Slack offers import and export tools for customers on every plan. This guide covers what you need to know about how content in your Slack workspace or Enterprise Grid organization may be accessed using those tools. For plan-specific details, jump to the section Import and export tools by plan.

Export overview

As with other workplace tools, Slack customers may need — or be legally compelled — to export content. But they can do so only under limited circumstances. Employment, privacy, and other laws, as well as corporate policies, limit the use of these exports. Laws and policies may also require employers to notify employees of their use of export tools. 

Here are a few examples where a customer may need to export content: 

• A company receives a report of harassment or theft of trade secrets and needs to conduct a workplace investigation.
• A financial services company is required by a regulation to archive certain communications for a set period of time. 
• A court order mandates information from Slack must be disclosed due to a lawsuit or investigation. 
• A former employee requests to be provided with a copy of the information their former employer retained about them, as required by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. 

Our export tools help customers comply with their obligations. These tools, and their requirements for use, help keep Slack a safe and secure place for getting work done. 

 

Import and export tools by plan

Free plan

• Imports: You can use the import tool to pull content from one of these sources: another Slack workspace, a CSV or text file, or data that has been exported from third-party apps. 
  
  
• Exports: Workspace Owners and Admins can export data from public channels. Data exports will include links to files, but not the files themselves. Data more than a year old will not be included.
  
  Under limited circumstances and except as described below, Workspace Owners may contact Slack and apply to export content from all channels and conversations, including private channels and direct messages. The exports will not include data older than one year that has been deleted. 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.

Pro plan

• Imports: You can use the import tool to pull content from one of these sources: another Slack workspace, a CSV or text file, or data that has been exported from third-party apps. 
  
  
• Exports: Workspace Owners and Admins can export data from public channels. Data exports will include links to files, but not the files themselves. If you export data from a workspace containing Slack Connect channels, only links to files shared by members of your workspace will be included in your export.
  
  Under limited circumstances, Workspace Owners may contact Slack and apply to export data from all channels and conversations, including private channels and direct messages. Data contained in the export is contingent on the date the workspace was upgraded from the Free version of Slack and will not include data older than one year that was deleted prior to upgrading. 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.
  

Business+ plan

• Imports: You can use the import tool to pull content from one of these sources: another Slack workspace, a CSV or text file, or data that has been exported from third-party apps.
  
  
• Exports: Workspace Owners and Admins can export data from public channels. Workspace Owners can also apply to access a self-serve data export tool. Access to this tool permits a Workspace Owner to export data from all channels and conversations, including private channels and direct messages, as needed and permitted by law. Each Workspace Owner must ensure that (a) appropriate employment agreements and corporate policies have been implemented, and (b) all use of data exports is permitted under applicable law.
  
  Data exports will include links to files, but not the files themselves.
  
  When you export data from a workspace containing Slack connect channels, links to files in private shared channels or direct messages between organization members will only be included if they were shared by a member of your workspace.

Enterprise Grid plan

Note: We don't support imports to Enterprise Grid organizations. As an alternative, you can import data to a separate workspace, then migrate that workspace to your org.

• Exports: Org Owners can apply to access a self-serve data export tool. Access to this tool permits an Org Owner to export content from all channels and conversations, including private channels, direct messages, and all conversations that a single user is part of, as needed and permitted by law. Each Org Owner must ensure that (a) appropriate employment agreements and corporate policies have been implemented, and (b) all use of business exports is permitted under applicable law.
  
  Data exports will include links to files, but not the files themselves. Data exports for a single user's conversations will contain files if the export is in TXT format.
  
  When you export data from a workspace containing Slack Connect channels, links to files in private shared channels or direct messages between organization members will only be included if they were shared by a member of your Enterprise Grid org.
  
  When you export content from all channels and conversations for an Enterprise Grid organization with flagged content enabled, the export will include flagged content and comments from reviewers.
  
  Workspace Owners and Admins who manage individual workspaces in an Enterprise Grid org may also export data from their workspace’s public channels.
  
  
• Discovery API: At the organization level, the Discovery API export mechanism is available to Org Owners, allowing customers to use approved third-party apps to export, archive, or meet other security and compliance obligations for any organization content. Each Org Owner must ensure that (a) appropriate employment agreements and corporate policies have been implemented, and (b) all use of the Discovery APIs is permitted under applicable law.
  
  Exports through the Discovery APIs will include files, which are accessible through direct download links. When you export data from a workspace with Slack Connect channels, files in private shared channels or direct messages between members of organizations in a Slack Connect channel will be included, but only files sent by members of your Enterprise Grid org can be edited or deleted by the Discovery API.
  
  The Discovery APIs also support eDiscovery and data loss prevention (DLP) solutions. These solutions enable customers managing sensitive or regulated data to meet their obligations through routine exports and other management of protected data.
  
  If workspaces in your Enterprise Grid org contain Slack Connect channels, content from those shared channels and direct messages sent between members of the organizations will be included in eDiscovery exports. Messages posted to shared channels will be available via your DLP provider, but only messages sent by members of your Enterprise Grid org can be edited or deleted by the Discovery API.

Tip: Visit Roles in Slack for details about the different types of workspace roles. If you have a Slack account, you can browse the owners and admins in your workspace.

Retention settings and exports

The content available for export may be limited depending on your plan and data retention settings. For more information, visit Customize message and file retention policies.

In Slack Connect channels, your retention settings will only apply to the messages and files sent by members of your organization. Content sent by members of an external organization will adhere to the retention settings configured for their workspace or Enterprise Grid org. Each organization’s settings will impact the data and content available to be read or exported for them to export.

Additional resources

• For step-by-step instructions for exporting data from your workspace or Enterprise Grid org, visit Export your workspace data.
• For more information on the process of importing data, visit Import data from one workspace to another and our FAQ.
• For a guide to reading your data export file, visit How to read Slack data exports.

Questions? Please contact us at [email protected].