As Facebook usage declines, especially among younger demographics, many people are looking to download their photos and data before deactivating their accounts. With over 2.8 billion monthly active users in 2020, Facebook contains a significant chunk of the internet’s photos, messages, and memories. Thankfully, Facebook provides tools to export all of this data rather painlessly. Here’s an overview of how to save your Facebook photos, messages, and more before deleting your account.
Why Save Facebook Data?
There are a few key reasons why properly saving your Facebook data can be useful:
- Access old photos and memories – Facebook hosts countless photos, videos, and memories that don’t exist elsewhere.
- Save messages/messenger conversations – Messages and group conversations may contain meaningful dialogues you want to save.
- Protect your information – Downloading your data allows you to know what Facebook has stored about you.
Additionally, with more users deactivating their accounts every year, your personal archive could become inaccessible if you ever leave Facebook. Proper backups give you control over your data.
How To Download All Facebook Data
Facebook makes it simple to download all of your personal data from their servers. Here’s a step-by-step guide to requesting and downloading your full Facebook archive:
- Go to Facebook Settings
- Click “Your Facebook Information” in the left column
- Click “Download Your Information”
- Click “View” to select data categories or “Deselect All” then choose what to download
- Click “Create File” to request the archive
- Once ready, Facebook will email a download link (may take a few hours or days)
- Download the ZIP files from the link and extract to your computer
This will give you a folder with all your selected Facebook data available offline. Be sure to copy this to an external hard drive or other safe storage location.
What’s In The Facebook Archive?
Assuming you selected all download options, here are some of the key items included in your Facebook data:
- Profile info
- All uploaded photos and videos
- Messages and group conversations
- Posts and reactions
- Friends list
- Advertisement interests
- Search history
- Location history
Facebook archives can easily be 2GB+ in size depending on your account activity. Be sure to only download what’s necessary if storage space is limited.
How To Save Specific Facebook Data
If you only need your photos or other specific data from Facebook, here are some options beyond the full archive download:
Download Photos
To save just your Facebook photos and videos:
- Go to your Facebook Photos page
- Click “More Options” beside a photo album
- Select “Download Album”
- Choose download size and quality
- Click “Download” and save ZIP file
Repeat this for each photo album to backup all images. You can also use the “Download Your Information” tool and select only Photos and Videos.
Download Posts
To save just your text posts and reactions:
- Go to your Facebook feed/timeline
- Use Ctrl+S (or Cmd+S) to save page as an HTML file
- Repeat on all pages of posts
This saves a browsable HTML copy of your posts, comments, and reactions. You can also use the Facebook Takeout tool and select only Posts.
Export Friends
To save your friends list:
- Go to your Facebook Friends page
- Click the gear icon and select “Export”
- Choose CSV or HTML format
- Save exported file
The file will contain your full friends list for importing to another service.
Download Messenger Data
To save your Messenger conversations:
- Open the Messenger app
- Tap your profile photo
- Go to account settings
- Select “Download Your Information”
- Request and download your archive when ready
You can also use the Facebook Takeout tool and select only Messages to backup conversations.
How To Delete Facebook After Backing Up
Once you’ve safely saved your photos, posts, and other Facebook data, you can delete your account if desired. Here’s how to permanently delete your Facebook account:
- Click the account dropdown (top right) and select “Settings”
- Click “Your Facebook Information” in the left column
- Select “Deactivation and Deletion”
- Choose “Permanently Delete Account”
- Click “Continue to Account Deletion”
- Enter your password and click “Permanently Delete Account”
This will immediately and permanently erase your account, removing all data from Facebook servers. So be absolutely certain you’ve saved everything you want to keep!
Other Facebook Account Options
Instead of fully deleting your account, some other options include:
- Deactivate Account – Temporarily hides profile but keeps data
- Memorialize Account – Locks profile of deceased
- Disable Account – Limits access and some features
But deleting the account completely ensures your data is removed from Facebook servers.
Where To Save Your Facebook Data
Once you’ve downloaded your full archive or specific data from Facebook, where should you store it? A few good options include:
- External hard drive or USB drive
- Another computer or device
- Cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox
- DVDs or other discs
The key is keeping your Facebook data in at least two separate locations to prevent against hardware failure or data loss. Cloud backup combined with an external drive provides an ideal combination of accessibility, redundancy, and security.
