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How to Back Up All Your Facebook Data: Download Your FB Archive

Back up your Facebook information on your computer or mobile device

By Leslie Walker Leslie Walker Writer University of Virginia Former Lifewire writer Leslie Walker is a multimedia journalism professor who covers social media, web publishing, and internet technologies. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on October 13, 2021 Reviewed by Jon Fisher Reviewed by Jon Fisher Wichita Technical Institute Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA certified technologist with more than 6 years' experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Facebook Facebook Pinterest Twitter Snapchat Instagram YouTube Online Dating

What to Know

Web browser: Select the Account icon (triangle) > Settings & Privacy > Settings > Privacy > Your Facebook Information.Then, next to Download Profile Information, select View. Enter a date range, media quality, and format, and then tap Create File.Mobile app: Tap Menu > Settings & Privacy > Settings. In the Your Information section, tap Download Your Information. This article explains how to download all your Facebook information to serve as a backup. Use a web browser to access Facebook or the Facebook mobile app for iOS or Android devices and download the archive.

Download Your Facebook Information on the Web

Whether you're planning to delete your Facebook account or want a backup of all your data from the social network, you can have your own offline copy of the photos and other content you posted to the social media site in one folder that you can easily store on a CD, DVD, or computer. Here's how to download an archive of all your content on Facebook from a web browser: Open Facebook in a web browser and log in to your account.
In the upper-right corner, select the Account icon (downward facing triangle). In the drop-down menu, select Settings & Privacy. In the Settings & Privacy drop-down menu, select Settings > Privacy. In the left pane, select Your Facebook Information. Next to Download Profile Information, select View. Select the Date Range, Media Quality, and Format in the corresponding drop-down lists. In the Media Quality drop-down list, High is the default setting and the best choice for most people. It gets you all those shared photos and videos in the highest possible quality. Scroll down to see that every type of information is checked for download by default. If you don't want it all, uncheck the boxes next to the content you don't want to download. When you are happy with the date range and type of data you want to download, select Create File. It may take several days before you receive a notification from Facebook that your download is ready. Follow the directions in the message to download your password-protected backup.
The different types of information appear in folders. For example, you can find your photos in a folder called Photos.

Download Your Information on the Facebook Mobile App

If you use Facebook on your iOS or Android mobile device, you can download your data to your device. Open the Facebook app and tap Menu. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap Settings & Privacy to expand the section. Tap Settings. Scroll down to the Your Information section and tap Download Your Information. Tap the circles next to the categories of data to add or remove them from the download. They are all selected by default. Scroll down and choose the Date Range, Format, and Media Quality. The defaults are All of my data, HTML, and High, which are the recommended choices. Tap Create File. It may take several days before you receive a notification from Facebook that your download is ready. Follow the directions in the message to download your password-protected backup.

How to View Your Facebook Information

You don't have to download your Facebook information if you're only curious about what's in it. On the Your Facebook Information page, select View next to Access Your Information to look at your data without downloading it. Then choose any of the categories listed. Finally, select any of the topics that appear. Unlike downloading, you can see the information right away. Facebook continually updates the types of information available here.
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