Export or delete your data in Microsoft Teams (free)

To export your activity data:

1. Go to the Microsoft account Privacy page.

2. Select Sign in with Microsoft.

3. Sign in to your Microsoft account, then select the Download your data tab at the top of the page.

4. Select Create new archive to export your data. We will walk you through the process.

To delete your activity data:

1. Go to the Microsoft account Privacy page.

2. Select Sign in with Microsoft.

3. Navigate to the activity history

4. Find Microsoft Teams in the list of activities and select Clear to delete your activity data for Microsoft Teams (free).

To export your diagnostic and feedback data:

1. Go to the I want to make a request about data tied to my Microsoft account page.

2. Select Log in, then log in with your Microsoft account.

3. Fill out the form and enter that you would like to export your diagnostic data and/or feedback data in the What do you need from the Privacy Team today? field.

4. Select Submit.

5. Your export will be available as an archive on your privacy dashboard within 30 days.

To export a list of your contacts:

1. Sign into the Export page with your Microsoft Account.

2. On the Export My Data page, select Export contacts.

3. A CSV file will be downloaded that you will contain your contacts.

To delete your contacts:

We currently don’t support deleting contacts in the app. However, you can unsync your contacts to remove them from the app. Learn more about how to unsync your contacts.

To export your synced contacts from Outlook, follow the instructions for Outlook on the web here.

To delete your synced contacts:

1. In Microsoft Teams (free), tap your profile picture or More .

2. Select Settings.

3. Select People.

4. Use the slider to turn Sync my device contacts to off. Your synced contacts will be removed from Outlook, but will remain in your device's address book.

   Note: If you no longer have access to the mobile device from which you synced your contacts, you can go to Outlook on the Web, select People, find the folder with your device's name, and delete it. Your contacts will be permanently deleted within 30 days.

To export your messages and media from chat and community:

1. Sign in to the Export page with your Microsoft Account.

2. Select the option to download your Chat history, Media, or both, and then select Submit request. Select Continue when prompted. Your call log will export as well.

3. You will need to check back periodically to the Export page on the status of your export, which you can see at the top of the page under Available Exports. A link to download your files will also appear there when they are available to download.

4. Select the Download button to download your files.

Learn more about how to delete a community.

To delete a chat:

In Microsoft Teams (free), you can delete a chat conversation. The chat will be removed from your view but may still be visible to others.

1. Open Microsoft Teams (free).

   Tips: 

   • From the mini Teams window in Windows 11, select the button  to open Microsoft Teams (free).

   • From Chat in Windows 11, select the Open Teams button  .

2. Select the chat you want to delete.

3. Access the More options menu by:

   • On Android devices, tap and hold the chat.

   • On iOS devices, swipe left on the chat then tap More .

   • On Windows, Mac, and web, right click on the chat.

4. Select Delete and confirm on the resulting dialog.

This deletes the chat. Learn more about deleting a chat in Microsoft Teams (free).

To delete your messages and media from chat:

In Microsoft Teams (free), you can only delete messages you have sent to others. These messages will be removed from everyone’s view.

1. Open Microsoft Teams (free) and go to the chat with the message you want to delete.

   Tips: 

   • From the mini Teams window in Windows 11, select the button  to open Microsoft Teams (free).

   • From Chat in Windows 11, select the Open Teams button  .

2. Tap and hold or right click on a message to open the message action menu.

3. Select Delete message and confirm on the resulting dialog.

This deletes the text of the message. Attachments included with the message will be deleted (or the reference to those attachments will be deleted).

Learn more about deleting a sent message in Microsoft Teams (free).

To export your files:

1. Open the OneDrive app on your phone or computer.

2. On your phone:

   • Select the folder or folders you want to download.

   • Select Make Available Offline.

3. On your computer:

   • Select the folder or folders you want to download.

   • Right click and select Copy.

   • Navigate to a folder on your computer where you would like to save the files.

   • Right click and select Paste.

