Viewing stored chat messages in the Chat history report

Account owners and admins can view chat history for users on their account if chat cloud storage is enabled. Chat messages are archived and stored on Zoom’s cloud leveraged AWS DynamoDB, and can be stored up to 10 years.

Account owners, admins, or other users with privilege to access Chat History can view and locally download all messages sent and received by users in the Chat History report, including:

• Chat messages (text)
• Files
• Images
• Emoji reactions
• Animated GIFs
• Audio messages
• Code snippets (downloads in a ZIP file)

Additionally, you can view the following chat types in the Chat History report:

• 1-on-1, group, or channel chats
• Chats sent or received by internal or external users, including a notification for when a file was sent but restricted based on file transfer controls set up by an admin (admins will not be able to view the file if its access was restricted).

Requirements for viewing stored chat messages

• Account owner, or admin with Chat history permissions
• Pro, Business, Education, or Enterprise account
• Store messages in Zoom’s cloud enabled
• Advanced chat encryption disabled. If enabled, there are limitations to the chat history tool.

Note: If a user switched from a free account to a paid account, account owners and admins can only access chat history from the time that the user became a paid account.

Limitations on chat message history exports

Admins wanting to export their chat message records should be aware of the following technical limitations: 

• Max number of exported chat messages for CSV exports: 50 million chat messages
• Max number of exported chat messages for HTML exports: 1 million chat messages
• Files sent through Team Chat that exceed 50 MB will not be provided in either HTML or CSV format
• After the generated export file size reaches 1 GB, any additional files sent through Team Chat will not be included in the export
• When searching multiple emails, data export is limited to a maximum of one month, while the search for an individual email can extend up to 1 year

How to enable Team Chat message archiving

Account owners and admins can save Team Chat messages on Zoom's cloud for up to 10 years.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal as an account owner or admin.
2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Account Settings.
3. Click the Team Chat tab.
4. Under Storage, click the Store messages in Zoom's cloud toggle to enable it.
5. If a verification dialog appears, click Enable to verify the change.
6. Under Set retention period for direct messages and group conversations, select the amount of time you want to save these chat messages for.
7. Under Set retention period for channels, select the amount of time you want to save these chat messages for.
8. Click Save.

Learn more about chat storage settings.

Note: By default, only the account owner has access to group messaging archives through the Chat History report. Account owners can allow other admins or users on the account access to the chat history by adding the Chat history permission using role-based access control.

How to view and download stored Team Chat messages

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Reports.
3. Click the User activity reports tab, then click Chat history.
4. On the Search History tab, specify a time period using the date picker.
   Note: You can choose a time period of up to 30 days, or up to 1 year if searching by a specific user.
5. To the right of the time period range, choose if you want to Search by user and keyword or Search for a specified channel.
6. (Optional) If searching by user and keyword, in the Choose User(s) field, enter up to 5 users' names or emails to search for messages sent or received by those specific users.
   An optional keyword search will become available, where you can enter up to 5 keywords to search chats for.
7. (Optional) If searching for a specified channel, in the Choose a Channel field, enter the channel name you want to search chats for.
8. Click Search.
9. Use these options to view or download messages:
   • View: View messages for the associated 1-on-1, group, or channel chat conversation.
   • Download: Download messages for the associated 1-on-1, group, or channel chat conversation as a CSV file (text only) or as HTML (Include attachments and CSV).
   • Download All: Compress each chat thread in the current search results as a ZIP file. You will be redirected to the Downloads tab to download the ZIP file when it's finish processing. ZIP files will be password protected. In the Downloads tab, click Show in the File Password column to view the password to extract each ZIP file.
     Notes: External users will have the EXTERNAL label beside their email address. 
10. To access downloads, click the Downloads tab. Downloads are deleted from Chat History Downloads after 30 days.

How to delete stored Team Chat messages

You can delete messages, files, or images for internal users. Other admins with permissions to view or edit chat history will be able to view the name of the admin that deleted the message. Deleted messages are still viewable in the chat history tool but are crossed out to indicate it's been deleted.

Deleted messages are deleted in the Zoom desktop and mobile app. Deleted messages will be deleted for all users in the 1-on-1 or group chat, but only the user that sent the message will see a notification message stating that the admin has deleted their message. If the deleted message is a parent message with replies, replies will not be deleted.

Note: You must have the permission to edit chat history in role management.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.
2. In the navigation menu, click Account Management then Reports.
3. Click the User activity reports tab, then click Chat history.
4. On the Search History tab, specify a time period using the date picker.
5. To the right of the time period range, ensure Search by user and keyword is selected.
6. In the Choose User(s) field, enter a user's name or email to search for messages sent or received by the specific user.
   Note: You can choose a time period of up to 1 year after you specify a user.
7. Click Search.
8. Locate the chat, and click View.
9. To delete a specific message, hover over the message and click the trash bin icon .
10. If a confirmation dialog appears, review the information, then click Accept and Delete this message.
    The message will be deleted from chat history.