Export MS Teams chat

[Ob18kenobi]

I try to download the chat in a Microsoft Teams website (teams.microsoft.com). Unfortunately only the surroundings (name of teams etc) are saved, the actual chat is completely empty. I have the same problem when trying to print the page or use the save functionality of Firefox itself.

It would be great to have the possibility to download Teams Chat, the internet if full of people trying to archive the chat and there seems to be no simple solution.

[gildas-lormeau]

I just did a test in Chrome and Firefox and it worked fine for me even though I cannot really test the chat because I'm alone in my team and I cannot chat with myself. Here is the page I saved in the attached zip file. Did you change any setting in SingleFile?

Edit: removed the link since I was not able to reproduce the issue, see next post.

[gildas-lormeau]

I invited myself in Teams and I was able to chat and save the conversation without any particular issue.

[gildas-lormeau]

Actually, I noticed icons of the participants were missing when using Firefox. The fix for this issue will be available in the next version.

[Ob18kenobi]

Thank you for your extremely quick reply!

Reading it I thought the reason might be some restrictions with my work laptop but unfortunately I have the same problem when trying it from my private computer. I just did a clean install of SingleFile, I use Firefox.

Can you share the URL of the teams site you used for your test? Maybe it is an issue with our Teams?

[Ob18kenobi]

Or I could invite you to a Teams if you give me an email address - not sure if there is a way to privately communicate here?

[gildas-lormeau]

You can contact me at gildas.lormeau@gmail.com and I'll invite you in my team.

[Ob18kenobi]

I just tested saving different chas and I think I am starting to see a pattern. I can save shorter chats just like the example you did but with longer chats that contain more posts the save file is blank. Or it might some kind of message type (smilys, pictures, ...) which creates the problem?

[gildas-lormeau]

@Ob18kenobi I think I was a bit optimistic yesterday when I told you the CLI tool would help to solve this problem. I dis some test and there are actually 2 issues that makes things more complicated than I expected:

• the page is private so I have to inject cookies or simulate a login
• it looks like that when the page is saved with a large screen, only the top of the page can be viewed when displayed on a normal screen

[Ob18kenobi]

:-(

I guess there is a reason why no publicly available tool is able to export a full teams chat. Thank you for giving it a try! And thank you for SingleFile, a very useful addon. Unless you have other ideas to solve this we can close this issue.

[gildas-lormeau]

** UPDATE ** You can use an extension instead of applying the instructions below manually, see https://github.com/gildas-lormeau/single-file-export-chat.

@Ob18kenobi Well there is a maybe solution but it's a bit manual and specific to Microsoft Teams.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Make sure that you scrolled to the top and the bottom of the chat conversation you want to save
2. Press F12 to open the developer tools
3. Select the tab "Console" in the developer tools
4. Paste the code below in the console, it should zoom out the page

const zoomFactor = (document.querySelector(".ts-main-flex").offsetHeight / document.querySelector(".list-wrap").offsetHeight);
document.documentElement.style.setProperty("transform", "scale(" + zoomFactor + ")");
document.documentElement.style.setProperty("transform-origin", "top");
document.documentElement.style.setProperty("min-height", (100 / zoomFactor) + "vh");

5. Once the page is fully loaded, paste the code below in the console, it should expand all the grouped chats.

document.querySelectorAll(".expand-collapse").forEach(link => link.click());
document.querySelectorAll(".ts-see-more-button.ts-see-more-fold").forEach(link => link.click());

6. Paste the code below in the console, it should adjust the zoom level

const newZoomFactor = (document.querySelector(".ts-main-flex").offsetHeight / document.querySelector(".list-wrap").offsetHeight);
document.documentElement.style.setProperty("transform", "scale(" + newZoomFactor + ")");
document.documentElement.style.setProperty("min-height", (100 / newZoomFactor) + "vh");

7. Once the page is fully loaded, paste the code below to reset the zoom and add a scrollbar

document.documentElement.style.removeProperty("transform");
document.documentElement.style.removeProperty("transform-origin");
document.documentElement.style.setProperty("overflow", "auto");

