Telegram chat backup/export

0.README.md

How to use

1. Login to https://web.telegram.org
2. Copy-paste contents of telegram-scripts.js into JS console
3. Run showContacts() to get the list of contacts with ids
4. Run saveChat(userId) where userId is the id from step 3

Process can take a while, check console for progress. Occasionall FLOOD_WAIT errors are expected. Once done, browser will download the JSON file.

Motivation

Proposed solution requires no dependencies and works with any browser/OS.

telegram-history-dump has a dependency on telegram-cli which failed to work for me.

telegram-scripts.js

function getContacts() {
  const AppUsersManager = angular
    .element(document.querySelector('html'))
    .injector()
    .get('AppUsersManager');

  return AppUsersManager.getContacts().then(ids => ids.map(id => AppUsersManager.getUser(id)));
}

function saveContacts() {
  getContacts().then(contacts => {
    saveJSON(contacts, 'contacts.json');
  });
}

function showContacts() {
  getContacts().then(contacts => {
    contacts.forEach(contact => {
      console.log(`[${contact.id}] ${contact.first_name} ${contact.last_name}`);
    });
  });
}

function saveChat(userId) {
  const LIMIT = 100000;

  var AppMessagesManager = angular
    .element(document.querySelector('html'))
    .injector()
    .get('AppMessagesManager');

  AppMessagesManager.getHistory(userId, 0, LIMIT)
    .then(res => res.history.map(id => AppMessagesManager.wrapForHistory(id)))
    .then(json => saveJSON(json, `${userId}.json`));
}

function saveJSON(data, filename) {
  const blob = new Blob([JSON.stringify(data, undefined, 4)], { type: 'text/json' });
  const e = document.createEvent('MouseEvents');
  const a = document.createElement('a');

  a.download = filename;
  a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
  a.dataset.downloadurl = ['text/json', a.download, a.href].join(':');
  e.initMouseEvent(
    'click',
    true,
    false,
    window,
    0,
    0,
    0,
    0,
    0,
    false,
    false,
    false,
    false,
    0,
    null
  );
  a.dispatchEvent(e);
}

Anyone planning to use this for long chats, edit line 25 const LIMIT = 100000; to be something a bit higher. I found that 100000 per year the chat had existed was enough, though this will depend loads on the volume.

Edit: that's for a 2-person chat, multiply up again by the number of people over this.

I found this while searching a way to transfer my Telegram data from my old to my new phone.
But after having read the script I think there's no way to import the data on my new phone, is there?

The official Telegram docs are not promising either:

You will now have a text searchable PDF export of your Cloud Chat History.

Serious?!
2018 and they suggest to 'backup' by creating a PDF? That's pathetic!!
No suprise Telegram has no chance to push whatsapp away.

Anyway in the course of trying the script I added a function to export all chats with one command instead of calling saveChat over and over.
In case someone needs it just add the following to the end of the script

function saveChats() {
  const LIMIT = 100000;

  const AppUsersManager = angular
    .element(document.querySelector('html'))
    .injector()
    .get('AppUsersManager');

  const AppMessagesManager = angular
    .element(document.querySelector('html'))
    .injector()
    .get('AppMessagesManager');

  getContacts().then(contacts => {
    contacts.forEach(contact => {
      AppMessagesManager.getHistory(contact.id, 0, LIMIT)
        .then(res => res.history.map(id => AppMessagesManager.wrapForHistory(id)))
        .then(json => saveJSON(json, `${contact.first_name}_${contact.last_name}.json`));
    });
  });
}

What date format are these posted in?

Not working for me. Getting:

showContacts()
undefined

It would be nice if it could also dump media files :-(

If you need to export a group conversation or a bot chat you can use the showConversations() I made in my fork

I found this while searching a way to transfer my Telegram data from my old to my new phone.
But after having read the script I think there's no way to import the data on my new phone, is there?

The official Telegram docs are not promising either:

You will now have a text searchable PDF export of your Cloud Chat History.

Serious?!
2018 and they suggest to 'backup' by creating a PDF? That's pathetic!!
No suprise Telegram has no chance to push whatsapp away.

Anyway in the course of trying the script I added a function to export all chats with one command instead of calling saveChat over and over.
In case someone needs it just add the following to the end of the script

function saveChats() {
  const LIMIT = 100000;

  const AppUsersManager = angular
    .element(document.querySelector('html'))
    .injector()
    .get('AppUsersManager');

  const AppMessagesManager = angular
    .element(document.querySelector('html'))
    .injector()
    .get('AppMessagesManager');

  getContacts().then(contacts => {
    contacts.forEach(contact => {
      AppMessagesManager.getHistory(contact.id, 0, LIMIT)
        .then(res => res.history.map(id => AppMessagesManager.wrapForHistory(id)))
        .then(json => saveJSON(json, `${contact.first_name}_${contact.last_name}.json`));
    });
  });
}

I just stumbled upon your reply and got blown away by your flames towards Telegram. You clearly are a WhatsApp user. If you have a new phone just login to Telegram, all the data is in the cloud. No need to run a single script. If you have a new number just follow these steps https://telegram.org/faq#q-how-do-i-change-my-phone-number

To download channels history you would need to pass id like this :
saveChat(-1005555555)

when I run showContacts(), it response a errr: Uncaught ReferenceError: angular is not defined

Same here. Perhaps the application has moved from angular to some other framework.

CC: @JamesHope1219 @agentcooper

You need to select "Switch to Old Version" (i.e. https://web.telegram.org/?legacy=1 ) before using this.

Now Getting "S undefined"