This article covers how to access the Export Dashboard, selecting conversations or messages by tags, and customizing your export settings. This article will explain how you can apply filters such as date ranges and custom settings like message padding. The Exports covered in this guide include conversations with metadata and media, gap analysis reporting, and chain of custody documentation.

How to Export Conversations

Navigating to the Export Dashboard

The Export Dashboard is where you can create new exports, view the status of current jobs, and download files that have been exported. There are two ways to navigate to the Case Export dashboard:

From the Case Sidebar:

Click Case Exports in the Sidebar from the Case Homepage, Data Management, Members or Settings Tabs to go to the Exports Dashboard.

From the Conversation Review Toolbar

Click Tools and then click Advanced Export.

Open the New Export Form

Click New Export to open the new export form.

Select Conversation(s) to be Exported

Exporting by Conversation

Using the search bar (highlighted in blue), you can find specific conversations by contact name and select or deselect them by toggling the checkbox (highlighted in red).

The "Hide Previously Exported Conversations" checkbox (highlighted in green) allows you to quickly filter out conversations that you have already exported.

The "Add All" button (circled in Black) allows you to add every conversation to the export list.

Exporting by Tag

To export only certain messages that have been labelled with a tag, press "By Tag". Select the Tag corresponding to the messages you'd like to print by clicking the checkbox to the left (highlighted in red).

PRO TIP: You can add Message Padding to automatically add a certain number of messages before and after each tagged message for additional context. Set padding to 0 to include only the tagged messages.

Select Output Format

Use the selector to pick between PDF, DOC, CSV, TXT and RSMF file formats.

Advanced PDF Settings

Phone Numbers:
Displays or hides each participant’s phone number next to their name in the exported conversation.
Print Images:
Displays or hides message images as thumbnails in the exported PDF.
Hide Video/File Download Links:
Displays or hides the clickable cloud icons for downloading media files in the exported PDF.
Include Comments:
Includes any reviewer comments added in the Conversation Review portal.
Include Device Logs:
Adds a log report of the extraction as an appendix page.
Include Tags:
Displays any tags applied to messages directly within the exported conversation.
Include "Recently Deleted":
Hearsay recovers messages from the iPhone’s Recently Deleted folder. If any are recovered, this option marks them as recovered in the export.
Include Deleted Messages Inline:
Shows deleted message gaps inline within the conversation export.
Include Deleted Message Report:
Generates a separate appendix summarizing all deleted message gaps detected within the export date range.

RSMF Chunking

If you select RSMF, select how you would like your files to be parsed.

optional: Select Date Range (Export by Conversation only)

Select the option to print the entire conversation or print only a specific date range from within each conversation.

optional: Set Custom File Name

Provide a prefix to help you identify individual export files from the rest.

optional: Automatically Email Export File

Provide 1 or more email addresses to automatically send the file to when completed.

Press the Export Button

Press the blue Export button to submit the form.

Track progress on Export Dashboard

You can track the progress of each of your export jobs on the Export Dashboard. The pill will turn Green when complete. But no need to wait here, you will receive an email when the files are ready for download.

Download files to your computer

Once processing is complete, click Download to download the files to your computer. The file might automatically open in a new tab or check your Downloads folder on your computer to open or move.

(optional) Share Large Export Files by URL

If a file is too large to send by email and you want to share a download link to someone's email, press Share.

Enter the destination email address and press Send Export.

PDF Example

If multiple conversations are exported, each is saved as a separate PDF and bundled together in a ZIP file. If only one conversation is exported, you’ll receive a single PDF (no ZIP file).

Cover Page

The PDF cover page includes participant names, message count, and date range.

Metadata

All messages are stamped with metadata: contact name, phone number, date, and time.

Embedded Media

Pictures appear as thumbnails (these can be toggled off in settings). Videos do not play in a PDF. The exported chat will show a message bubble that says Sent a video. You can add download links to make videos accessible in the Advanced Settings.

Edited Messages

If an iPhone message was edited, you can view both the original and updated versions, along with both sets of metadata.

Gap Analysis & Deleted Messages

How Hearsay handles deleted messages:

Messages recently deleted on the iPhone may be recovered from the device’s deleted folder.
Permanently deleted messages cannot be recovered.
In-line and appendix report will indicate if any messages were deleted during the date range of the conversation being reviewed.

Data Chain of Custody Reporting

An on-demand chain of custody report is available to download with each extraction. Every step of the extraction process is logged for audit and reporting purposes.