Export your organization

These instructions are specific to the hosted Zulip Cloud service. If you're running your own server, you may be looking for our documentation on server export and import or server backups.

Zulip has high quality export tools that can be used to migrate from the hosted Zulip Cloud service to your own servers. Two types of data exports are available to all Zulip Cloud organizations:

Two additional types of data exports are available to corporate Zulip Cloud Standard and Zulip Cloud Plus customers:

Export of public data

This feature is only available to organization owners and administrators.

The format of this export is designed for importing into a self-hosted installation of Zulip. It is not designed to be human-readable.

  1. Click on the gear () icon in the upper right corner of the web or desktop app.

  2. Select Organization settings.

  3. On the left, click Data exports.

  4. Click Start export of public data.

  5. After a few minutes, you'll be able to download the export as a .tar.gz file from that page.

  6. Import the tarball using Zulip's logical data import tool.

Generating the export can take up to an hour for organizations with a large number of messages or uploaded files.

This feature is only available to organization owners.

The format of this export is designed for importing into a self-hosted installation of Zulip. It is not designed to be human-readable.

In addition to your organization's public data, this export includes all the messages received by any user in the organization who consents to the data export. In particular, it includes any private stream messages and direct messages where at least one of the recipients has given consent.

Users who do not provide consent will have their settings and stream subscriptions exported, but will have no personalized message history.

  1. Email support@zulip.com with your organization's zulipchat.com URL, asking for a full export with member consent. Please send the email from the same address that you use to sign in to Zulip, so that Zulip Support can verify that you are an owner of the organization.

  2. You will receive an email with instructions on how to collect member consent. Follow the instructions, and notify support@zulip.com when the process has been completed.

  3. You will receive an archive in the .tar.gz format containing all public information for your organization, plus private stream messages and direct messages for users who gave consent.

  4. Import the tarball using Zulip's logical data import tool.

This feature is only available to organization owners.

The format of this export is designed for importing into a self-hosted installation of Zulip. It is not designed to be human-readable.

To perform this export, your organization must meet the following requirements:

  • You are a paid Zulip Cloud Standard or Zulip Cloud Plus customer. In rare cases, exceptions may be made in case of due legal process.

  • You have authority to read members' direct messages. Typically, this will be because your Zulip organization is administered by a corporation, and you are an official representative of that corporation.

By requesting and approving this export, you will assume full legal responsibility that the appropriate employment agreements and corporate policy for this type of export are in place. Note that many countries have laws that require employers to notify employees of their use of such an export.

  1. Email support@zulip.com with your organization's zulipchat.com URL, asking for a full export without member consent. Please send the email from the same address that you use to sign in to Zulip, so that Zulip Support can verify that you are an owner of the organization.

  2. Once your authority to request the export has been verified, you will receive an archive in the .tar.gz format containing all the information for your organization.

  3. Import the tarball using Zulip's logical data import tool.

Compliance export

This feature is only available to organization owners.

This type of export is recommended if you plan to work with the exported data directly (e.g., reading messages or processing them with a script), rather than importing the export into a new Zulip organization.

To perform this export, your organization must meet the following requirements:

  • You are a paid Zulip Cloud Standard or Zulip Cloud Plus customer. In rare cases, exceptions may be made in case of due legal process.

  • You have authority to read members' direct messages. Typically, this will be because your Zulip organization is administered by a corporation, and you are an official representative of that corporation.

By requesting and approving this export, you will assume full legal responsibility that the appropriate employment agreements and corporate policy for this type of export are in place. Note that many countries have laws that require employers to notify employees of their use of such an export.

  1. Email support@zulip.com asking for a compliance export. Please send the email from the same address that you use to sign in to Zulip, so that Zulip Support can verify that you are an owner of the organization. You will need to specify:

    1. The zulipchat.com URL for your organization

    2. What limits you would like on the export. Currently, compliance exports can apply any combination of the following filters:

      • Message sender
      • Message recipient
      • Message contents, by specific keywords
      • Sent timestamp before, after, or between dates

      If you need other limits, please ask.

    3. Your preferred format for the export: CSV or JSON.

    4. Whether or not you want to receive copies of all attachments referenced in the exported messages.

  2. You will receive the requested information once your authority to request the export has been verified.