How to export Slack conversation thread without admin account

Question

The Slack UI is not ideal for some conversations/threads I participate in, where it would be better to have the text and images copied to another format that I can more easily read and process.

I am not an administrator for the Slack forum in question, so I can't do the bulk export that it looks like admins can do.

Are there other (command-line or GUI) tools I can use with my (non-admin) Slack credentials, to access the text and image content of conversations I have with other Slack users, so that the conversation is more accessible?

Answer 1

You can also use this project to export your slack conversations without having an admin account or having to add a Slack application.

The latest version can understand slack URL links (i.e. Copy Link in Slack), has a simple text UI and can generate a Mattermost compatible export file.

Answer 2

Here is a command line tool called slackchannel2pdf that can export any Slack channel to a PDF file (text only).

You do not need an admin account, but you need a Slack token with some permissions (from your admins) to use it.

The main release is for Windows, but it's made in Python so it can run on most platforms.

Full disclosure: I am the author of this tool. Its open source and you can use it free of charge.

Answer 3

• Go to slack.com/customize - log in to your workspace

• In the browser console, run TS.boot_data.api_token to get your xoxs token (source: https://github.com/jackellenberger/emojme)

• Clone this project or any derivative https://github.com/chr1spy1/slack-export (check the doc for export options)

• Run: python slack_export.py --token "xoxs-...."

If you need html exports for readability, there are some projects out there to convert exported Slack json files into html

Answer 4

You can check Backupery for Slack tool that allows you to export any channel (and the related threads) from Slack and convert it to HTML. It will also download all the files from a selected conversation and put the links into the HTML.

Please also note, that depending on your workspace settings you may or may not be allowed to install the applications on Slack. If you are not allowed to install the apps, you may refer to this article. Starting from v. 2082 it is possible to use the desktop version of the app without installation into a workspace.

Disclaimer: I'm the developer of the app and the app is not free, but a free trial is available.

Answer 5

For those who only need to print a conversation with a user or from a simple channel, there is a simple solution under Winodws only: select the whole conversation from within the text itself (Control-A will select the current page and all history above), copy it to One Note (just C-C -> one note tab, C-V). It keeps the layout BUT does NOT include the attachments. It's "quick and dirty" but sufficient for simple conversation and threads. It keeps the users pictures and date and time of messages, though. The one note page includes the link to the actual slack page (https://app.slack.com/client///...)