Requesting message data export in the app desktop and web

Last updated on February 14, 2022

Message data exports is a feature specifically built for companies and regulated industries, such as financial services, with compliance requirements for using electronic communication in the workplace. This feature can also help preserve business communications for legal discovery or internal review.

The message data export feature in the app brings over all of the compliance export’s features like chats, events, files, guests, members, and posts, but allows you to request message histories of only a selection of teams or users. Admins can export the history of their entire account or the history of a team or user.

Enabling message data export

Navigate to Settings via the left-hand navigation bar.
Click the Administration tab in the left pane.
Under Message data export, ensure the Enable message data export toggle is set to on.

Adding app super admins

Super admins can request data exports and manage teams in the app. Initially, the person who created your company’s account becomes a super admin in your online account and app. The super admin can then assign another co-worker to become an admin in the app, where they have full access to the settings in the app.

Once a user has become an admin in the app, the super admin can then upgrade them to become a super admin.

Navigate to Settings via the left-hand navigation bar.
Click the Administration tab in the left pane.
Under Company settings, click Manage at the far right of Manage app super admins. The Manage super admins window will appear.
Select the user(s) who can request data export and manage teams.
Click Save.

Requesting export

To download data from the entire account or specific teams and users within a specified date range, follow these steps:

Navigate to Settings via the left-hand navigation bar.
Click the Administration tab in the left pane.
Under Message data export, click Request at the far right of Request export.
In the Request export window, select the type of data you want to export: All conversations, Selected users, or Selected teams.
1. If you chose Selected users, begin typing the name/s of the user/s and select from the suggested names.
2. If you chose Selected teams, begin typing the name/s of the team/s and select from the suggested teams. You can add up to 10 users or teams.
Select a timeframe of the data you’d like to export: Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 90 days, or Custom range.
If you chose Custom range from the previous step, select the Start date and End date. You can request for a maximum of up to 999 days worth of data for the account.
Click Request.

Types of export data

All conversations: Export all data, including messages, events, tasks, and notes within the account during a specified time range
Selected users: Export data, including sent messages, events, tasks, and notes from up to 10 users during a specified time range
Selected teams: Export data, including messages, events, tasks, and notes from up to 10 teams during a specified time range

Downloading export

Once an export has been completed, you can download the export output.

Navigate to Settings via the left-hand navigation bar.
Click Administration on the left pane.
Under Export history on Message data export, click the down arrows under Download to download the data you’ve requested.

Each export is delivered as a compressed .zip file. When you open this file you'll see that the top-level folder contains seven sub-folders.

Chats: List of teams, groups, and direct messages
Events: Export of all events from teams, groups, and direct messages
Guests: List of guest users in the account
Members: List of employees in the account
Notes: Export of all notes from teams, groups, and direct messages
Posts: Export of all message histories from teams, groups, and direct messages
Tasks: Export of all tasks from teams, groups, and direct messages

Note: If you have difficulties in viewing the .json file, you can go to these sites to convert it to a .csv file. You can use the resources below:

Message data export settings

Under Message data export in the Administration page, you will find the following settings:

Enable message data export: Allow exporting all of your company’s data from the app
Access to exports: Manage who can request and download data exports
Request export: Download data from the entire account or specific teams and users within a specified date range
Export history: Displays the export history of your account. This section contains the following info:
- Export date: Date when the message data export was requested
- Date range: The timeframe of the data exported
- Requested by: The name of the admin who requested export
- Status: Displays if the request has been completed
- Download: Download the requested data export file

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