Slack presents a free model of its office communication app that is utilized by loads of on-line communities giant and small. This free model hides all messages which can be older than three months in age, that means you possibly can’t seek for or scroll as much as see messages older than that. Till just lately, Slack stored older messages on its server despite the fact that free customers could not see them, the thought being that you would improve to realize entry to your group’s complete message archive.
That is altering this month. When you’ve got a free workspace account, Slack goes to delete all messages older than one 12 months on August 26, 2024. It is comprehensible you would possibly need to hold an archive of your older conversations, and you’ll, however you should 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 possibly can change that with the best software program. You can too migrate your whole messages over to Discord, when you’d desire to make use of a messaging service that does not restrict entry to your archive. Let’s begin by displaying you the best way to again up your Slack archive after which discover the instruments that offer you entry to it.
Export Your Slack Archive
Slack through Justin Pot
First you will have to export your Slack archive. To do that, you should be an admin for the Slack you need to export. In Slack, click on the title of your Slack within the top-left nook, hover over Settings & administration, then click on Office settings. This may 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 need to obtain, and click on Begin Export. The export course of might 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 accomplished, although, so don’t really feel like you should go away the window open. When it’s prepared, the archive will probably be a ZIP file, which you must unarchive.
You may discover that the archive will not be straightforward to learn—the exported archive is only a bunch of JSON recordsdata. If you wish to browse or restore these conversations, you are going to must do some work.
Browse Your Archive on Your Laptop
ScreenshotCourtesy of Justin Pot
In order for you a person interface to discover your outdated 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 possibly can discover outdated messages by channel, search outdated messages, and even view profiles. Be aware that the Mac model is at the moment unsigned, so you may need to right-click and click on Open with a purpose to open it.

