How to Export a Slack Conversation (and Save It on iPhone)

If you're a regular member, Slack's export isn't yours to run: it belongs to your workspace's owners and admins. On Free and Pro it leaves out DMs, which take an application Slack reviews, and a Free workspace shows only the last 90 days. To keep a chat yourself, record it on your iPhone with TextPort and save it as a PDF.

The copy you can make is the chat on your screen, so save it before it's hidden or deleted.

Who can export Slack messages, and what each plan covers

Slack's export page names who can use it: Workspace Owners, Org Owners and Admins on Enterprise plans, and "members with the Export Admin system role." Free and Pro owners and admins can export public channels only, as JSON files. Private channels and DMs are a separate step, and on every plan it starts with an owner asking Slack:

For a Free or Pro workspace, that application is a high bar. Slack's guide says: "We will reject applications unless Workspace Owners show in each instance (a) valid legal process, or (b) consent of members, or (c) a requirement or right under applicable laws in order to export data." On Business+, the tool is offered "for legal and regulatory compliance."

Even when an owner runs the export, the result is hard to read. The owner starts it from a computer, gets an email when it's ready, and downloads a ZIP file. Inside, each conversation gets its own folder, with a separate JSON file (a data file, not a document) for each day. People show up as user IDs, not names, and each time is a Unix timestamp (a long number, not a date) that you'd have to convert. Files are links back to Slack, not the files themselves, and a link stops working if the file, channel or workspace is deleted. It's built for software to read, not for HR.

So if you're a regular member, the official route is to ask. Slack's privacy policy says the organization that has the contract with Slack, such as your employer, controls the workspace and its data. To see who your owners and admins are, go to slack.com/account/team. If you're in a formal dispute, HR or a lawyer can tell you how a record like this is requested. If you can't wait for that, or you only need one DM, the iPhone steps below get you a copy today.

Slack can hide or delete old messages, so save the chat now

Slack conversations don't always stay put, and the rules depend on the plan.

On a Free workspace, Slack's usage limits page says "You can view and search messages and files from the last 90 days." Once the workspace reaches Slack's visibility limit, Slack starts hiding messages and files older than 90 days, and "Messages and files more than one year old will be permanently deleted." A Free workspace's owner can also choose to delete messages and files after 90 days instead of keeping them for a year.

Paid plans keep messages and files for the life of the workspace by default. But an owner can change that to delete data after a set time, and Slack is blunt about what that means: "Data deleted according to your retention setting is permanent." The setting covers pinned and saved messages too, so pinning a message or saving it for later doesn't protect it. An owner can also let members set their own retention for their DMs and private channels.

Edits are the quieter problem. On Free, when an owner keeps messages for a year, Slack "will not track message edits or deletions." Paid plans can save edits and deletions, and then an owner's export shows what a message said before. But an owner can also choose not to save them. Where they aren't tracked, Slack keeps no record of what a message said before someone changed it.

None of this is a reason to panic. It's a reason not to wait:

• Save the conversation while you can still see it. A copy you make today shows the messages as they read today, before an edit, a retention setting or the 90-day limit gets to them.
• Don't delete anything from the thread first, even messages that look off topic. The full conversation is the record.
• Keep the original in Slack, too. Your copy came from it.
• Leaving a job? Save what you need before your last day, while you still have access.

Export a Slack conversation without admin: save it on iPhone with TextPort

This is the one route on this page that doesn't wait on an owner, an admin or Slack. TextPort has Slack in its list of chat apps. You record your screen while you scroll through the DM or channel, and TextPort turns the video into a chat you can search, fix and export.

Before you start, two things. Apple says "Some apps might not allow you to record their content" (Apple's iPhone User Guide). And this is a work chat, so check your employer's rules about copying it to your own phone. Your employee handbook or HR can tell you. If the recording doesn't capture the chat, or the rules say work chats stay at work, don't look for a way around it: ask an owner or HR instead.

Here's how to record it:

1. Open TextPort and tap Add Chat.
2. Tap the app name at the top and pick Slack.
3. Tap On Your iPhone, then the blue Start Screen Recording button.
4. Make sure TextPort is selected and tap Start Broadcast. TextPort can open Slack for you.
5. Open the DM or channel and scroll up to where the part you need begins. Then scroll down, from oldest to newest. Keep each message on screen for about one second.
6. Go back to TextPort and tap Stop Recording. Drag the yellow handles so the video starts and ends on the chat, then tap Start Processing.

TextPort reads the text in the video. A long chat can take a few minutes, and you can leave the app while it works. The chat then shows up in Saved Chats.

Record one conversation at a time. The recorder stops by itself after 15 minutes, so a long channel may take two recordings. Already recorded the chat with your iPhone's own Screen Recording? It's in Photos, and you can long press Start Screen Recording to pick it instead. The Scroll Capture guide shows every screen.

Prefer screenshots? Use the Screenshots tab and overlap them, so the last message in one is the first in the next. Either way, keep dates and times on screen when you can, because TextPort uses them.

Then open the chat in TextPort and check it against Slack. Long press a message to fix its text or time, or to delete it. When it matches, tap Export and pick PDF, Print, Spreadsheet or Text. A PDF is the best way to share or file a chat: it shows names, dates and times on every page (not user IDs and Unix timestamps), and its text is real text you can search. Spreadsheet (CSV) and Text are there if you'd rather sort or search the messages yourself. The PDF guide shows how to share it or save it to Files.

The same recording works for other chat apps too, like a Teams chat or a Discord DM.

If you're putting together a record of harassment at work, documenting harassment for HR covers how to organize it, and Can Text Messages Be Used in Court? explains how messages are used as evidence. You can import your first three conversations for free.