Photo Storage Options
For storing just your Facebook photos and videos, some good options include:
- Google Photos – Free unlimited storage for photos
- Amazon Photos – Unlimited full-res photo storage for Prime members
- Flickr – 1TB of free photo and video storage
- Adobe Creative Cloud – Cloud storage integrated with Adobe apps
Dedicated photo services make it easy to continue accessing your images from multiple devices. And many integrate with other sharing and editing apps.
Messenger Storage
To keep messenger/chat histories accessible, consider:
- Backing up to email as text files
- Using another chat app like Telegram or Signal
- Keeping the Messenger mobile app
This ensures you don’t lose meaningful conversations even after leaving Facebook.
Migrating Data To Other Social Platforms
Instead of fully deleting your Facebook presence, you may want to transition to another social media platform instead. Here are some tips for migrating data:
Since Instagram is owned by Facebook/Meta, it’s easy to link accounts and transfer data like photos. Just connect Instagram to Facebook in your Instagram account settings.
You can manually re-upload your Facebook photos to Twitter. And use cross-posting apps like IFTTT to automatically share Twitter posts back to Facebook.
TikTok
TikTok doesn’t directly integrate with Facebook, but you can download your Facebook videos then manually upload them to TikTok.
Your Facebook profile info can be manually added to a LinkedIn profile. There are also tools to transfer Facebook groups and pages to LinkedIn.
Snapchat
Snapchat also doesn’t directly connect with Facebook. You’ll need to manually save Snapchat photos from Facebook then re-upload them.
Nextdoor
Nextdoor has an option to easily import Facebook Groups into Nexdoor Groups and invite members.
With a mix of automated tools and manual processes, you can migrate much of your Facebook data to alternative social platforms.
Maintaining Access To Facebook Data
Even after deleting your Facebook account, you still have options to access old data:
- Log in to your downloaded archive – Access media and info saved from Facebook.
- View data shared on other platforms – FB data shared on Instagram, Twitter, etc will still be accessible.
- See tagged photos from friends – Friends can still tag you in content on their Facebook accounts.
- Refer to saved screenshots – Manual screenshots can act as a makeshift archive.
- Check archived links – The Wayback Machine may have archived your public profile, posts, and media.
- Recover account within 30 days – You can reverse account deletion within a month.
And if you only deactivated your account, you can still easily log back in and access everything later on.
Who Can See My Data After Leaving?
It depends on your privacy settings:
- Public posts remain public
- Friends/connections may still have access to certain content
- Your Facebook profile and data will no longer show up in searches
- New people will no longer be able to view your profile or content
So your data becomes inaccessible to new people, but not those you were previously connected to.
Other Facebook Closure Options
Beyond saving your data and deleting your account, here are a few other ways to wind down your Facebook usage:
- Gradually post less over time
- Remove the mobile apps from your devices
- Replace daily Facebook use with other activities
- Limit checking to only 1-2 times per week
- Spend more time connecting with people offline
- Delete old posts systematically over time
This can help break the habit of frequently checking and scrolling mindlessly. And redirect that time towards more meaningful activities.
Should You Fully Quit Facebook?
Here are a few pros and cons to weigh when considering leaving Facebook entirely:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Reduce social media addiction | Lose access to memories and media |
| Increase productivity | Disconnect from friends/family |
| Greater data privacy | FOMO from missing updates |
| Avoid negativity and comparisons | Harder to plan events and groups |
| Encourages more in-person interactions | Can feel socially isolated |
There are reasonable benefits on both sides. Each person needs to evaluate how Facebook is impacting their own happiness and priorities.
Conclusion
While Facebook has its share of problems, it provides a valuable way for people to stay connected with friends and family across distances. But users own their personal data and have a right to delete their accounts if the negatives begin to outweigh the positives.
Thankfully, Facebook’s download tools make it relatively easy to save your photos, posts, messages, and profile info before deleting your account. This ensures you have permanent access to memories and conversations that only exist on Facebook’s platform.
Be sure to save copies of your Facebook data to both a local drive and cloud storage for redundancy. Then review what aspects of the platform are most meaningful to you, and find alternative ways to stay connected whether deleting fully, deactivating temporarily, or simply using Facebook less frequently.
Social media should improve our real-world relationships and quality of life. If Facebook is no longer doing that for you, it may be time to move on. But first, be sure to treasure the memories and relationships formed on the platform by backing up your precious data.