diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat/Archive.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat/Archive.hs
index 630c057bbe..7247f200ff 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat/Archive.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat/Archive.hs
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import Simplex.Messaging.Util
 import System.FilePath
 import UnliftIO.Directory
 import UnliftIO.Exception (SomeException, bracket, catch)
+import qualified UnliftIO.Exception as E
 import UnliftIO.STM
 import UnliftIO.Temporary
 
@@ -57,7 +58,8 @@ importArchive cfg@ArchiveConfig {archivePath} =
     backup agentDb
     copyFile (dir </> archiveChatDbFile) chatDb
     copyFile (dir </> archiveAgentDbFile) agentDb
-    copyFiles dir filesPath `catchError` \e -> pure [AEImport e]
+    copyFiles dir filesPath
+      `E.catch` \(e :: E.SomeException) -> pure [AEImport . ChatError . CEException $ show e]
   where
     backup f = whenM (doesFileExist f) $ copyFile f $ f <> ".bak"
     copyFiles dir filesPath = do
@@ -82,7 +84,8 @@ copyDirectoryFiles fromDir toDir = do
   foldM copyFileCatchError [] fs
   where
     copyFileCatchError fileErrs f =
-      (copyDirectoryFile f $> fileErrs) `catchError` \e -> pure (AEImportFile f e : fileErrs)
+      (copyDirectoryFile f $> fileErrs)
+        `E.catch` \(e :: E.SomeException) -> pure (AEImportFile f (ChatError . CEException $ show e) : fileErrs)
     copyDirectoryFile f = do
       let fn = takeFileName f
           f' = fromDir </> fn
diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
index 31f6c42fcd..618e059d71 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat/Controller.hs
@@ -827,6 +827,7 @@ data ChatErrorType
   | CEAgentCommandError {message :: String}
   | CEInvalidFileDescription {message :: String}
   | CEInternalError {message :: String}
+  | CEException {message :: String}
   deriving (Show, Exception, Generic)
 
 instance ToJSON ChatErrorType where
diff --git a/src/Simplex/Chat/View.hs b/src/Simplex/Chat/View.hs
index 943488df55..a49b0d460f 100644
--- a/src/Simplex/Chat/View.hs
+++ b/src/Simplex/Chat/View.hs
@@ -1437,6 +1437,7 @@ viewChatError logLevel = \case
     CEAgentCommandError e -> ["agent command error: " <> plain e]
     CEInvalidFileDescription e -> ["invalid file description: " <> plain e]
     CEInternalError e -> ["internal chat error: " <> plain e]
+    CEException e -> ["exception: " <> plain e]
   -- e -> ["chat error: " <> sShow e]
   ChatErrorStore err -> case err of
     SEDuplicateName -> ["this display name is already used by user, contact or group"]