Slack offers a Free version of your workplace communication app used by many online communities, large and small. This free version hides all messages sent over the network. older than three months of agewhich means you can’t search or scroll up to see older messages. Until recently, Slack kept older messages on its server, though free users couldn’t see them. The idea was that you could upgrade your subscription to get access to your organization’s entire message archive.
This is going to change this month. If you have a free workspace account, Slack will delete all messages older than a year on August 26, 2024It’s understandable that you might want to keep an archive of your older conversations, and you can do so, but you need to act now.
Slack allows admins of any Slack instance to export an archive of all messages in public channels. The archive isn’t exactly easy to read or browse, but you can change that with the right software. You can also migrate all your messages to Discord, if you’d rather use a messaging service that doesn’t limit access to your archive. Let’s start by showing you how to back up your Slack archive, and then explore the tools that give you access to it.
Export your Slack file
Slack via Justin Pot
First, you’ll need to export your Slack file. To do this, you must be an admin of the Slack you want to export. In Slack, click on your Slack name in the top left corner, hover over Configuration and administrationthen click Workplace EnvironmentsThis will open the Settings and Permissions page in your browser, where you will see a Import/Export data button.
Click on that and then click on the Export tab. Select the date range you want to download and click Start exportThe export process can take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours, depending on the size of your Slack file. However, you’ll receive a direct message from Slackbot when it’s ready, so don’t feel like you need to leave the window open. When it’s ready, the file will be a ZIP file, which you’ll need to unzip.
You’ll notice that the file isn’t easy to read: the exported file is just a bunch of JSON files. If you want to explore or restore these conversations, you’ll need to do some work.
Browse your file on your computer
ScreenshotCourtesy of Justin Pot
If you want a user interface to explore your old Slack files, I recommend Slack Log Viewerwhich is free to download for Windows or Mac. It’s a bit rudimentary, admittedly, but you can browse through old messages by channel, search for old messages, and even view profiles. Note that the Mac version is currently unsigned, so you’ll need to right-click and click Open to open it.
