Transferring / Saving Mobile Phone Text Messages Onto a PC
Its amazing what mobile phones can do these days. You can have a “video phone chat” with your Aunty across an ocean, receive RSS feeds and even watch TV. But, what’s even more amazing is what you CAN’T do.
Most mobile phones won’t let you save your text messages for any longer than a few months!
LG Shine doesn’t let you transfer SMS messages to a PC
I was about 3 months into a 12 month contract with my shiny new LG KE970 phone, when I stopped being able to receive text messages from my friends. Instead of receiving the message, a little notice popped up saying something like “Memory Exceed!”.
The Obvious Solution
The obvious solution to my little problem was to delete some of my treasured messages. But, I just don’t want to HAVE to do that in order to make my phone function as it should.
Phones that DO Let you Save a Copy of your Text Messages onto a PC
Many mobile phone sales reps will be unable to name a phone that offers this feature.
But I have managed to do it with my new Sony Ericsson W580i phone with the help of a bit of freeware called MyPhoneExplorer (version 1.6.2).
Furthermore, this fantastic software lets you export your text messages into MS Word, MS Excel and even OpenOffice. The publishers say that it is “designed for SonyEricsson K700,K750,K800 - but it works with every SonyEricsson-phone except the Symbian-based phones (P-series, M600, W950)”.
How to transfer SMS messages from a SonyEricsson W580i onto your PC and Export to Excel
This is how I did it, anyway:
(I was connecting my phone to a Windows XP PC using a USB connector)
- Install the “Sony Ericsson PC Suite” software (that comes with the phone) onto your PC and make sure your phone connects to it OK - as per the instructions in the manual.
- Disconnect your phone the safe way - (Right-click the removable disk icon in Windows Explorer > Eject).
- Visit http://www.fjsoft.at/en/ to download and install the “MyPhoneExplorer” software. (The Small Print/Legal Disclaimer: Do so at your own risk - I am not responsible if it blows up your PC - Scan it for Viruses - etc - It didn’t blow up my PC - But I haven’t really looked into it that much - I trust ‘em - my Spyware Doctor didn’t kick up a fuss either)
- Restart your PC
- Connect the phone to the PC again
- Select “Phone Mode” on the phone’s connection options
- Start up the MyPhoneExplorer software
- In that: click “File > Connect”
- If everything goes OK - you should be able to use the software to browse to the messages that are on your phone
- Select the messages you want to export
- Click “Extra > Current List > Open with Microsoft Excel”
- Hey presto! You should see the messages pop up in new Excel file.
Its not perfect, though. I still have not been able to save the ‘date a message has been sent’ with the each ’sent message’. I’m not sure if that’s an issue with the Phone Explorer software or the phone itself.
[Update - 14th October 2010] - Tess has kindly suggested a method of saving the date of sent messages.
Why do I want to Save my Text Messages Anyway?
I don’t keep a diary. The nearest thing that I have to a diary is the history of messages in my phone. If I ever wonder what I was doing on a certain date all I have to do is scroll through to my messages that linger from around that date and, ‘hey bingo’, I know exactly what I was up to.
Other Phones I have Tried
I had the same problem with my Nokia 6680. I almost solved it by downloading an application called Nokia LifeBlog onto my phone. The trouble was, by the time I had downloaded the software I did not have enough free memory left on my phone to let it run properly - (it was too full of messages!). I was also a bit annoyed by the fact that I’d have to pay a monthly subscription to a blog site in order to get maximum benefit from it. I should add that I really didn’t spend much time on it, so worth checking it out for yourself if you want to be sure that you know all about it. In the end I did manage to hack away at the 6680 and get the messages onto my PC - but they were not in a format that was easily readable.
Am I paid to promote Ericsson or MyPhoneExplorer?
Nope. First off, my Ericson phone doesn’t really make it easy to save SMS’s onto my PC. Hence, the need for another piece of software to fix it. Secondly, MyPhoneExplorer is free - but they definitely deserve any donations to their cause.
All I’m doing is expressing my opinion in the hope that all phone manufacturers will realise that this simple feature is A SELLING POINT.
