Are you finally ready to delete Facebook? Or do you just want to make sure all your years of photos, videos, posts, notes and events on the social media site are safely saved elsewhere for you to access? Good news: Facebook will let you transfer all of your valuable information from the site to other platforms, and it’s not difficult to do.
Facebook already allows you to download all of your data (including the ad-targeting information the site collects about you) in a ZIP file, and to move photos and videos specifically to Google Photos, Dropbox, Backblaze and Koofr. And it’s been adding more options in recent months. As of August, you can also directly transfer your posts, notes, photos and events from the site to Google Docs, Blogger, WordPress.com, Photobucket and Google Calendar. Facebook will add more types of data you can transfer and more transfer destinations in the future, according to a company blog post.
The expansion of Facebook’s Transfer Your Information tool comes as Facebook and tech companies like Amazon and Google have faced allegations from regulators and lawmakers that they use monopoly power to illegally suppress their competitors, CNET’s Queenie Wong reports. Lawsuits filed against Facebook last year noted that people have a difficult time moving their information to other platforms, an issue that keeps them on the social network.
Here’s how to use the Facebook Transfer Your Information tool to send your photos, videos, posts, notes and events to other platforms. These instructions are largely the same whether you’re accessing Facebook in a browser or on the mobile app.
How to transfer your Facebook photos, videos, posts, notes and events
1. On Facebook on desktop, click the down arrow in the top right corner. Click Settings & Privacy > Settings > Your Facebook Information.
2. Click Transfer a Copy of Your Information, and re-enter your Facebook password.
3. From the drop-down menu, choose which platform you want to transfer your information to. Click Next step.
4. Choose what you’d like to transfer — photos, videos, posts or notes, depending on which platform you selected. You’ll have the option to move all, or those from a selected date range or album. Click Next step.
5. Click Connect and Start Transfer. Log into the service you selected to move your information to, and select Confirm Transfer. (Facebook notes that after the transfer, that service’s terms and policies will apply to their use of your information.)
Now you’ve got a copy of those precious Facebook posts to do with what you choose.
For more, check out how to completely delete your Facebook account, and a few tips for how to ease your transition off of Facebook.