Additional chat-related features and issues within Microsoft Teams for business
Totally useless. I try to avoid Teams as possible.
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Hello, I'm hoping to get some information on how to go about exporting Teams chat history from my work Office 365 / Microsoft account.
From what I have found online, it seems that this functionality is available through a web interface, and not available in any form in the desktop app. I am in need of this functionality because the search functionality of Teams leaves much to be desired: if I'm searching for messages to/from a user regarding a particular keyword of interest, Teams may return a single message from over a year ago containing that keyword, but there is no ability to view surrounding context messages nor is there an ability to jump directly to that message in our conversation. I just can't keep justifying scrolling back through months or years of individual conversations to find pertinent messages so I can do my job effectively, so I'm planning on exporting my chat conversations with certain individuals so that I can properly search through them for prior messages.
I've found the following support guide which details steps to follow for exporting Teams data in this manner: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/export-or-delete-your-teams-data-1ed6ac68-5fb4-41be-9861-1a4127fecf68
The following is the section relevant to downloading Microsoft Teams chat conversations:
Export and Delete Your Messages and Media from Chats and Communities
To export your messages and media from chat and community:
However, I seem to be running into an issue in regards to the type of account I'm using. I am unable to login with my work account at the provided "export page" link: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2128346
When I attempt to login I receive a message indicating "That Microsoft account doesn't exist. Enter a different account or get a new one."
I am able to login with my work account in-browser at the following address: https://www.office.com/
And from there I can access the Teams web app (whose address is: https://teams.microsoft.com/)
I did attempt to access my account settings from the Teams web app (via Settings > Accounts > Manage) https://myaccount.microsoft.com/https://myaccount.microsoft.com/settingsandprivacy/privacy However, there are no Teams chat export options visible under the privacy settings.
The only data I am able to export is "Microsoft Search History" which includes:
Is there any way I can access this export functionality through my work account? Is this something that has to be enabled at a higher admin level by my work's IT department? Or is this something I would need to reach out to them to export for me?
Until Teams' chat functionality allows for jumping directly to a found message in a chat's complete history (with all surrounding messages prior and after being visible) this is the only solution I can think of to effectively search through years of continuous conversations for pertinent information.
Additional chat-related features and issues within Microsoft Teams for business
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Totally useless. I try to avoid Teams as possible.
Around this comment.
Until Teams' chat functionality allows for jumping directly to a found message in a chat's complete history (with all surrounding messages prior and after being visible) this is the only solution I can think of to effectively search through years of continuous conversations for pertinent information.
I've been looking for an answer myself, and I think I stumbled on the answer.
In the search field, instead of searching, use the /find command, input the specific chat, then give the normal search terms.
This pops up a side tab with results and clicking on one will actually jump you to that message.
I hope this helps. It's certainly just made finding things a lot easier for me.
Hi Mitchell,
My name is Didi. I'm happy to help you today.
At this time there is no direct way to export the chat history in 'Teams for work/school' as an end user compared with 'Teams personal'.
It will require admin access or by using Teams Export APIs.
However, I did find a way to view the entire chat history. You may take a look at the screenshot for the succeeding steps after first typing the name of the person in the search box.
The chat history will populate when you click on 'Conversation with'.
Let me know if you've tried this already.
Best regards,
Seriously, Screenshots?? **** please
In a business setting, you as an end user cannot export your Teams history. Only an administrator that can perform eDiscovery can do that kind of export.
How would an administrator with the appropriate rights perform such an export?
I love how the MS Teams developers have time to code stupid changes like displaying emojis on the bottom of a comment vs. the top or changing the emojis to the current, cartoonish style but they don't have time to provide a way to easily save chat history.
Also the use of screen "real estate" is wasteful. Users should be able to adjust the display according to what makes sense for the output device they are using.