Messenger

Exporting a Messenger chat

Facebook hands over your messages through Download Your Information. Choose JSON — Kyle reads the message files inside.


Requesting the export

  1. 01Go to Facebook Settings → Your information → Download your information.
  2. 02Start a new request and deselect everything except Messages.
  3. 03Set Format to JSON and Media quality to Low.
  4. 04Submit the request and wait for the email from Facebook.
  5. 05Download the file Facebook prepares for you.

What to upload

  1. 01Unzip nothing — you can upload the .zip as it is.
  2. 02Or open your_facebook_activity/messages/inbox.
  3. 03Find the folder for the conversation you want.
  4. 04Upload message_1.json from inside it.
  5. 05Long chats split into message_1, message_2 — zip the folder instead.

Zipped exports are fine

Upload the Facebook zip and Kyle finds the conversation inside, stitching split message files back into one timeline.