8. Save the page with SingleFile
9. Take a coffee, enjoy the passing of time, pray for your CPU
10. And voilà! Your saved page should be okay

[Ob18kenobi]

@gildas-lormeau
Ok, tried this. When entering the code after step 4 I get the following errors:

The first one is about a lack of declaration of the "Zeichenkodierung" - declaration of character code in English? Complains that the code is not found but should be within the first 1024 characters.
The second one is about memory usage of "will-change". It is to high, the limit is area of the document multiplied by 3 (1828272 px). Usage of "will-change" beyond the limit will be ignored.

The zoomed out version looks like it did work properly (but hard to see obviously, there might be blank spaces in the end). I then did step 6 which only semi-worked: the document is back to normal size but the scroll bar to the right is gone. I only see the initial part and cannot scroll down (no scroll bar, mouse wheel or arrow keys have no effect).

[gildas-lormeau]

The errors you see can be ignored, these are just warnings actually.

I'm really surprised the scrollbar is not displayed. If you want, you can send me the saved page in our conversation on MS Teams and I'll try to see what went wrong.

[Ob18kenobi]

I should do more tests before posting here....
Just tried it again, this time it works fine. Same Teams. Random glitch? Anyway: Yeah, this is great! Thanks a lot.

The only remaining issue are the cases where Teams chats are grouped and closed by Teams. In that case the archived version cannot show the content. One option is to manually open all before archiving, a bit tedious but feasible.

[gildas-lormeau]

I'm glad to hear it works. I updated the instructions to open all the grouped chats, see steps 5 to 8.

Edit 1: I updated the code.
Edit 2: There is a bug when adjusting the zoom factor, I'm trying to fix it.
Edit 3: It should be fixed. Also, you won't need to save the page twice with this new procedure.

[Ob18kenobi]

@gildas-lormeau

Thank you for the updates and sorry for the late reply. Semi-sucess:
I tried multiple times with different Teams. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes it works but the chat is not expanded. And sometime it gets stuck in step 5 with the following error message:

This seems to be either an infinite or a very long loop, after half an hour the console is still scrolling with this error message, step 5 never finishes.

I also noticed one more issue: If a single post is long Teams does not show the entire post, only the first 10 lines or so and then there is a "show more" button. Is it possible to include an instruction to also show long posts?

[gildas-lormeau]

@Ob18kenobi I updated the procedure (cf. step 5) to click on the "show more" buttons.

Regarding the "custom scroll" error, I guess it will be more complicated. I'd have to be able to reproduce it to analyze what's wrong, but I can't because our discussion is not long enough on MS Teams, I guess.

[gildas-lormeau]

So, I'm closing this issue because it cannot really be fixed in SingleFile. It might be possible to automate this procedure with a user script though.

[DavidGP]

Hello all,

just found this thread as I've been looking for a way to save complete MS Teams chats for a while now.

I'd love to try the code posted above, but I'm getting the following error in the Console on the first block of code:

VM7544:1 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'offsetHeight').
    at <anonymous>:1:112
(anonymous) @ VM7544:1

In the meantime, has there come up any other way to save complete Teams chats with Single File? When I try it, at least half of a long Teams chat does get saved, including all images. The other half, however, remains greyed out, as if the contents had not yet been scrolled and displayed, e.g. in terms of lazy loading:

I have tried all possible combinations of "send scroll events", "shrink the page" and "wait for images" in the settings, but without success.

[gildas-lormeau]

I just tested the procedure and I confirm it still works on my end. I think I would need an example of saved page from you in order to understand what could go wrong in your case. You can send it to me at gildas.lormeau <at> gmail.com.

[DavidGP]

Here at Stackoverflow there are two answers with similar approaches, one for Chrome and one for Firefox. Both I have tried, and unfortunately do not work either.

I'll email a Teams chat to you, saved with SingleFile.

[gildas-lormeau]

I'll email a Teams chat to you, saved with SingleFile.

BTW, make sure the conversation takes more place than the height of your screen.