To delete your files:

1. Open the OneDrive app or website.

2. Open the Microsoft Teams Chat Files folder.

3. Select the file(s) you wish to remove.

4. Select Delete.

To export Microsoft Teams (free) Polls data:

Microsoft Teams (free) Polls data is included when exporting your messages. Please follow the steps on how to export your messages and media from chat and community.

To delete Microsoft Teams (free) Poll data via Microsoft Forms:

1. Sign in to Microsoft Forms with the Microsoft Account you use for Microsoft Teams (free).

2. Select All my forms.

3. Select More options in the upper right corner of the form you want to delete.

4. Select Delete.

To export your calendar data:

Visit the Delete your Outlook search history page to export your calendar data from Outlook.

To delete your calendar data:

1. Select the event in your Outlook Calendar.

2. Select Delete .

3. This will delete the event from your calendar.

To export your calendar data:

1. Sign in to the Export page with your Microsoft Account.

2. On the Export My Data page, select Export events.

3. All your shared calendar files will be exported to a JSON file for download.

   Note: JSON files can take up to five minutes to be available.

To delete your calendar data:

1. Open Microsoft Teams (free).

   Tips: 

   • From the mini Teams window in Windows 11, select the button  to open Microsoft Teams (free).

   • From Chat in Windows 11, select the Open Teams button  .

2. Select the event in your Microsoft Teams (free) Calendar.

3. Select Delete .

4. This will delete the event from your calendar.

   • For events on a shared calendar, select the event and follow steps 1-3, above. This will delete the event and send a cancellation for it to the group.

To export your shared task data:

1. Sign in to the Export page with your Microsoft Account.

2. On the Export My Data page, select Export tasks.

3. Each group with shared tasks will generate JSON files for download.

   Note: JSON files can take up to five minutes to be available.

You can only export conversations for groups of which you are currently an active participant. Please ensure you are active in the group to be able to export the SMS messages for that group.

In MIcrosoft Teams (free):

To export your SMS conversations:

1. Select the claim link which you get in your SMS conversations.

2. Download the Teams app.

3. Complete the signup process, making sure to verify your account with the same phone number you used to send/receive SMS messages.

4. Open Microsoft Teams (free). You will see all the groups in which you were chatting as an SMS participant.

   Tips: 

   • From the mini Teams window in Windows 11, select the button  to open Microsoft Teams (free).

   • From Chat in Windows 11, select the Open Teams button  .

5. Go to the Export my data page, sign in using your Microsoft Teams (free) account, and request your SMS data export.

Via SMS command:

You can export messages of all the groups in which you are currently a participant by sending the #export SMS command to +15856666650. We will reply you with a link to download the exported conversations.

The downloaded messages and files are delivered in a .tar file. You may need an additional application to open the .tar export file and extract your messages and files.

To extract the .tar file on Windows 10:

1. Press the Windows + r keys on your keyboard to open the Run window.

2. In the Open: field, type cmd and then click OK.

3. Use the "change directory" (CD) command to navigate to your file:

   • Files saved to your Downloads folder: Type CD Downloads and then presh Enter.

   • Files saved to a location other than your downloads folder: Type CD DIRECTORY, replacing DIRECTORY with the folder name where your exported file was saved. (IE: CD Desktop), and then press Enter.

4. Type tar -xvfYOURFILENAME_export.tar, replacing YOURFILENAME with the name of your exported file which usually follows the pattern 8_accountname_export.tar or 8_live_accountname_export.tar and then press Enter.

5. After the command completes, you will see your extracted messages file named messages.json file in the directory. We recommend downloading the file viewer to make is easier to read your conversation history.

6. After downloading the viewer, open it by selecting the index.html file from the skype-parser folder.

7. Browse to the messages.json file and then click the Load button.

To extract the .tar file on Mac:

Browse to the .tar file you downloaded and open the file. Mac has built-in .tar support.

To extract the Tar file on older Windows operating systems

You may need a third party application to open the .tar file.