Some time ago, I explained to you How to download all your Twitter data. Now I'm going to show you how to save a copy of all your Facebook data.
Indeed, if for some reason you are afraid of losing everything you have on Facebook, the best way to reassure yourself is to download a backup of your data. In this article, we will see how to do this.
Backup all your Facebook data
First, log in to Facebook and go to your Facebook settings. Access to the settings is done in clicking on the triangle at the top right of the screen and then selecting Settings and privacy. Then select the option Settings. Finally, in the left menu of the page that opens, click on Policy.
In the left menu now click on Your Facebook information…don’t worry, we’re almost there! To save time, you can paste the following address into the bar of your browser web and directly access the options: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=your_facebook_information.
On this page you should find the option to Download profile information.
Then click on Check.
On the next page, you will be able to configure what you want to recover. Depending on what you want to do with your data, you can choose a backup format : HTML (easy to view) or JSON for importing into another tool. You will also need to specify the period over which you want to retrieve your data. Facebook offers predefined time periods, but you can choose any date ranges or just retrieve everything from the beginning.
A little further down the page you can specify what you want to download : messages, publications, pages, events… Make your choice according to what interests you.
Once you have made your choices, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Request a download.
Facebook will then tell you that they are creating your backup fileThe time it takes to create the file will depend on the amount of data you want to recover.
You will receive a link by email when your backup is available for download.
You will then be able to find your backup in the same place (the section Download profile information) by clicking on the tab Available files at the very top of the page.
If your download is not yet ready, you can still see a summary of your request and possibly cancel it.
Please note: It may take up to a day before you receive the email with the download link.
When your download is ready, you will be able to retrieve everything in the form ZIP archive. To download it you will have to enter your Facebook password again.
Once on your hard drive, unzip the file and double-click on the index.html file. This will open a page in your default web browser.
This web page will allow you to access all the Facebook data that you have downloaded through a sort of summary that references all possible types of content.
Alternatively, you can find your images or media directly by finding them in the folders that accompany the index.html file. These media are located in posts > media and are grouped by types.
It's a bit of work and a few steps to complete, but you now have a copy of your Facebook data on your hard drive. Find in this article how to do the same thing on Twitter.