[DavidGP]

Yes, I mailed you a conversation that is multiple times the length that is visible here:

[gildas-lormeau]

Thank you, I did not see your email because it was in my spam folder. I'll do some tests and keep you updated.

[DavidGP]

I just sent you another email on the issue.

By the way, thousands (to millions) of corporate Teams users all over the world are searching in various degrees of desperation for a way to download, save and/or print Teams chats, as can be read in many places on the net. The issue also has been all over the various Microsoft Community forums for years, for example here, with thousands of upvotes over the years (and now simply closed by Microsoft).

Even Microsoft themselves helplessly recommend either copying and pasting message after message into Word or taking screenshots and saving those.

If SingleFile made it possible to save entire Teams Group chats to a file, this would be nothing less than sensational. I believe that many would even pay for this without second thought.

[gildas-lormeau]

** UPDATE ** You can use an extension instead of applying the instructions below manually, see https://github.com/gildas-lormeau/single-file-export-chat.

Thank you for your help and your feedback @DavidGP.

Here is the procedure to follow in order to save a MS Teams chat with SingleFile:

1. Open the chat conversation
2. Open the console by pressing F12
3. Paste the code below in the console and type Enter

const SCROLL_DELAY = 1000;
const mainFrame = frames[0];
const bodyElement = mainFrame.document.querySelector(".ui-box.ap");
const wrapperElement = bodyElement.parentElement;
scrollToTop();

function scrollToTop() {
  if (wrapperElement.scrollTop > 100) {
    wrapperElement.scrollTop = 100;
    setTimeout(scrollToTop, SCROLL_DELAY);
  } else {
    wrapperElement.scrollTop = 0;
    setTimeout(() => {
      const zoomFactor = wrapperElement.clientHeight / bodyElement.clientHeight;
      document.documentElement.style.setProperty("transform", "scale(" + zoomFactor + ")");
      document.documentElement.style.setProperty("transform-origin", "top");
      document.querySelector("iframe").style.setProperty("height", ((1 / zoomFactor) * 100) + "vh");
    }, SCROLL_DELAY);
  }
}

4. Once the page zoomed out, save it with SingleFile
5. Open the saved page
6. Open the console by pressing F12
7. Paste the code below in the console and type Enter

document.documentElement.replaceWith(frames[0].document.documentElement);
document.documentElement.style.setProperty("position", "static");
document.body.style.setProperty("height", "auto");
document.body.style.setProperty("overflow", "auto");
const chatContent = document.querySelector("ul");
document.body.innerHTML = "";
document.body.appendChild(chatContent);

8. If you're using Chrome, make sure the setting "allow access to file URLs" is enabled here: chrome://extensions/?id=mpiodijhokgodhhofbcjdecpffjipkle/
9. Save the page again

[DavidGP]

Thank you Gildas, it totally works!

So, I'm closing this issue because it cannot really be fixed in SingleFile. It might be possible to automate this procedure with a user script though.

So I fear that this is still valid -- no real way to include this by default in SingleFile?

[gildas-lormeau]

Unfortunately, this code is very specific to this issue so integrating it in SingleFile is not really possible. However, I updated it in order to scroll automatically to the top of the conversation. You could also transform these 2 scripts as bookmarklets to make things a bit easier for you. If several people ask me for this feature, I could eventually implement it as a dedicated SingleFile fork.

[DavidGP]

Thanks very much for your help. At least there is now a robust way to save long Teams group chats to a file – as incredible as it is that there is no proper or official Microsoft way to do it.

[gildas-lormeau]

I created a dedicated extension, it's a work in progress but it's functional. See https://github.com/gildas-lormeau/single-file-export-chat.

[DavidGP]

I'm sorry I'm replying only now, I missed your post completely.

Your new extension works perfect, even for very long chats.
This is fantastic and world's first for saving Teams chats!
Thanks so much!

