How to Recover Deleted Facebook Messages

Chances are you’ve spent a lot of time on the Facebook Messenger app. After all, it’s currently used by 900 million people worldwide. But, did you know your deleted Facebook messages don’t truly disappear? You can recover these deleted Facebook messages fairly quickly, and it’s much easier than you think. Just follow these simple steps, and voilá! Your messages will be recovered in no time:

Step One
First, simply log into your Facebook account. Once you’re in, go to your “Settings” in the top right corner of the window, which will then take you to your “General Account Settings.” At the bottom of the page, you will see “Download a copy of your Facebook data.” Click on the link attached to the first three words.

Step Two
Then, you’ll be brought to a page where you can download everything you’ve done on your Facebook account since you first created it; that’s right, everything. Click on the green button towards the top of the page that says “Start My Archive.” You will then be prompted to type in your password again, after which Facebook will inform you that you’ll soon be receiving an email confirming that your data is ready for download. It may take somewhere between two to three hours for you to receive this email, but when it arrives, you’ll see a link for downloading your archive.

Read More: How to Turn off the Facebook Messenger Emojis on Android

Step Three
Once you’ve received this link, you must reenter your password before you can download the archive. Then, click the “Download Archive” button, which should appear immediately upon entering your password. Your archive will then download to your computer. Unzip the archive, and open the file labeled “Index.” From there, click “Messages,” and your entire history should be laid out before you! All of your past messages will load, including the ones you accidentally (or intentionally?) deleted.

To quickly locate the specific message you’re looking for, you should search for a keyword. You can do this by pressing “CTRL + F,” and typing in a keyword or phrase. Once you have found the message, you can copy and paste it into a Word document to save it.

Mission Accomplished
Sure, it’s not the fastest process out there, but it’s definitely doable! For further information on recovering deleted data, or any other questions about Facebook, check out our PSafe blog for other social media related posts, and how-tos.