← Back to all services
SocialReddit
Updated Sep 28, 2026
Reddit keeps everything and hands it over in one request, which makes it the most complete archive on this site. Every post, comment, upvote, downvote, save, and the full history of every private message you have sent or received. The cost is volume: a heavy account produces a very large download, and the files are not arranged the way you would want them once they land.
What you'll get
PostsCommentsUpvotesDownvotesSaved ContentMessagesAccount Activity
Before you start
- Go to reddit.com/settings/privacy on the desktop site. The app does not have it.
- Find Get a copy of your data, near the bottom of the page. Reddit has renamed this a few times, so if you cannot see it, look for something about downloading your data.
- Choose what to include. Reddit has split the export into a few categories, and there is no reason to leave out messages or the activity log.
- If you use old.reddit.com, do the request there instead. The old interface is still the least confusing place to find this.
How to download
- Click Send my data. It is immediately queued, there is no confirmation email asking you to confirm anything.
- Wait. The confirmation email says up to a few days, and for a large account with a long message history it genuinely can be longer.
- The email contains a link that is valid for a set period. Download it while it works, do not assume you can come back to it in a month.
Pro tip
Turn the option on before you forget. Reddit can also deliver your data on a recurring schedule, which is set in the same place, and it is the closest thing any of these sites has to an automatic backup. Nobody is going to remember to do this twice a year on their own.
After the download
- The upvotes are a record of your interests that you never consciously built. Sorted by subreddit they make a map of what you have cared about, year by year, in a way nothing else on the internet offers.
- Your saved posts come out with the full text included, not just a link. If you have used Reddit as a bookmarking service for a decade, this is the one that will be worth the request on its own.
- The messages folder is the only place your Reddit DMs exist. They are not visible anywhere in your account and cannot be recovered any other way.
- Each file is a single line of JSON rather than a readable list, which is why every normal text editor appears to choke on them. There is a Reddit-made viewer that will open them properly in a browser.
- If you also have a Reddit account you have forgotten about, the login history is in the account activity file and will remind you.