[gildas-lormeau]

@DavidGP Thank you also for the feedback :)

[abernar-85]

Hi! This extension is so much great! Thank you for doing it
I am having issues with single file for exporting MS Teams chats. When I save the chat with the extension the chat is not saved and the error I get in the extension is this as follows:

Could you help me please to solve this issue?
Would be very very helpful to make this work.
Regards

[abernar-85]

Hi! If I use alternative solution from Nov 25 to use original Single-file I get these problems:

Could you help me please?

[gildas-lormeau]

Unfortunately, Microsoft updated the implementation and the extension is now broken.

[Pio55]

Unfortunately, Microsoft updated the implementation and the extension is now broken.

Do you mean, the extension "single-file-export-chat" doesn't work anymore, while your browser addon "SingleFile" still works? Is it correct?

Thanks

[Pio55]

** UPDATE ** You can use an extension instead of applying the instructions below manually, see https://github.com/gildas-lormeau/single-file-export-chat.

Thank you for your help and your feedback @DavidGP.

Here is the procedure to follow in order to save a MS Teams chat with SingleFile:

1. Open the chat conversation
2. Open the console by pressing F12
3. Paste the code below in the console and type Enter

const SCROLL_DELAY = 1000;
const mainFrame = frames[0];
const bodyElement = mainFrame.document.querySelector(".ui-box.ap");
const wrapperElement = bodyElement.parentElement;
scrollToTop();

function scrollToTop() {
  if (wrapperElement.scrollTop > 100) {
    wrapperElement.scrollTop = 100;
    setTimeout(scrollToTop, SCROLL_DELAY);
  } else {
    wrapperElement.scrollTop = 0;
    setTimeout(() => {
      const zoomFactor = wrapperElement.clientHeight / bodyElement.clientHeight;
      document.documentElement.style.setProperty("transform", "scale(" + zoomFactor + ")");
      document.documentElement.style.setProperty("transform-origin", "top");
      document.querySelector("iframe").style.setProperty("height", ((1 / zoomFactor) * 100) + "vh");
    }, SCROLL_DELAY);
  }
}

4. Once the page zoomed out, save it with SingleFile
5. Open the saved page
6. Open the console by pressing F12
7. Paste the code below in the console and type Enter

document.documentElement.replaceWith(frames[0].document.documentElement);
document.documentElement.style.setProperty("position", "static");
document.body.style.setProperty("height", "auto");
document.body.style.setProperty("overflow", "auto");
const chatContent = document.querySelector("ul");
document.body.innerHTML = "";
document.body.appendChild(chatContent);

8. If you're using Chrome, make sure the setting "allow access to file URLs" is enabled here: chrome://extensions/?id=mpiodijhokgodhhofbcjdecpffjipkle/
9. Save the page again

Hello everyone,
I read that extension "single-file-export-chat" doesn't work anymore. Instead, do the instructions above to use SingleFile to backup a Teams chat still work for anyone of you?
When I click F12, and paste the first frame of code in Google Chrome console, I get a blocking error... I attach a screenshot:

Many Thanks

[DavidGP]

Hi,
not sure how it if and how that currently still works. I think by now Teams has also received an update with a completely different runtime environment (or whatever that's called), so saving probably doesn't work as it did before.

I'm still making do by using Opera, zooming all the way out, narrowing the Opera window, and then saving at least moderately long Teams chats as one long PDF file.

[Pio55]

Hi, not sure how it if and how that currently still works. I think by now Teams has also received an update with a completely different runtime environment (or whatever that's called), so saving probably doesn't work as it did before.

I'm still making do by using Opera, zooming all the way out, narrowing the Opera window, and then saving at least moderately long Teams chats as one long PDF file.

Thank you for your answer, David...
I also will try using Opera... in that case, however, the PDF you get is "not searchable", is it?

[pedrosantos867]

Is there any way this extension can be updated to continue working? I can help

[pedrosantos867]

Is there any way this extension can be updated to continue working? I can help

Finally found a somewhat working solution.