Update: 1st December 2007: I noticed that one reader of this blog post resorted to taking photos of the text messages displayed on the screen of her phone!
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:30 pm
I’ve tryed for years to find software or a way to save text messages to my pc. So many times my mobile has stopped receiving messages because it’s full - even the Sony ericsson pda’s P910 /990i which have a huge memory.
It’s such a shame when the texts/messages your kids send you when they are off on their exploits in different parts of the world have to be eventually deleted.
You would think with all the technology now this would be such a simple process.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Hooray! Thanks so, so much for this info… it’s such a breakthrough for me!
I really hate deleting messages, and have ended up writing the important ones by hand into a book so that they don’t get lost… very time consuming!
Downloading my 150 messages today was really fantastic… am so delighted that the software is out there and that you have been kind enough to indicate how to use it to export into Microsoft Excel. Had been searching for this functionality but couldn’t figure out where it was located on My Phone Explorer.
Many, many thanks. That’s your good deed done for today!!
October 18th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
This is by far the best thing i have ever come across!!!!
Thank you very much for this information I’m glad I got hold of your site and not some junk websites that proclaim they know what they are doing!!! I saved ALL 350 sms’ on my phone to my pc and now my phone can breath again and when i need to return to a old sms I can do so on my PC!!!! Great Stuff!!!!
Thank you very much!!!! You are a real life saver!! What a great contribution indeed!!
Regards, Wayne
November 1st, 2007 at 4:22 am
hello, i’ve been using myphone explorer for aaaaaages. but i’ve just recently updated, as i’m onto my 3rd sony ericsson, but i’ve just realised, when i’m typing messages from my computer, its not saving my sent messages?? neither in the computer or on my phone…anyone have any suggestions?? i’ve tried all the menus…
November 20th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Thanks for this - I was dreading deleting my texts as some of them are very sentimental so this is fantastic. Thank you!
P,S. - When exporting in excel some lines are just full of ######## but when I click inside I can read it - any ideas?
November 26th, 2007 at 2:41 am
Hi all those who have commented to say thanks. Thanks for the thanks.
Bernie: I never really use my phone explorer to type in messagesvia the computer, so i cannot help on that one.
Vee: Yes, I’ve seen the “#### thing”in Excel too. Its a bit annoying when it happens. I think it is just a ‘presentation thing’ rather than the actual data getting affected. By increasing the width of these numeric columns, the hashes turn to numbers.
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:11 am
Thank you for the info. Doesn’t help me now with my Verizon Krzr, but it’s good to know that it’s possible somehow. I wish they’d make this feature available as a default.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:49 am
Thank you very much, it worked with my sony ericsson P1I, my screen is smashed so i could not use the touch scren features even though its still visialbe to see what on screen, like yourself my text messages is a way of keeping a diary & as this phone is to be replaced via my insurance it was good to finally find this software to trasfer my data, i haven’t played around with it much yet to see if it will backup & then restore to my new phone when i get it but the fact that i haven’t lost my info is the more important. Thanks again
February 24th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
i hav gt a sony ericsson w580i n it turned off on its own n a cnt get it bak on wat do i do
February 28th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
It is really easy on Nokia phones ones you know what to do:
- Install Nokia PC Suite and connect your phone
- Go to My Computer and open Nokia Phone Browser
- Double click on the phone icon and on the message icon
- Select Export from the ‘Messaeges’ menu
The messages are exported to a ; seperated text file and can be imported into whatever you like…
March 22nd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
MyPhoneExplorer is a VERY good program. i have a Sony Ericsson K800i for those interested. very easy to use program. you can call and txt with it. you can back up any messages, contacts, files (on phone or memory card), etc to ur computer so easily (and visa versa)
April 10th, 2008 at 11:32 am
So excited to find this info - haven’t tried it out yet, but have Sony Ericsson800i and feel confident from all the other responses that it will work for me.
I often get texts from clients that would be great to archive and use as testimonials.
I also have the last 6 texts that a good friend sent me before loosing her battle against cancer, that I just can’t bring myself to delete from my phone but, I know can’t stay there. Now I get to save them.
