How to export a Grok chat (PDF, Markdown or full archive)

Short answer: as of October 2026, Grok has no export button for a single chat, either on grok.com or inside X. According to third-party guides (xAI doesn't document this), the only export covers your whole account: on grok.com, open Settings → Data Controls → Export account data (accounts.x.ai/data) for a ZIP with your conversations in one JSON file. You don't get a PDF or Markdown file. And if you talk to Grok inside the X app, those chats reportedly end up in X's own data archive instead.

So if you want one Grok conversation as a PDF or a Markdown file, you have three real options: copy it out by hand, print the page from your browser, or use an extension. Below I go through each one, plus the share-link habit I'd avoid.

Quick disclosure: I build TidyChats, a browser extension that adds folders, search and export to Grok and the other big assistants, so I spend a lot of time in each of them. I'll cover the free routes first, because for plenty of people they're enough.

The account-wide export from xAI

This is the closest thing Grok has to an export feature. It's built for backups and data requests. Grabbing one chat isn't really what it's for.

The path, as described by this walkthrough from carry.md and Univik's guide to exporting Grok chats, which agree with each other:

1. Open grok.com and go to Settings.
2. Open Data Controls.
3. Click Export account data. This sends you to accounts.x.ai/data.
4. Request the export and download the ZIP when it's ready.

I haven't found an official xAI help page that documents what's inside the archive, so treat this part as "the export I've seen described" at the time of writing. According to those guides, the ZIP holds all your conversations in a single file called prod-grok-backend.json, along with your projects, tasks and branches. Files you uploaded sit in folders named by ID rather than by filename.

Technically, every chat you've had on grok.com is in there. In practice, a single JSON file holding your entire history is a backup. You wouldn't send it to a colleague or drop it into your notes app.

Finding one conversation inside prod-grok-backend.json

xAI doesn't publish the structure of this file, so I won't pretend to know it field by field. What works without any special tooling:

• Open the file in a code editor that copes with large files, or in your browser's built-in JSON viewer.
• Search for a phrase you remember from the chat, ideally something unusual you typed yourself.
• Copy the messages around that match into a document.

If you're comfortable writing a small script, you can turn the file into one Markdown file per conversation. Look at the structure of your own export first, though. Because it's undocumented, it can change between exports without notice.

Grok inside X keeps a separate history

Grok on grok.com and Grok inside X (the app or x.com/i/grok) don't share one history in the way you'd expect.

Grok's own account said in a reply on X, which looks like it dates from around August 2025, that there's "no direct transfer for Grok conversations from X to the Grok app; manual copy-paste is required," and that "no built-in search exists for your 100+ chats on X." That's Grok describing itself, from a while back, so take it as a snapshot.

It also affects exports. Reports say the chats you had inside X are not part of the xAI export above. They come with X's own data archive, which reportedly takes 24 to 48 hours to prepare. I'd call that partly verified: a couple of third-party guides say so, but I haven't seen it confirmed on an official page. If you use Grok in both places, plan on two histories and two separate exports.

Share links are public, so revoke the ones you don't need

The share button in Grok creates a public link. Anyone who has the URL can read the conversation. A common trick is to share a chat, open the link and save that page. It works, but it means a public copy of your chat now exists.

Two things to know:

• Public links may get indexed. xAI's FAQ appears to say public share links may be indexed by search engines. I'd treat anything you share as potentially findable.
• You can revoke them. Go to grok.com/share-links to see the links you've created and remove them.

Grok Business works differently. According to xAI's Grok user guide, share links in a Business workspace only open for licensed members of your team.

My take: don't use share links as an export method for anything personal or work-sensitive. If you already have, spend two minutes on the share-links page and clean up.

Practical ways to save one Grok chat today

Here's how the options compare when all you want is one conversation in a file.

Copy and paste

It's boring, but it works on grok.com and in X, and nothing leaves your machine. Select the conversation, paste it into a doc or a Markdown editor, and fix the formatting. For a short chat, this is the fastest route.

Print to PDF

Press Ctrl+P (Windows, Linux) or Cmd+P (Mac) and pick Save as PDF as the destination. Check the preview before you save. Depending on the page layout, you may get the sidebar in the margin or long code lines cut off. For a quick record of a chat, it's fine.

Pull it from the account export

If you want everything backed up anyway, request the xAI export, then dig out the one conversation you need as described above. It's slow for a single chat, but it's the only official copy you can get.

Use an extension

There are several browser extensions that add an export button to Grok. Check how any of them handles code blocks and attachments before you rely on it.

What TidyChats does on Grok

TidyChats is a Chrome extension that works on grok.com and on Grok inside X at x.com/i/grok. It treats both as one "Grok" platform, so your folders, saved prompts and search are shared between them. You don't need an account to use the free features.

Exporting one chat. Use the download icon on the "Current chat" card, "Export…" in the chat menu, or "Export this chat" in the command palette. The "Export chat" dialog offers:

• "Plain text (.txt)"
• "Markdown with YAML frontmatter (.md)", with title, date, updated, model, url, source, tags and messages in the frontmatter, so it drops cleanly into a notes app like Obsidian
• "JSON (.json)"
• "PDF (print dialog)", which opens a print page with a "Print / Save as PDF" button and then your browser's print dialog

The free plan exports TXT only, one chat at a time, with no daily limit. Markdown, JSON, PDF and multi-chat ZIP exports (for example "Export folder (ZIP)") need TidyChats Premium for Grok (Premium is bought per platform), which is $9.99 a month, $59 a year or $99 lifetime. Details are on the pricing page, and the export tutorial walks through the dialog step by step.

Caveats you should know before installing:

• Indexing on x.com. On grok.com, TidyChats reads your history through Grok's web API, with a page-by-page fallback in a small window if that fails. That API is undocumented, so a Grok update can break it. On x.com/i/grok there's no API to use, so chats are only indexed as you open them. In practice, search and bulk export only cover the X chats you've actually opened with the extension installed.
• No bulk delete on Grok. The "Manage chats" view says it plainly: "Grok has no API for deleting chats from an extension. You can still export, tag and organize them here." You can bulk export, tag and move chats, but you can't bulk delete them.
• Where your chats live. Chat transcripts and the search index stay in your browser (the exception: if you're a signed-in Premium user and ask for an AI summary, that chat's text goes to the TidyChats server). Even if you sign in to sync folders and prompts, chat content isn't synced to our server.

If you mostly want to find old Grok chats rather than export them, the cross-chat search tutorial is the better starting point. The Grok page has an overview of everything else.

If you're dealing with the same problem on another assistant, I've also written about exporting a Claude chat and about organizing Gemini chats with Notebooks, pins and folders.

Questions people ask

Can I export a single Grok chat to PDF?

There's no native per-chat export on grok.com or in X as far as xAI documents it. Use your browser's print dialog (Ctrl/Cmd+P → Save as PDF) or an extension that adds an export button.

What format is the Grok data export in?

According to third-party guides, it's a ZIP with all your conversations in one JSON file, prod-grok-backend.json, plus projects, tasks, branches and ID-named folders for uploads. There's no PDF or Markdown option in it.

Does the xAI export include the chats I had with Grok on X?

Reportedly not. Chats from Grok inside X are said to come with X's own data archive, which can take 24 to 48 hours. If you use both, request both.

How do I delete a Grok share link?

Open grok.com/share-links and remove the links you no longer want public. Do it for anything sensitive, since public links may be indexed by search engines.

Can I move my Grok chats from X to grok.com?

According to Grok's own account on X, there's no direct transfer, so manual copy-paste is the only way. Exporting or copying the chat out is the practical workaround.