Farooq Chat Viewer · Guide

How to use

Covers Windows version 2.0.3

From your first export to finding an old message.

1. Export and open your chats

1. In WhatsApp on your phone, open the conversation and use its Export chat option. Choose to include media if you want the available attachments. The location of this option can vary by phone and WhatsApp version.
2. Transfer the export to your Windows PC. Preserve the text transcript and original media filenames. The viewer can only show what WhatsApp included.
3. For an extracted export, keep one chat per folder. You can place these folders inside a parent folder named, for example, Conversations.
4. Open Farooq Chat Viewer and use the folder button to select that parent folder, or a single chat folder. For a ZIP, choose Import ZIP, select the ZIP and a destination. The app creates a new child folder.
5. Select a conversation in the left panel. It opens at the latest parsed user message.

Conversations/
  WhatsApp Chat - Alex Morgan/
    _chat.txt
    photo.jpg
    voice.opus
  Family Group/
    chat.txt
    video.mp4

Example names and files are fictional. Your export filenames may differ. Do not rename media referenced by the transcript.

2. Read and find messages

• Choose your sender name under Me to align your messages separately.
• Use the left search field for conversation names and indexed message content, including older messages. Open a matching conversation and use its results to navigate.
• Use the open-chat search for sender names or message text. Clear your query to return to normal browsing.
• If numeric dates appear reversed, select the correct day/month or month/day interpretation in the chat header. Compare against an unambiguous date in the original export.

The chat-list date is the latest parsed user-message date. Stored size refers to the archive files. Recognized WhatsApp security and system notices remain visible but are excluded from user-message counts, previews and search.

3. View, play, share and save

• Photos and stickers: view the attachment when its exported file is present.
• Voice notes and audio: use play/pause, progress and playback-speed controls. The waveform is a visual decoration, not a measurement of the recording.
• Video: play supported local files. Thumbnails and playback depend on available media support.
• Documents: open supported attachments with another installed application. Executable attachments are blocked from opening directly in the viewer.
• Share: choose the share arrow, select a compatible Windows destination, and finish sending in that application. The viewer does not send a WhatsApp message itself.
• Copy or Save: use the available action for that content. Save creates a separate copy outside the connected chat folder.
• Links: opening a link launches your browser. Choosing Load online preview contacts that website and possibly its preview-image host. Previews do not load automatically.

4. Manage your connected folder

The app remembers your library and reopens it at startup. Disconnect folder removes the remembered connection; it does not delete the export or its media. Selecting another folder replaces the connection.

Keep removable drives connected. Make cloud-stored exports available offline before opening them. Change your theme or interface language using the app controls; Urdu and Arabic interface translations are partial, with English fallback.

Need help with an import, date or missing file? Open Support.