How to Backup and Download All You Have Ever Done on Facebook

Losing Your Facebook Profile Can Be Very, Very Annoying … Even Expensive

Have you considered what it would mean to lose everything you’ve ever done on Facebook? It happens more often than you might expect. Many folks have lost their entire Facebook history after their accounts have been mysteriously deleted.

For most of us losing our Facebook history would cause varying degrees of annoyance. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but the loss of years’ worth of pictures, friends’ contact details and meaningful shared memories would hurt at least a little bit.

But what if your Facebook account was an important component of your social media delivery?

In that case losing your Facebook profile would at best be costly and time consuming. At worst it could mean the loss of thousands of friends you have spent time engaging, all of whom you can no longer communicate with.

Backup Your Facebook Data to Your Hard Drive

This method will enable you to download a copy of your Facebook information – including photos, videos, wall posts, messages, friends and more.

1. Make sure you are logged into Facebook
2. Go to Account (top right), then Account Settings
3. Scroll down to where it says Download your information and choose the Learn more button.
4. On the next page click the Download button
5. Be patient, it may take a few minutes for Facebook to process your data file
6. After a while you will receive an email with a download link
7. Click on this link, enter your password when requested and authorise the download

Your download will consist of a ZIP file containing a file named index.html. You can open this file in your web browser and see all the content from your Facebook history.

Want a Facebook Backup That’s a Bit More Sophisticated?

If you need more functionality from your social backups then SocialSafe is worth looking at. SocialSafe downloads directly to your hard drive and lets you schedule backups of various social media accounts at intervals you choose.

Alternatively, if you are a Firefox user you might want to look at Archive Facebook – a Firefox extension that enables you to backup and browse your Facebook data directly from Firefox.

If Your Facebook Matters Even a Little Bit …

You may well be glad of a backup copy of your Facebook data – should the notorious gremlins come one night and delete your account forever.