slack-backup

This Python script downloads a backup of all Slack users, all channels (including private channels), and all messages in those channels. The produced dump is in the same format produced by an official Slack export of workspace data (which works well for public channels but not private channels).

The intended use-case for moving old Slack content over to a new Discord server via slack-to-discord (tested) or Slackord2 (untested). One motivation is Slack's change in limits to the free plan.

Usage

Running slack-backup

1. Clone this repository.

2. Install Python 3 if needed.

3. pip install slack_sdk

4. Create a Slack app

5. Under OAuth & Permissions, in the User Token Scopes section (I've found the user token to work better than the bot token, but YMMV), add the following scopes:

   • admin (not sure whether this is necessary)
   • channels:history
   • channels:read
   • files:read
   • groups:history
   • groups:read
   • users:read
   • users:read.email

   Also write down the Bot User OAuth Token. (These directions are based on this documentation.)

6. Under Install App, be sure to install the bot to the workspace you'd like to backup.

7. Assuming you're using the User Token, be sure that you have been added to all private channels that you want to backup. (Even admins/owners cannot see all private channels in the channel list; they need to be invited.) If you're using the Bot User Token, you probably need to invite the bot to all desired channels.

8. I recommend also running an official Slack export of workspace data. In JSON files containing file uploads, you'll see URLs ending with ?t=xoxe-.... Write down that token too. (This is a temporary file access token; I think it lasts 7 days.)

9. Then I suggest creating a run script with the following contents:

   #!/bin/sh
   export TOKEN='xoxp-...'  # Bot User OAuth Token
   # Optional settings: (you can omit them)
   export FILE_TOKEN='xoxe-...'  # file access export token from previous step
   export DOWNLOAD=1  # download all message files locally too
   python slack_backup.py

10. Run the run script via ./run and wait.

11. The output will be in a created backup subdirectory.

12. To produce a backup.zip file in the same format as a Slack export, do the following in a shell (assuming you have zip installed):

    cd backup
    zip -9r ../backup.zip *

Running slack-to-discord

If you want to use slack-to-discord to convert your export to Discord, follow instructions in the project's README.

A slight tweak to the last few instructions on running slack-to-discord: I suggest creating a run script with the following contents:

#!/bin/sh
slack-to-discord --zipfile path/to/backup.zip --guild 'Name of Server' --token MTA...

where the last part is your Discord bot token.

After creating that file, run it via ./run and wait. You can watch the messages roll into the server. Occasionally the script may pause because of Discord's rate limits.

History

This code was initially based on a gist by Benoit Courty. This fork adds channel listing, user listing, file downloads, and making the output format compatible with standard Slack dumps.