Interactive tutorial · ~5 min · 10 steps
WhatsApp Web Chat Backup Tutorial
Chat backup keeps a local copy of chats and media and can export a ZIP; the optional cloud copy is encrypted on your device and the key stays with you.
Runs on a fictional copy of the screen with a voice guide. Nothing you click reaches WhatsApp.
What the tour covers, step by step
Keep a copy of your chats and media on this computer, export a ZIP, and — if you want — an encrypted copy online.
- 01
A copy of your chats, on this computer
While WhatsApp Web is open, InboxCRM reads your chats, contacts and media and stores them in a database inside your browser. Nothing is uploaded unless you connect a cloud account. Needs an Extino plan.
Read the narration
This is Chat backup. WhatsApp keeps your history on your phone — if the phone is lost, so are the chats. While WhatsApp Web is open, InboxCRM reads your chats, contacts and media and stores a copy in a database inside this browser, on this computer. It only reads: it never sends, never marks anything as read, never changes a thing. And nothing leaves your computer unless you choose to connect a cloud account later. Chat backup is part of the Extino plan.
- 02
Back up now, Rescan, Pause
Back up now runs a full backup — older history is fetched page by page, so a big chat may finish over several runs. Rescan refreshes recent messages. Pause stops automatic backups.
Read the narration
Three buttons drive it. Back up now starts a full backup — watch the status turn to Backing up and the bar move. Be patient with large chats: WhatsApp Web only keeps recent history loaded, so older messages are fetched page by page, and a busy group may take several runs to become complete. Rescan is the quick one: it just refreshes recent messages. Pause stops the automatic backups until you press Resume. Between runs, a rescan happens by itself every ten minutes while WhatsApp Web is open.
- 03
Every archived chat
Each row shows message and media counts and whether the full history is done. Exclude skips a chat from every future backup; Reset deletes its copy and fetches it again.
Read the narration
Backup done — the totals are filled in and the status says Up to date. The Chats card lists every archived conversation with its message and media counts, and whether its full history has been fetched yet. Two buttons per row: Exclude skips that chat from every future backup — handy for a noisy group you don't care about — and Reset throws away the copy and fetches it fresh if something looks wrong.
- 04
How much to keep
Toggles for automatic backup, media, groups, archived chats and status updates. History to keep (all, 1 year, 90 or 30 days) and the largest media file (8, 16 or 32 MB) control disk use.
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Settings decide how much lands on your disk. Automatic backup while WhatsApp Web is open, media — photos, videos, voice notes and documents — group chats, archived chats and status updates, each with a switch. History to keep is the big lever: all history, or only the last year, ninety or thirty days. And Largest media file skips anything bigger than eight, sixteen or thirty-two megabytes, so one huge video doesn't fill your drive.
- 05
Export a ZIP you can open anywhere
Tick chats, choose formats — Chat transcript (HTML), JSON, CSV, Media files — and Download ZIP. Each chat gets its own folder; chat.html opens in any browser.
Read the narration
To take chats out of the browser, use Export. Tick the chats you want — here Maria and the Studio Group — choose the formats, and press Download ZIP. You get a file named wa-backup with the date. Inside, each chat has its own folder with a WhatsApp-style transcript you can open in any browser, plus the same messages as JSON and CSV for spreadsheets, and a shared media folder. Untick Media files if you just want a small text-only archive.
- 06
Optional: an encrypted copy online
Cloud backup keeps a copy you can browse from any computer. It is a separate WA Backup cloud account — create one with an email and a password of at least 8 characters, or Sign in.
Read the narration
Everything so far stays on this computer. If you also want a copy that survives a stolen laptop, connect Cloud backup. It's a separate account from your Extino login — create one here with an email and a password of at least eight characters, or sign in if you already have one. Once connected, new records upload in the background about every minute.
- 07
Upload status
Connected: Pending, Uploaded and Parked counts, plus Sync now, Open web viewer and Disconnect. Records that failed 8 times are parked until you press Retry parked.
Read the narration
Connected. Now the card shows three numbers: Pending, waiting to go up; Uploaded, safely stored; and Parked — records that failed eight times in a row and are waiting for you to press Retry parked. Sync now forces an upload straight away, Open web viewer takes you to your archive online, and Disconnect signs this computer out of the cloud account.
- 08
Your recovery key — save it now
Everything is encrypted on this computer with this key before upload. Show it, Copy it into a password manager, tick 'I have saved my recovery key'. If you lose it, nobody — not even Extino — can decrypt the archive.
Read the narration
Please listen carefully to this one. The cloud is zero-knowledge: every message and file is encrypted on your computer with this recovery key before it leaves. The server only ever stores scrambled data. That is great for privacy, but it means the key is the only way in. Press Show, press Copy, and store it somewhere safe — a password manager is ideal. Then tick I have saved my recovery key. If the key is lost, nobody can recover the archive — not you, not us. Extino cannot reset it, because Extino never had it.
- 09
Read it anywhere: the WA Backup viewer
inboxcrm.extino.net lets you browse the cloud copy from any computer. Paste the recovery key there to unlock it. On a second computer, import the same key under 'Import a recovery key from another device'.
Read the narration
Once uploads run, sign in to the WA Backup viewer at inboxcrm dot extino dot net from any computer. Because of the encryption, the viewer asks for your recovery key to unlock the chats — it decrypts in your browser and never sends the key anywhere. If you install InboxCRM on a second computer and want it to write to the same cloud archive, expand Import a recovery key from another device on that computer and paste the key there.
- 10
Your chats are backed up
Open Chat backup, press Back up now with WhatsApp Web open, and save your recovery key before connecting the cloud. Wipe archive at the bottom is permanent — export first.
Read the narration
That's chat backup. Open the real page with WhatsApp Web running and press Back up now — the first run takes a while, then it looks after itself. If you want the cloud copy, save the recovery key first. And one warning: Wipe archive in the Danger zone deletes the whole local copy for good, so export a ZIP before you ever press it.