Desktop synchronisation and archiving chat

Support
#1

Hello,
I would have two questions:

  1. the FAQ still says that the desktop client is not syncing with the app (if they are not both connected when the message is sent), is it still true?
  2. How to archive a chat outside of the app, like in word format?
    Thanks
#2

Hey, welcome to our community!

Yes, the messages only arrive to the clients that are online at the moment.

If you are referring to the desktop client, you could select all (Ctrl+A) and copy -> paste.

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#3

Thanks for the answer!

Regarding the second question, I was talking about the android app, since it is precisely not synchronized with the desktop app.

#4

So there is no way to copy paste a conversation on the phone? I guess it should be possible with some of its intern files?

#5

Well, there is a way, but it’s only available on 4.3.0-alpha1 for now. Under maintenance preferences you can click “Copy database”. It will physically copy the database file into the external storage folder. But that’s the SQLite database, not really ideal for long term storage, it’s more of a debug feature so you can import it manually later.

#6

One more thing. There is this script which should still work with current database version that can produce a HTML file for a given conversation.

#7

An HTML file is great, thanks!
Sorry for the stupid question, but how to use that script? :thinking:

#8

There is a quick usage guide in the first 2-3 comment lines:

# Usage: ./messages2html.py messages.db phone_number [display_name]

So something like:

./messages2html.py messages.db +15555215554 "Alice Bobbystone" >conversation.html

The “display_name” is the name of the person you had the chat with (the information is stored in another database inside the app so the script doesn’t know his/her name).

One more thing the script says:

# ** Does not support groups (yet) **
#9

So I put that in a .txt file, then in the Kontalk folder, then I open it from the smartphone?

#10

No. You need to export the database using the Kontalk preference in section “Maintenance” (“Copy database”). Then you transfer that messages.db file from your phone to your computer. Finally you run:

./messages2html.py messages.db +XXXXXXXXXXXXX "Name of your contact" >conversation-with-contactname.html
#11

Thanks. However, I don’t see a “copy databese” section in the maintenance section, only an “export personal key one”, but I guess that’s not it :s.

#12

Probably because you’re using version 4.2.0. That option is available only on 4.3.0-alpha1. If you have root access, you can access the file from:

/data/data/org.kontalk/databases/messages.db
#13

I don’t have root access, so I will wait for the 4.3 version to be available on Play Store. Thanks!

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#14

Once the new version is out could we turn the instructions shared here into a wiki?

#15

We could… I didn’t do that already because it’s a somehow “hacky” way of doing it.

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