Thanks so much!
April 14th, 2008 at 9:19 am
i have an LG shine (ke970) and i’ve been trying to look for a software to help me save my texts to my comp for ages now!!! the “Memory Exceed” message is killing me!!!!
after reading this, i think i should just give up and get a new phone…
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I have the lg shine and am also annoyed that I can’t save text messages. What seems stupid to me is that previous lg phones and software suites, allowed the easy transfer of messages. I had the lg u880 which used the lg phone manager to transfer text messages to the pc. Saving texts is important. Some can be great to read again, even years later.
Many network contracts give monthly texting that exceed the phone’s memory. That means deleting numerous texts every month. Copying them all to the pc for sorting, deleting or saving is a hell of a lot easier than sorting or deleting them one by one on the phone. LG and other mobile companies should stop working backwards and get this simple option installed in their pc/phone transfer software.
June 24th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
thank you so much like. I Have a load of txts from my boyfriend who was tragically killed in a car accident 2 months ago and i just cant delete them. Thank you thank you thank you.
June 26th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
[…] Losing a phone is a nightmare. But, luckily, I had backed up all my text messages onto my PC […]
September 14th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
myphone explorer was working fine since a month.it suddenly stopped connecting to my phone.i downloaded th 1.7.0 version of it..but again th same thing happened.
everytime i would press refresh or “start multi-sync”
it gives an error sayn “could not open COMS!”
help.is there an alternative software so save msgs frm my sony ericsson p1i
October 25th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Thank you very much for this software. it was just something i needed the most.
November 7th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
There’s an easier way to solve this problem.Use Cell Phone Manager.
November 28th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
This just worked perfectly for my little Sony Ericsson W200i. Thank you so much.
December 4th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Ericcson K510i display problem?
I own a sony ericcsson k 510i phone. Last evening I took a lot of pictures and the camera messages said capacity full. So I deleted some previous pics and took more pics. Then it seemed ok.
But later when I took it out of my pocket, the display screen was white !!
I tried switching on and off but it didnt work. Still white blank display.
Then I went home and connected it to the computer and saved and deleted the photos I had taken. Now there is only around 6 pics. This is less than there was in the beginning even.
But still the display doesnt come on!! Once or twice the screen came , but it converts back to the white blank screen in about 3 minutes. Can someone hlep me….
Please please….. is there a way I can get back my phone??
what about my msgs and tasks and videos, sounds etc… Will they all be deleted ??
Pls help….
thank you very much
I did take out and insert the sim again….no go… Oh pls help someone… :( :(
December 26th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I’m trying to get a phone that will allow me to transfer text messages to my computer. Thanks for the information on this blog about the possibility of doing this with Sony Ericsson phones using the MyPhoneExplorer website. My internet service provider is Sprint and the Sony Ericsson phones they offer are:
B1201, D600, J608, CMS1101, Z100.
Do you guys know which of these phones, if any, will be compatible with this software?
I am a bit ignorant about this whole cell phone technology stuff and would really appreciate some help.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.
December 27th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Ignore the message above. It seems I was giving the wrong info by the Sprint person I spoke to. It turns out Sprint does not offer Sony Ericsson phones. But one thing I found out is that you can just forward text messages to an e-mail address by typing in an e-mail address rather than a phone number when sending texts.
Maybe not as neat as uploading everything to an Excel document but at least its saved somewhere.
All the best guys.
January 26th, 2009 at 4:40 am
*relieved she isn’t the ONLY person who keeps her messages!!!* I spend AGES writing the blithering things into a notebook… my Sony PC Whatnot Suite thing half saves them, then proceeds to delete my entire address book. I’m sticking with the old way now- notepads it is.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:49 am
worked perfect! the ppl at the phone store have no idea what i was talking about when i tell them about my phone explorer…what a shame!
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I am unable to Save or Delete Files in the Memory Card of my Mobile Sony Ericsson W200i. Could anyone tell me Solution to this Problem.
