How to Back Up Your Facebook Data

If you’ve shared a lot of photos and information about your life on Facebook over the years that you want to back up or you're just curious about what a hacker might be able to find out about you, it’s a good idea to review or download a backup copy of all your Facebook data. Backing up your activity is particularly important if you plan to delete your Facebook account entirely.

With a backup, you have your own offline copy of all the photos you've posted to the social media site in one single folder, which you can easily store on a CD, DVD, or computer. If Facebook ever crashes and burns, all your selfies and other personal photos and information won’t go down with it.

Sign in to your Facebook account on a computer — either a laptop or desktop.

1. Click or tap the tiny down arrow in the upper right corner of any Facebook page.
2. Select Settings in the drop-down menu to open the General Account Settings page.
3. Choose Your Facebook Information in the left panel.
4. Click or tap Download Your Information.
5. Select New File and select All of my data or fill in a date range for only a specific period. If you previously started a new file and want to add to it, click Available Files instead, and Facebook searches your computer for the previous backup.
6. Choose to download the information in either HTML format or JSON format and select a media quality level; for the best results, choose High.
7. Put a check next to any information you want to download. The list is extensive and covers every possible information category. For example, in addition to the obvious Posts, Comments, and Photos and Videos, you can select Friends, Messages, Profile Information, Pages, Search History, Call logs, and Locations, among others.
8. Click or tap Create File.

You won't receive the download immediately. You can opt to download everything or only certain categories of information, but either way, you have to wait a few days to receive a message from Facebook that your password-protected download is ready.

Within a few days, Facebook sends a link to download the file. The link takes you back to Facebook, where you are asked one more time to re-enter your Facebook password. After you do, you can save the file as a zipped (compressed) file on your computer. Point to the folder you want to store it in, and Facebook drops the file on your drive.

The different types of information appear in folders. You can find your photos in a folder called Photos. Inside, each album has its own folder.

You don't have to download your Facebook information if you are only curious about what is in it. Select Access Your Information on the Your Facebook Information page to look at your information without downloading it. Click any of the categories that are listed on the page that opens. Click on any of the same topics you see on the download page — such as Posts or Likes and Reactions — to see the information Facebook has saved on you. Unlike downloading, this process is quick, and you can see the information right away.

If you use Facebook on your iOS or Android mobile device, you can download your data to your device.

1. Open the Facebook app and tap the three-bar menu icon.
2. Select Settings & Privacy > Settings.
3. Scroll down to the Your Facebook Information section.
4. Tap Download Your Information.
5. Tap the circles next to categories of data to add or remove them from the download.
6. Select other options that include the format, quality of photos and videos, and a specific date range if you don't want all your information to download.
7. Tap Create File to confirm.

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.

If you only want to view your information and not download it, select Access Your Information in the Your Facebook Information section of the settings.