Just follow this steps:

1. Open the Teams app (web version)
2. Open the Chrome Developer Tools (F12)
3. Select this element using the chrome element selector (id #chat-pane-list)

5. Run this code into the command line

const chatContentElement = document.querySelector('.ui-box')

if (chatContentElement) {
  const wrapperElement = chatContentElement.parentElement;
  expandFrameSize(document);
  resetOverflow(document)
}

function expandFrameSize(frameDoc) {
  const MAX_HEIGHT = "2147483647px";
  frameDoc.body.style.setProperty("height", MAX_HEIGHT);
}

function resetOverflow(doc) {
  doc.documentElement.style.setProperty("position", "static");
  const docBodyStyle = doc.body.style;
  docBodyStyle.setProperty("height", "auto");
  docBodyStyle.setProperty("overflow", "auto");
}

6. Wait for the conversation to load completly
7. Run the Single File chrome extension

Note: Surelly there's a way for the code to select the element #chat-pane-list automatically without having to select using chrome picker, but for now I didn't find a way. Tried using frame[0] but could't get any further.

Hope this helps you

[Pio55]

Many, MANY THANKS,
Pedro, it worked fine for me... I have downloaded a BIG chat of mine... !

[pedrosantos867]

Many, MANY THANKS,
Pedro, it worked fine for me... I have downloaded a BIG chat of mine... !

I'm glad I could help.

[umarnadeembutt]

I also want to download a big file of my chat from MS Teams. However, because the chat is quite large, my Chrome keeps crashing when trying to go to the first message. Please guide me on what to do in this regard so that I can backup my complete chat.

Note: I have tried all the methods available on the internet, but none of them worked. Only the method you provided is working. Thank you very much. Waiting for your kind reply.

[pedrosantos867]

I also want to download a big file of my chat from MS Teams. However, because the chat is quite large, my Chrome keeps crashing when trying to go to the first message. Please guide me on what to do in this regard so that I can backup my complete chat.

Note: I have tried all the methods available on the internet, but none of them worked. Only the method you provided is working. Thank you very much. Waiting for your kind reply.

You could try to save the chat in the compact mode. This way the chat is way smaller.

[umarnadeembutt]

I also want to download a big file of my chat from MS Teams. However, because the chat is quite large, my Chrome keeps crashing when trying to go to the first message. Please guide me on what to do in this regard so that I can backup my complete chat.
Note: I have tried all the methods available on the internet, but none of them worked. Only the method you provided is working. Thank you very much. Waiting for your kind reply.

You could try to save the chat in the compact mode. This way the chat is way smaller.

Please guide what is compact mode.

[pedrosantos867]

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/change-the-spacing-of-your-chat-messages-in-microsoft-teams-3a4eb5cb-0748-47c8-925a-3809f69952cd

[umarnadeembutt]

Thanks, let me try it.
How can I contact you brother.

[pedrosantos867]

Thanks, let me try it. How can I contact you brother.

You can contact me via email, you can find it in my github profile.

[umarnadeembutt]

I also want to download a big file of my chat from MS Teams. However, because the chat is quite large, my Chrome keeps crashing when trying to go to the first message. Please guide me on what to do in this regard so that I can backup my complete chat.
Note: I have tried all the methods available on the internet, but none of them worked. Only the method you provided is working. Thank you very much. Waiting for your kind reply.

You could try to save the chat in the compact mode. This way the chat is way smaller.

Please guide what is compact mode.

Hello, I have a chat history spanning 5 months in Microsoft Teams that I need to extract. However, I've been facing an issue where the chat keeps scrolling and gets stuck at the maximum level, which is on December 28, 2024. Due to this, I'm unable to extract the complete chat.

I would like to suggest adding a feature in the code where I can specify a Start Date and End Date. This way, I can download the chat month by month and later merge the files. This would help me manage the large amount of chat data more effectively.

[umarnadeembutt]

Brother waiting for your kind response.

[umarnadeembutt]

@gildas-lormeau
@DavidGP
@Pio55
Please help to extract the chat.

[Pio55]

@gildas-lormeau @DavidGP @Pio55 Please help to extract the chat.

I'm sorry, I cannot help you, I'm not a developer.