—– [message edited to protect privacy of contributor]——
March 12th, 2009 at 2:35 am
AWESOME!!!!! Thanks SO MUCH for pointing me in the right direction, I now have all the messages sent and received on my w580i saved on my notebook. It is LAME of Ericsson not to include this feature with their phones!
March 16th, 2009 at 4:22 am
Yes!! i’m not the only one who can’t believe phone people don’t seem to know much about saving text msgs to pc.
Whether i can save the msgs to my pc or not is definitely one of the key selling points for me and i’m amazed how few phones do it easily.
If anyone has a list of phones that do offer a ’saving text msgs onto pc without having to download any program’ facility please let me know.
March 26th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
I need to know what software to use that will enable me to transfer texts from a Pantech Slate to my computer.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I was transfering my messages to my phone explorer from my phone and it didn’t save, i don’t know where it is. cud sum1 plz help me get my messages back if possible
May 20th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Great prog, thanks for the tip!
May 27th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Thanks sooo much for this information, i never delete messages which is why i had recently managed to accumulate 1500 text messages in my inbox! nightmare as it caused my phone to stop working due to the lack of memory! This marvelous programme allowed me to copy them all so i didnt have to wait hours whilst it was being deleted! thanks
June 8th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
thats all well n good but u start talkin bout lg shine den go on to sony ericsson. i use sonny ericsson pc suite and wen i connect my phone it automaticly saves all my txt messages even ones i deleted before i connected the phone.
June 15th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Hi Shaun,
I was just writing about the issue from my perspective and experience around August 9th, 2007.
If you are saying that Sonny Ericsson PC Suite now helps you save text messages, then thats a good thing.
I will do a bit of reasearch to try and confirm that the PC suite has evolved into something fit for purpose.
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Thank you so much.. You saved me a lot of time in compiling my messages.
May God Bless your generosity and talent.
September 8th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Hey I also want to back up my messages. I’ve done everything like you said but when i try to connect my phone it says “Phone could not be identified” Any help!? :(
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:28 pm
What an awesome find, My Sony k810i inbox was full, had to keep deleting messages to let new ones through, loads of messages on there I wanted to keep. Myphoneexplorersynced the whole lot within about 2 minutes.
Massive huge thankyou. xxxxxxx
March 6th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
@ Tysie - i have had that a few times too (Phone could not be identified). To be honest, i am not sure how i fixed it. I just unplugged, turned things ‘off ‘n onnagan’ and retried in various orders of sequence. It seemed to work.
May 1st, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Hello,
I have around 1000 text messages saved on my SE P910i, which I cannot delete (they have so much nostalgia attached), and I simply cannot find a way to export them on to my new HTC phone. The “MyPhoneExplorer” doesn’t seem to like my phone, as it keeps coming up with this error “Com10 not found”, and I’ve actually connected to my PC using the Com 10 port! I can access the phone through my PC, and explore it using that port, but for some reason, MyPhoneExplorer doesn’t recognise it. I’ve spent hours on the internet searching for a solution, and most of the stuff I have downloaded is virus-ridden! Please help! :(
May 1st, 2010 at 8:10 pm
P.S: Mine is Symbian-based phone. Could this be the reason why?
May 1st, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Hi Shadow… I have a phone that I know DOES work with MyPhoneExplorer and I sometimes get the “Com10 not found” error. Whenever I see that error message i unplug things, try a different USB socket, close down Sony Ericsson PC Suite (if its open), close down MyPhoneExplorer and then start again. I cannot remember the exact steps but after trial and error i get my SonyEricsson W580i to work finally.
So, this means that ’seeing that error’ does not necessarily mean that your phone is incompatible. But neither can i say it IS compatible.
If someone else has a SE P910i which they know to have worked…then add a comment here.
You might be able to find an answer in their English Section on their forum: http://www.fjsoft.at/forum/viewforum.php?f=6&sid=fc0f2531e8736fce4590b98cd862f287
May 21st, 2010 at 2:32 pm
You rock! Thanks so much for making this software. We appreciate it!
June 4th, 2010 at 12:16 am
it really worked…thank you so much for such a help…really appreciable..!!
