View photos, videos and audio in Messages on Mac
When you have a conversation in Messages, you can send and receive items like photos (including Live Photos), videos and audio messages. You can view these items right in the conversation, or in Info view.
To find out how to send items in a message, see Send messages.
Tip: Double-click a conversation in the sidebar to open it in its own window.
View and save photos and videos
Go to the Messages app
on your Mac.Select a conversation.
Do one of the following:
View photos or videos in the conversation: View the photo, play the video or double-click the file to open it in a Quick Look window.
Note: Live Photos have
in the top-left corner.View photos or videos in Info view: Click
in the top-right corner of the conversation, scroll to Photos, then double-click a file to open it. The file appears in the Quick Look window, where you can then open it in its app. For example, click Open with Photos for a video.Note: You can’t view a video or play a Live Photo in Info view. Instead, either open it in the conversation or Control-click it, then choose Add to Photos Library.
While viewing a photo or video in Info view, you can drag it to another document or the desktop.
View items in a photo stack: When you receive four or more photos, they appear as a photo stack. If you have a trackpad or Magic Mouse, swipe left or right with two fingers on the stack to see each photo without opening it. Control-click a photo in the stack to open it, reply to it, add a Tapback and more.
Tip: To see each individual photo in a grid, Control-click the stack, then choose Show Grid. Click
to return to the conversation.Save photos or videos in the conversation: Click
next to the photo, photo stack or video to save it in your photo library.
For more information about the Quick Look window, see View and edit files with Quick Look.
Note: You can have your (or a family member’s) Mac and other Apple devices receive warnings about sensitive content and warn you before it’s sent or received. See Turn Communication Safety on or off in Screen Time and Avoid seeing unwanted sensitive images and videos.
Listen to audio messages
When someone sends you an audio message, it appears in the conversation with a transcript of the recording and its recorded length.
Note: Audio messages are automatically transcribed in the language of the sender’s system. See Change Language & Region settings to switch to another language and the macOS Feature Availability webpage for more details.
Go to the Messages app
on your Mac.Select a conversation.
Click
in the message.The message is removed from the conversation 2 minutes after you play it. To save it in the conversation, click Keep.
Tip: To view the time a message was sent, Control-click it in the conversation transcript and choose Show Times. If you have a trackpad or a Magic Mouse, you can also swipe left with two fingers on the message.