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How to Download your personal data from the cloud

Your personal data is often spread out across various cloud servers and this page contains notes on how to get your data back off the cloud servers to your local PC.



Before you begin - make sure you are doing this on your own home computer (ie don't do it at work or in a public place) as there is sensitive information which you don't want others seeing.

Also, make sure you have enough space.





Downloading your data from various services





Facebook

Get your photos and posts by going to Facebook homepage and click the drop down arrow to get to "General Account Settings"

Click the "Your Facebook information" link in the left hand pane - https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=your_facebook_information

Then in the middle of the screen click in the section "Download your information"



You will be asked for the format - if you just want to look at the data easily leave the default as HTML, but you won't get as much information this way - for a complete download, choose JSON format (in fact, why not just download both formats if you are unsure)





The list of things you can download are

Posts = Posts you've shared on Facebook, posts that are hidden from your timeline and polls you have created

Photos and videos = Photos and videos that you've uploaded and shared

Comments = Comments you've posted on your own posts, on other people's posts or in groups that you belong to

Likes and reactions = Posts, comments and Pages that you've liked or reacted to

Friends = The people you are connected to on Facebook

Following and followers = People, organisations or business that you choose to see content from, and people who follow you

Messages = Messages you've exchanged with other people on Messenger

Groups = Groups you belong to, groups you manage, and your posts and comments within the groups that you belong to

Events = Your responses to events and a list of the events that you've created

Profile information = Your contact information, information that you've written in your 'About you' section in your profile and your life events

Pages = Pages you are the admin of

Marketplace = Your activity on Marketplace

Payment history = A history of payments that you've made through Facebook

Saved items = A list of the posts that you've saved

Your places = A list of places you've created

Apps and websites = Apps and websites you log in to using Facebook and apps that you are an admin for

Other activity = Activity associated with your account, such as pokes given and received

Ads = Ads topics that are most relevant to you, advertisers who have collected information directly from you and information that you've submitted to advertisers

Search history = A history of your searches on Facebook

Location history = A history of precise locations received through location services on your device

Calls and messages = Logs of your calls and messages that you've chosen to share in your device settings

About you = Information associated with your Facebook account

Security and login information = A history of your logins, logouts, periods of time that you've been active on Facebook and the devices that you use to access Facebook.





Google

There is a *lot* of stuff you get when you export your Google data, so I'll say it again, do NOT export this at any computer except your own home PC - it contains your gmail archive, any Google docs you have, your location history and everything you ever searched for.

Go to your Google account https://myaccount.google.com and login as yourself.



Expand the "Personal info & privacy > " and scroll down to the "Control your content" section.

There will be a link under "Download your data" called CREATE ARCHIVE https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout







This takes you to a very long list of things you can export (all on by default)





+1s (likes on Google Plus) Android Device configuration service Blogger Bookmarks Calendar Chrome Classic Sites Classroom Cloud Print Contacts Data Shared For Research Drive Fit G Suite Marketplace Google Help Communities Google My Business Google Pay Google Photos Google Play Books Google Play Console Google Play Games Services Google Play Movies & TV Google Play Music Google Play Store Google Shopping Google+ Circles Google+ Communities Google+ Stream Groups Hands-free Hangouts Hangouts on Air Home App Input Tools Keep Location History Mail Maps Maps (your places) My Activity My Maps News Posts on Google Profile Purchases & Reservations Reminders Saved Search Contributions Street View Tasks Textcube YouTube





Twitter

Go to https://twitter.com/ and click the top right icon of your profile picture.

Choose "Settings and privacy" from the menu. On the left hand pane, choose "Your Twitter data" near the bottom (it will ask for your password to confirm). You then see the Account details, including their assumption of your age and gender



To download your data, scroll right to the bottom and click the "Request Data" button and wait for the email. While there, also click the "Request advertiser list" to see what data is linked there.





Reddit

There isn't a way (as at Nov 2018) to download all your reddit data in one go. If you have a legal requirement under the GDPR (General Data Protection act) you can try emailing legal@reddit.com , otherwise you can download the things you've posted on reddit from this link

https://www.reddithelp.com/en/categories/using-reddit/your-reddit-account/access...



The reddit help page provides links to the various areas such as



Posts you have submitted = https://www.reddit.com/user/me/submitted Comments you have submitted = https://www.reddit.com/user/me/comments Your private messages = https://www.reddit.com/message/messages/



and this lets you get the data in HTML format - basically, go to the above links you want to save and then save that page as HTML or copy and paste the text to a local document / note taking app.





Fitbit

The fitbit app logs your steps, sleep and other health informtion and if you use a fitbit you can go to https://www.fitbit.com/ and click the top right Cog to get to the menu and choose "Settings".

Click "Data Export" on the left hand side (https://www.fitbit.com/export/user/data ) and then click the big button "Request my Data"



After a while you will get an email saying where to download the data





YouTube

YouTube is owned by Google, so you get all this data when you do a Google export. If you just want to see the things you've watched and commented on in YouTube, you can go to youtube home and click on the top Left hamburger menu and choose "History" under the Library section

www.youtube.com/feed/history











Linked In

If you use LinkedIn it probably contains your recent work history, qualifications and professional connections.

Go to the LinkedIn home > Drop down menu "Me" > "Settings & Privacy"





Then you scroll down the page and under the section "How LinkedIn uses your data" click on the "Download your data" link https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/member-data





Apply the same methods to download from other websites

There are too many websites to list individually, but you should get the idea now. Basically there are 3 steps

1. Login to the website

2. Look for the export link (often under privacy or settings)

3. Choose what you want to download, and begin the process

4. Wait for the email saying your download is ready (on your own personal computer) and download the zip files there.





What do I do with the data now?

You need to unzip it to a folder first, then you'll be able to look at the data.



Next steps coming up will be

- formatting your contacts for importing into another service

- laughing at yourself because of all the wacky things you searched for







