delsum VS imessage-exporter

It looks like you have your answer already, but for future work check out delsum.

if you still need something, you may have some luck with delsum which i specifically made to deal with larger files by not doing brute force

I don't think this works with more recent iMessage features, it looks like it only queries the `text` column [0], but newer (i.e. post MacOS 13) require reading and parsing the attributed_body column [1].

[0]: https://github.com/niftycode/imessage_reader/blob/master/ime...

[1]: https://github.com/ReagentX/imessage-exporter/blob/2dc3d034b...

Hey, this sounds like an interesting problem. I am always looking for edge cases to test, if you have time would you mind checking if https://github.com/ReagentX/imessage-exporter works for you and if it crashes in that spot?

I wrote a tool for this: https://github.com/ReagentX/imessage-exporter

If you are talking about data missing from the `text` column, for some reason it disappears after you read a message. The content is stored in a binary blob in a different column, which I parse like this: https://github.com/ReagentX/imessage-exporter/blob/c73bc4d66...

As someone who has moved between macOS+iOS and Windows/Linux+Android several times, this is doable. For technical people, it's just annoying. For non-technical people, this probably needs written into a more formal set of steps. If you have the need, one can setup your world to work on both systems transparently, but that takes more work.

Caveats: iOS messages can be kept, but they'll be in files, not your new message app. Photo edits will be lost unless you take extra steps.

Messages: if you are comfortable with it, use imessage-exporter (https://github.com/ReagentX/imessage-exporter) on your Mac to export your messages to disk. Copy to new machine. Validate you got what you wanted! Can also be used to decrease iCloud usage by backing up messages and deleting the originals from Apple Messages.

Photos: three ways. 1) open up the macOS photos app, select all photos, and export them. This will make any JPEG photos much larger than they originally were due to ridiculous default quality settings. 2) If you have access to a Windows machine, install iCloud for Windows, let the photos sync, and copy them to a new directory. 3) Use iCloud's web UI to download all the photos on the new machine.

Mail: pick a new provider. Several ways. 1) Add the new provider account to macOS mail. Copy and paste your emails/folders between accounts. 2) Create an app-specific password for iCloud, use the provider's migration facility (most major players support this and it will move your contacts and calendars).

Calendars: if you are sharing calendars with iOS users or will keep some Apple devices, keep iCloud as your primary calendar system. Use DavX5 (https://www.davx5.com/) on Android to setup a two-way mirror between your Android calendar app. Your email provider may provide calendar mirroring (Fastmail does, for one). If you aren't sharing / using your mail provider, export your calendars to ICS files from Apple Calendar and import into your new calendar app.

Contacts: if you will continue using Apple products, keep iCloud as your primary contacts system and use DavX5. Otherwise, open macOS Contacts, select all, and export to a VCF file. Import this into your new Contacts app.

Documents: copy to a backup drive from the machine, download them from iCloud on the web, use iCloud for Windows for the initial sync. Whatever suits you. If you are using Apple's office apps, be sure to load and save as a more universal format.

Since you have a Mac you can use this program: https://github.com/ReagentX/imessage-exporter