July 8th, 2010 at 12:15 am
m so thankfull 2 u i was badly needed it u made me alive i cant delete my gf msg nw she z my wife
October 13th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Thank you so much! The MyPhoneExplorer is awesome, I even donated to them and I never do that. I’ve got a w580i and I LOVE it. It’s my third phone of this model because I get them used and run them into the ground and I can’t imagine getting a different one.
I’ve got a couple of comments and I’m sorry if they’ve been addressed, I wasn’t able to read everything.
To get the date on your sent messages:
Save them on your phone (move them from “Sent Messages” to “Saved Messages”). Then upload them by MyPhoneExplorer and they have the date!
The “######” people are seeing on Excel is a character overload for Excel for one line. If you adjust the column width to be smaller (50 or so) and highlight the column, you can use the “Wrap Text” button and the cell’s height will adjust so you can read the words.
:)
If only all blogs were as straight-forward and helpful!!!
October 14th, 2010 at 10:59 am
i tried this… but the sent message still not show the date… it said no indication…. pls help
November 14th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
You’re simply the best …. amazing amazing post .. i just loved that myphoneexplorer … u’re the man …
thanks a lot ;)
March 22nd, 2011 at 1:52 pm
I am so happy, I have all the text messages from my old phone transferred to my PC. I wonder if I can transfer them to another phone. I challenge you!!
thanks a million!!
April 29th, 2011 at 11:43 pm
i have a vivaz pro
i have a whole bunch of mssges i want to save and iv been trying to find out how for a while now:/
i feel like this could work i’m just not exacly shur on how to do it
please helpp
May 16th, 2011 at 9:39 pm
to shadow
try to download SE pc suite or pc companion, instal drivers automatically, first connect to SE program and stay connected, then try with MPE
May 16th, 2011 at 9:40 pm
and i have vivaz pro but only got through half of messages, cant download all, ideas?
May 17th, 2011 at 7:45 pm
here is the answer to all symbian users, very easy app everything does automatically, put all sms in one .txt file
http://mymobstuff.com/2011/03/savesms-io-v0-41/
July 15th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
quik question…does any1 know if i can just save messages of certain contacts and not all of them…???
July 29th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Sir
plz send Mts Buzz “Smart Phone ”
how to save sms from mts buzz mobile to pc.
Thanks
Warms Regards
Azad Khan
9983392786
September 30th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
I just thought I’d add my thanks, too - it all worked perfectly with my Sony Ericsson W200 :)
January 16th, 2012 at 9:25 am
I was suggested this website by way of my cousin. I am not certain whether or not this publish is written through him as nobody else realize such detailed approximately my trouble. You’re wonderful! Thanks!
January 30th, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Thanks for this write-up. I had already downloaded the software but was not sure what to do with it because it saved all the data in format read by that software itself so it was not exactly being much of a use. Then I read your post, opened the info in openoffice and saved it all in pdf.
So, now I have all of my sms - sent/received/drafts in a small pdf file.
Oh, just for the record I had a Sony Ericsson K530i and the software works nicely.
March 5th, 2012 at 10:39 am
Just used MyPhoneExplorer 1.8 to backup my SE Vivaz. As advised I started Sony PC Suite, plugged in the phone and then started MyPhoneExplorer. I selected connect to PC Suite on the phone. Initially MyPhoneExplorer could not connect to the phone, so I tried selecting connection as Media Transfer and Mass Storage which did not work either. Then I turned off the phone and took out the battery as instructed, and resterted Windows XP. After rebooting PC and phone, I plugged in and selected PC Suite on the phone again and this thime connection was successful. I have saved all data like contacts on phone and SIM card, SMS messages, calendar appointments and Tasks.
As noted by others, the sent SMS does not have date and time. Also, the Tasks do not have the date, time created and completed. It’s a list of all the tasks that you ever created in the phone, plus the reminder date if there is one entered.
This is a great program and I hope the date and time for the above 2 items can be included in future versions.
March 7th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Thanks for the detailed coment LS. Its good to know you got it working with the SE Vivaz.