Slack gives a free model of its office communication app that is utilized by loads of on-line communities massive and small. This free model hides all messages which can be older than three months in age, which means you’ll be able to’t seek for or scroll as much as see messages older than that. Till lately, Slack stored older messages on its server although free customers could not see them, the concept being that you might improve to realize entry to your group’s whole message archive.
That is altering this month. You probably have a free workspace account, Slack goes to delete all messages older than one 12 months on August 26, 2024. It is comprehensible you may wish to maintain an archive of your older conversations, and you may, however it’s good to act now.
Slack permits directors of any Slack occasion to export an archive of all messages in public channels. The archive is not precisely straightforward to learn or browse, however you’ll be able to change that with the best software program. It’s also possible to migrate your whole messages over to Discord, for those who’d favor to make use of a messaging service that does not restrict entry to your archive. Let’s begin by displaying you the way to again up your Slack archive after which discover the instruments that offer you entry to it.
Export Your Slack Archive
Slack by way of Justin Pot
First you have to to export your Slack archive. To do that, it’s good to be an admin for the Slack you wish to export. In Slack, click on the identify of your Slack within the top-left nook, hover over Settings & administration, then click on Office settings. This can open the Settings & Permissions web page in your browser, the place you will notice an Import/Export Information button.
Click on that, then click on the Export tab. Choose the date vary you wish to obtain, and click on Begin Export. The export course of may take anyplace from a couple of minutes to a few hours, relying on how large your Slack archive is. You’re going to get a Slackbot DM when it’s achieved, although, so don’t really feel like it’s good to go away the window open. When it’s prepared, the archive shall be a ZIP file, which it’s best to unarchive.
You may discover that the archive will not be straightforward to learn—the exported archive is only a bunch of JSON information. If you wish to browse or restore these conversations, you are going to have to do some work.
Browse Your Archive on Your Pc
ScreenshotCourtesy of Justin Pot
In order for you a person interface to discover your previous Slack archives I like to recommend Slack Log Viewer, which is a free obtain for Home windows or Mac. It is somewhat tough across the edges, granted, however with it you’ll be able to discover previous messages by channel, search previous messages, and even view profiles. Be aware that the Mac model is at the moment unsigned, so you will should right-click and click on Open as a way to open it.
