How to find and export your Slack data.

Slack shows Messages sent in Workspace analytics, which Workspace Owners and Admins open from Admin in the sidebar. Analytics covers a recent date range rather than all time, so the most complete total comes from counting the messages in a full export. Report the figure as messages.

At a glance

Report in: messages
Category: Team chat
Checked: September 2026

Check your data

Where Slack shows how much you have.

Sign in as a Workspace Owner or Admin. On an Enterprise plan, sign in as an Org Owner or Org Admin.
Click Admin in the sidebar and select Workspace analytics. On an Enterprise plan, click your organization name, then Tools & settings > Organization settings > Analytics.
On the Overview tab, read Messages sent and Files uploaded for the selected date range. Where messages are sent shows the split across public channels, private channels and DMs.
Click Export on the Overview tab, or Export CSV on the other tabs, to save the figures.
For an all-time total, run the workspace export described below and count the messages in the exported JSON files.

Plan and role. Workspace Owners and Admins can open analytics on every plan, but the Free plan shows only the Overview tab. Pro and Business+ add Channels and Members tabs, and Enterprise plans add org-level dashboards, including a Workspaces tab with message counts for public channels, private channels and DMs.

What to report on the Polyshares intake.

Report Slack in messages. The intake also asks how many years the company has used it and how many seats it has.

Enter the total message count and choose messages as the unit. A count taken from a full export is best. If you only have analytics, take Messages sent for the longest range available, scale it to the years the workspace has been active, and note that it is an estimate.

For years in use, use the date of the oldest message in your export or the date the workspace was created. Free workspaces permanently delete messages and files older than one year, so a Free workspace can offer at most one year of history even if it is older.

For seats, use Total members from the Overview tab. Slack counts people with a provisioned account and leaves out deactivated members.

Export the full history.

Sign in as a Workspace Owner or Admin. On an Enterprise plan, use an Org Owner, an Org Admin or a member with the Export Admin system role.
On Free, Pro and Business+, click Admin in the sidebar, select Workspace settings, click Security, then Import & export data, and open the Export tab.
On an Enterprise plan, click your organization name, select Tools & settings > Organization settings, click Security, then Exports, and click Export.
Choose the full date range and click Start Export. Slack emails you when the ZIP file is ready to download.
To include private channels and DMs on Business+, a Workspace Owner applies for the self-serve export of all channels and conversations. Slack Support emails the Workspace Primary Owner before reviewing the application. On an Enterprise plan, an Org Owner contacts Slack Support to request access to the self-serve export tools.

Free and Pro workspaces can export public channels only, in JSON. On Free, file links cover only the last 90 days and data older than one year has already been deleted. A Pro workspace that was once on Free will not include data that was deleted before the upgrade.

Business+ exports public channels by default. After approval, it can export messages and file links from public channels, private channels and DMs in JSON, and can schedule weekly or monthly exports. Enterprise plans can export every conversation type and can run custom exports by conversation type, member or workspace in JSON or TXT.

Before exporting private channels and DMs, Slack requires valid legal process, member consent, or a requirement or right under applicable law. Business+ and Enterprise customers must also have appropriate employment agreements and corporate policies in place.

Standard exports contain links to files, not the files themselves. On Enterprise plans, the Primary Org Owner or an Org Owner can request the Discovery API, which works through approved third party eDiscovery and DLP apps and covers messages, files, canvases, lists, reactions, edits and deletions. Discovery API exports return files as direct download links.

The intake only needs the size, so you do not have to run an export to fill it in. You also do not need to clean or scrub an export. Polyshares handles anonymization before anything moves.

Why Slack data has value for AI training.

Slack channels hold the working record of how a team makes decisions. A question, the replies and the outcome sit in one thread with names and timestamps, which shows how real work moves from a problem to an answer.

Channel names, reactions and file references add structure. They show which topics belong together, which replies people agreed with and which documents a discussion was about.

What stays private.

You decide whether private channels and DMs are in scope at all, and a public channel export on its own is a valid starting point.

We anonymize identifying details before anything moves. Polyshares does that work, so your team does not have to scrub records first.

Your company keeps ownership of its data. The license is bounded to defined material and a defined use.

Polyshares is the buyer and pays your company directly. There is no fee or commission, and Polyshares reviews the record before it makes any offer.

Common questions about Slack data.

Can we export DMs and private channels on the Slack Pro plan?

No. Free and Pro exports cover public channels only. Private channels and DMs require Business+ with an approved application, or an Enterprise plan.

Does a Slack export include the files people shared?

No. Standard exports include links to files, not the files. On Enterprise plans, exports through the Discovery API include files as direct download links.

How far back can a Free Slack workspace export go?

Slack deletes messages and files older than one year from Free workspaces, so an export cannot include them. File links in a Free export cover only the last 90 days.

How long does a Slack export take?

Slack does not publish a time frame. It sends an email when the export file is ready to download.

Source: Export your workspace data, Guide to Slack import and export tools, View your Slack analytics dashboard. Checked September 2026.

Put your numbers on the intake.

List your systems, their sizes and your headcount in one intake. Polyshares reviews the record and prices it. There is no fee or commission to your company.