Claude
Updated Sep 28, 2026
Claude is Anthropic's assistant, and its export covers your conversations. It does not cover everything: Projects, and the memory Claude builds up about you across sessions, are the two gaps worth knowing about before you rely on the archive for anything. It arrives as a ZIP on a download link that expires 24 hours after you receive it, which makes it the least forgiving export on this site in terms of timing.
What you'll get
Before you start
- This is on the web app or the desktop app. There is no export in the iOS or Android app, so if that is all you have, start on a browser.
- Check which sort of account you are on. Export data is for individual Free, Pro and Max accounts. If you are on a Team or Enterprise plan, your Primary Owner is the only person who can run the export for the organisation.
- Decide where the file is going before you click anything, for the 24 hour reason above.
How to download
- Click your initials in the bottom left, then Settings, then Privacy.
- Click Export data next to the option. There is a short delay while it is generated, which is nothing like a long wait.
- Check the email on the account. Anthropic sends the link there and you have to be signed in to use it.
- Download it the same day. In 24 hours the link stops working.
Pro tip
The link expires 24 hours after the email arrives, and there is no way to extend it. If you miss the window the fix is to request the export again, which is a button and not a support ticket, so do it while you are thinking about it. The part people miss is that this is a one-way door: Anthropic does not support moving data into another personal Claude account, so if you were planning to switch accounts, this archive is the only thing coming with you.
After the download
- The archive is JSON, so it opens in a text editor and looks like nothing much. Reading a conversation out of it means either a converter or a quick bit of jq, and there are several free ones that turn the whole history into Markdown in one pass.
- Anthropic documents conversations and account data, and does not publish a manifest of what is inside. Projects, memory and any files you uploaded are not covered by what they promise, so treat the ZIP as the chat history and nothing more, and do not assume a document you attached is in there.
- Nothing goes back in. Unlike ChatGPT there is no upload route, which makes the JSON a permanent record rather than a way to move your history between accounts.
- Joining a Team or Enterprise organisation is the one path that does carry your personal history across, and it has to happen by migrating the account rather than by importing a file.
- Store the archive in ProtonDrive or pCloud for an off-site backup