Finding and exporting your Google Chat data

What it holds

Google Chat contains direct conversations and shared-space discussions, including threads, timestamps and attachments. What remains available depends on whether message history was enabled and which retention rules applied.

Where Google Chat shows the size

1. Sign in to the Google Admin console with the Reports privilege.
2. Open Reporting, Apps Reports, Google Chat for messages sent over time.
3. For individual users, open Reporting, User Reports, Apps usage. Most figures go back about six months.
4. If your edition includes Vault, export Chat from a matter. The download contains a file with accounts and message counts.

Plan and admin role. Reports administrator privilege for the usage reports. Vault comes with Business Plus, Enterprise, Frontline and Education editions; other editions need the add-on.

Exporting the full history

1. In Vault, create a matter and choose Chat with All data as the source.
2. Select all accounts or an organisational unit, include spaces, set the full date range and export as PST or mbox.
3. Without Vault, a super admin can use Data, Data import & export, Data export in the Admin console to export all users.

Vault covers messages and attachments sent with history turned on. Messages sent with history off, linked Drive files and external spaces are left out. Exports stay available for 15 days.

The Data export tool needs a super admin account at least 30 days old with 2-Step Verification. It usually takes about three days and can take two weeks.

Spaces and group conversations without a single owner may be missing from the Data export, and deleted content isn't included.

You don't need to run an export to talk to us, and there's no need to clean it first — removing personal data is part of our work.