.
What Happens When I Turn Off Gmail Chat History?
If history is disabled, messages may disappear before the intended recipient reads them. Also, if one party disables the history feature, Google won’t save the conversation. However, if a user is accessing the chat through a different client, their client may be able to save the chat history despite disabling the Google Chats history setting.
How to Archive Gmail Chat Conversations
If you don’t want to delete your chats, you can hide them and view them later. Open the chat conversation, select the person’s name at the top (or the three-dot menu in the small chat window) and select Hide conversation.
