Ledge

How to save a photo or file from Messages on a Mac

· 6 min read

The quickest way to save a photo or file someone sent you in Messages is to drag it out of the conversation and drop it on the desktop or into a Finder window. That makes an ordinary copy you can rename, move and attach anywhere. If the picture belongs with the rest of your photos, right-click it instead and add it to your Photos library.

Drag it out of the conversation

Messages treats every attachment in a thread as something you can pick up and carry somewhere else.

  1. Open the conversation and scroll to the photo, PDF or other file.
  2. Press on it and start dragging. A see-through copy follows the pointer.
  3. Drop it on the desktop, into an open Finder window, or onto a folder in the Finder sidebar.

The result is a normal file, usually carrying whatever name the sender’s device gave it. The message itself is untouched: you have made a copy, and the attachment stays in the thread. You can also skip Finder and drop the attachment straight into another app, such as an email you are writing or a document you have open.

When several photos were sent together, the thread sometimes shows them as a stack or a grid. Click the group to open it, then drag out the individual pictures you want.

Use the right-click menu

Right-click (or Control-click) an attachment to see what Messages offers for it. The exact list depends on your version of macOS and the kind of file, but it typically includes copying the item, sharing it, looking at it in Quick Look and, for photos, adding it to your Photos library.

Adding to Photos is the better choice when the picture should live with your other pictures. It then shows up in albums and searches like any photo you took yourself, and it syncs wherever your library syncs.

The Share option opens the standard macOS share menu. That is handy when the attachment only needs to pass through: you can send it on by Mail or AirDrop, or drop it into a note, without saving a copy first.

Find every attachment in a thread

Scrolling back through months of messages to find one PDF is slow. Messages keeps a collected view of what has been shared in each conversation.

  1. Open the conversation.
  2. Click the person’s or group’s name at the top of the window.
  3. In the details that open, look for the photos and other attachments shared in that thread.

You can drag items out of this view the same way you drag them out of the conversation. Its layout has changed between macOS releases, so the section names may differ a little on your Mac, but the photos and files end up gathered in one place rather than scattered through the chat. In many versions you can Command-click several photos there and drag them out together.

Where Messages keeps the files

Every attachment you receive is also stored as a file inside your user Library. To have a look:

  1. In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder, or press Shift-Command-G.
  2. Type ~/Library/Messages/Attachments and press Return.

Inside are folders with short, random-looking names, each holding one or more attachments. The folder is not organized for people, so a search by file name or file type is usually the only practical way through it.

Treat this folder as read-only. Copy files out by holding Option as you drag them to another folder, and do not move, rename or delete anything inside it, because Messages expects each attachment to stay where it put it. If you use Messages in iCloud, older attachments may not be stored on this Mac until you open them in the conversation, so if something is missing from the folder, open it in Messages first.

When the saved file is not the format you need

Photos from an iPhone often arrive as HEIC files. Most Mac apps open them without complaint, but some web forms and older apps turn them away. The fix is built into the Mac:

  1. Double-click the saved photo so it opens in Preview.
  2. Choose File > Export.
  3. Pick JPEG from the Format menu and click Save.

Videos and documents come out in whatever format the sender’s device made them. If an app will not take a file you drop on it, why an app refuses a file you drag onto it covers the usual reasons.

Collecting attachments from several conversations

The awkward case is when what you need is spread around: a photo from one thread, a PDF from another, a screenshot a colleague sent last week. Dragging each one to the desktop works, but it leaves a scatter of loose copies that you then have to find again and move a second time.

Ledge gives those items one place to wait. Drag an attachment out of Messages and up to the notch at the top of the screen, and let go; it lands on a shelf that drops from the notch and stays there. Switch to the next conversation, find the next attachment, and do the same. When you have everything, open the shelf with Option-Space or a click on the notch and drag the items down to where they belong: into a project folder in Finder, into an email, or into a chat app, which receives them as uploads.

Ledge has no account and no cloud, so nothing leaves the Mac while the files wait. On a Mac without a notch, the shelf sits at the top center of the screen. How to collect several files before you send them goes further into this routine.

Questions

Does dragging a photo out of Messages remove it from the conversation?

No. Dragging makes a copy. The photo stays in the thread, and deleting the copy you saved has no effect on Messages.

Why is the saved file named with a string of letters and numbers?

The name comes from the sender’s device, and phones usually name photos by number rather than by what is in them. To rename it, select the file in Finder, press Return, type a new name and press Return again.

I saved the photo, so can I delete the conversation?

Only if you are sure the copy is where you want it. Open the saved file once to check it before deleting the thread, because deleting a conversation also removes its attachments from Messages.