# Chat export included in archive?

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-export-included-in-archive/257028>\
**Category:** Feature\
**Tags:** chat\
**Created:** [March 4, 2023, 3:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-export-included-in-archive/257028 "2023-03-04T03:33:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jimkleiber](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jimkleiber/32/121814_2.png) [@jimkleiber](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jimkleiber)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 3:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-export-included-in-archive/257028/1 "2023-03-04T03:33:14Z")

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I just tested an archive of my data here on Meta and didn’t see any of the chats I’ve had included in there. As a user of Meta, I don’t care too much, yet I can imagine if I run a community and people are using chat a lot, I’m sure some will want to backup the chat.

Is it possible for me to export/archive/backup any of my chat messages as a user?

If not, is that something being considered?

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**Author:** ![mcwumbly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/mcwumbly/32/103861_2.png) [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 7:45pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/chat-export-included-in-archive/257028/2 "2023-03-13T19:45:05Z")

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This isn’t something that has come up before to my knowledge.

I think it makes sense to aim for consistency here, but it’s worth considering the way things work with retention settings, and how chatty and ephemeral-by-default chat is.

For the time being, I think the idea that “if it matters, put it in a topic” hold here.