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Convert a Zoom Chat File to Text, CSV or Markdown

Drop the chat file Zoom saved in Documents/Zoom — meeting_saved_chat.txt, or meeting_saved_new_chat.txt in recent versions — or the chat file from a cloud recording, and get the messages as clean text, a CSV for Excel or Google Sheets, or Markdown. Replies stay under the message they answer, reactions become counts, and direct messages stay out unless you include them. The file never leaves your browser.

Turn a saved Zoom chat into clean text, CSV or Markdown — in your browser

Runs in your browser — the chat file is never uploaded.
Zoom chat file

Runs in your browser — the chat file is never uploaded.

No file? If your account keeps meeting chat in Zoom Chat, the messages are in the meeting's group chat there — save the chat during the next meeting to get a file. Where Zoom keeps each copy of the chat

Result

What the Converter Does to a Zoom Chat File

Four entries of a saved chat: a question, a reply to it and two thumbs-up reactions. In the file each reaction is an entry of its own; after conversion the reply sits under the question and the reactions become a count.

meeting_saved_chat.txt
10:02:40 From Leo Okafor to Everyone:
→ Can we start with the launch date?
10:03:05 From Maya Chen to Everyone:
→ Replying to "Can we start with the..."
→ 
→ Yes, first item. Draft plan is in the doc.
10:03:11 From Priya Nair to Everyone:
→ Reacted to "Can we start with the..." with 👍
10:03:20 From Sam Ortiz to Everyone:
→ Reacted to "Can we start with the..." with 👍
Clean text
Leo Okafor: Can we start with the launch date?
  👍 2
  ↪ Maya Chen: Yes, first item. Draft plan is in the doc.
CSV
time,time_kind,sender,recipient,type,text,reply_to,reactions
10:02:40,clock,Leo Okafor,,message,Can we start with the launch date?,,👍 2
10:03:05,clock,Maya Chen,,reply,"Yes, first item. Draft plan is in the doc.",Can we start with the,

How to Convert a Zoom Chat File

Step 1

Find the chat file

A chat saved during the meeting is in Documents\Zoom\<meeting folder> on Windows or ~/Documents/Zoom on a Mac, named meeting_saved_chat.txt or, in recent versions, meeting_saved_new_chat.txt. A cloud recording lists it as the Chat file next to the video in the Zoom web portal.

Step 2

Drop it into the box

Drag the .txt file in, pick it with Upload file, or paste its contents. The badge names the layout it found and counts the messages and direct messages.

Step 3

Choose the output and filters

Clean text, CSV, Markdown, the list of links or a per-participant count. Turn timestamps on, include direct messages, hide reactions, keep only questions or one person's messages.

Step 4

Copy or download

Copy the result or download it as .txt, .csv or .md. Nothing is uploaded: the conversion runs in your browser tab.

Why a Zoom Chat File Needs Converting

Zoom writes the meeting chat as plain text, but not as text meant for reading. Each message opens with a header line like "10:03:05 From Maya Chen to Everyone:" and the text follows on the next line; a reply starts with Replying to and a truncated quote, and in the older layout every reaction is an entry of its own, so one thumbs-up adds two lines. Recent versions write reactions as a "Name, Name:emoji" line under the message instead. The converter reads all of these layouts and keeps only what people typed.

  • Private by design — the chat file is read by your browser and never uploaded
  • Reads the one-line, two-line and meeting_saved_new_chat.txt layouts and both cloud recording layouts
  • Replies are placed under the message they answer; reactions become counts
  • Direct messages stay out of the result unless you switch them on
  • CSV cells that start with =, +, - or @ are made safe for Excel and Google Sheets
  • Pulls every shared link and counts messages per participant

Frequently Asked Questions

A chat saved during the meeting goes to your Documents folder, into Zoom and a folder named after the meeting's date, time and topic: Documents\Zoom on Windows, ~/Documents/Zoom on a Mac. The file is meeting_saved_chat.txt, or meeting_saved_new_chat.txt in some recent versions. A cloud recording keeps its own copy, listed as the Chat file next to the recording in the Zoom web portal.

Zoom only writes a file when someone saved the chat, the host had auto-saving on, or a cloud recording was set to save chat messages. For most accounts Zoom also turns on meeting chat before and after the meeting, which copies the in-meeting messages into a group chat in Zoom Chat — so the messages may be there even when no file exists.

That is how Zoom records threads in the file: a reply starts with Replying to and the first characters of the message it answers, and in the older layout each reaction is written as its own entry. Recent versions write reactions as a line like "Ana, Ben:👍" under the message. The converter moves replies under their message and turns reactions into counts.

A locally saved chat includes the direct messages you sent or received, but not direct messages between other participants. The cloud recording's chat file keeps only messages sent to everyone. The converter leaves direct messages out of the result until you switch them on, and the switch shows how many there are.

The cloud recording's chat file counts time from the start of the recording, not the clock time of the meeting. A locally saved chat uses the clock time on the computer that saved it. The converter keeps the times exactly as written and labels which kind they are.

Yes: choose CSV and open the downloaded file in Excel or Google Sheets. Each message is a row with time, sender, recipient, type, text, the message it replies to and its reactions. A message that starts with =, +, - or @ gets a leading apostrophe so the spreadsheet shows it as text instead of running it as a formula.

The converter reads the older one-line layout, the two-line layout with Replying to and Reacted to entries, meeting_saved_new_chat.txt with reaction lines and a date in the header, and cloud recording chat files with tabs or with spaces, in English and Spanish clients. It does not read Zoom Team Chat exports or chat pulled through the Zoom API. If it says the format is unknown, paste the file as it is — Zoom does not document the format and changes it from time to time.

No. The file is read and converted by JavaScript in your browser tab. Usage statistics record only counts and the name of the detected layout — never the text, names or links from your chat.

No. The chat holds what people typed; the transcript holds what they said. Zoom writes the audio transcript as a separate .vtt file for cloud recordings with transcription turned on — use the VTT to TXT converter for that file.

Sources

  1. Zoom Support — Saving in-meeting chat (KB0067312)
  2. Zoom Support — Enabling meeting and webinar auto-saving chats (KB0062084)
  3. Zoom Support — Enabling or disabling meeting chat before and after the meeting (KB0058301)
  4. Zoom Developer Forum — Chat file download format (2023)

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Read next: Zoom Chat Transcript: Where Zoom Saves Meeting Chat and What the File Holds

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