Tag Archives: facebook history

Facebook Data Download – How to do it



Before you leave Facebook, make sure you download a copy of your Facebook history. Many people leave Facebook every day. Sure, more people join Facebook than leave it but the word is that many of us are concerned about our privacy as Facebook ramps up to make more money for its investors.  Here’s how to save your Facebook history:

1. Navigate to your Account Settings (click the down arrow to the right of the word ‘Home’ from any page in Facebook and choose Account Settings.)

2. This is what you want to see:

Photo of Facebook Data download 1
Click on ‘Download a copy’ to get to the next screen.

 

3.

Photo of Data Download menu
Click on the green ‘Start My Archive’

 

4.

Photo of Data Download Menu 3
A little blurb pops up. Read it and click the green ‘Start my archive’ button again.

 

5.

Photo of Data Download Menu
Facebook sends you an email so click Confirm to start the process.

 

6.

Photo of Data Download Menu
You can watch the process here or just wait for the email. Depending on the amount of your involvement in Facebook, this could take a long time.

 

You’re done! Just wait for the email and download the zip file when it’s ready. Here are a couple of tips for you, just so you don’t get too excited about the whole thing:

Tip 1: The file may or may not include everything that you have posted or messaged on Facebook. One of our data downloads didn’t include all of the private messages, for instance. The photos were there, the notes too but not all of the messages.

Tip 2: Photos in which you’ve been tagged will not be included in the data download unless they are your photos. The data download is your data, not someone else’s. Don’t expect the tagged photos to be part of the download.

Once you get the zip file, right click it and Windows will unzip if for you when you choose ‘extract all’. Then you can go back through your Facebook life and reminisce.

Thanks for reading!