How To Save or Restore Facebook Messenger Access and Data on Android or PC

Read about signing in to Facebook Messenger if you lost access to your account, creating and recovering a messenger data backup just in case you can’t access your account.

Facebook Messenger allows users of the popular social network to stay connected all the time and anywhere, exchange text messages or send files. It is one of the main functions of this social network that all of its users benefit from. Certainly, the message history or the pictures you received from your friends are very important for you.

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Previously, nobody would think about it too much as all information was kept safely in Facebook website. However, times have changed and now the Messenger is offered in special versions for smartphones and personal computers.

In this article, we will have a look at how to save and backup user’s message history in the Messenger to prevent its permanent loss, how to create a copy of all user account data, and also how to recover user’s access to the Messenger for Windows.

How To Recover Access To The Messenger For Windows

The Messenger for Windows (Messenger for Desktop) has largely simplified the way that Facebook users exchange messages. Now if you need to send a message, you don’t have to open the social network: start Messenger on your PC in just one click.

Facebook Messenger user registration data on a certain computer is saved to a cookies file which can be found in the folder:

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Messenger for Desktop

Having this file, users do not need to sign in, enter their password and e-mail address every time they start the application. All they need is to sign in once when they start the application for the first time.

Messenger for Desktop

If for some reason the user lost access to the Messenger on PC (reinstallation of the application or the operating system, a system failure), it can be restored by recovering the file Cookies of the version of such application with an already registered user and by using it to replace the similar file of the freshly installed application.

How To Save or Restore Facebook Messenger Access and Data on Android or PC

To do it:

  • Run Hetman Partition Recovery and scan drive C in your computer.

  • Using the program, go to the folder

  • C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Messenger for Desktop
    and find the file Cookies

    Hetman Partition Recovery. Scan drive C in your computer
  • Recover this file

  • Use it to replace the file with the same name in the folder specified above.

  • Start Messenger for Desktop and the application will start with teh user who is already registered.

The tool recovers data from any devices, regardless of the cause of data loss.

How To Save a Backup Copy Of The User’s Entire Message History in Facebook

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All message history of a Facebook user, no matter if it was made from the website of this social network, with the Messenger for PC or for Android, is always transferred through a Facebook account and saved there.

To enable users to ensure safety of their account data, Facebook provides the opportunity to save a copy of entire user information including uploaded pictures and videos, contact information, names of Facebook accounts of user’s friends, and the most important – complete message history.

In order to save a copy of Facebook data:

  1. Go to your Facebook account from your computer and then go to the menu Settings / General account settings

    Settings / General
  2. At the bottom of the window that opens, click on the link «Download a copy of your Facebook data» (your information on Facebook)

    «Download a copy of your Facebook data»
  3. Choose «Download Archive» in the next page, and after entering your account password, the archive will start downloading to your computer.

    «Download Archive»

    Note. Sometimes, before downloading the archive you may need to confirm your download with a registered user’s e-mail address to which a link for downloading the archive will be sent.

  4. As a result, an archive containing all Facebook account data will be downloaded to your computer.

    When you open it, you can see folders with pictures and videos in full scale. There is also a separate folder «html» containing .htm files that keep the entire account data including the file messages.htm with a copy of chats. You can view all messages in a chronological order by opening the file messages.htm.

    Archive containing all Facebook account data will be downloaded to your computer

How To Archive Messenger History For Android

In Facebook Messenger there are two ways of taking messages away from the history – by deleting or archiving them. If deleted, the chat will be lost forever, and if archived – the entire message history with a certain user will be restored after a message is received from him or sent to him (it doesn’t matter where, on an Android device or on PC).

To archive a chat with a certain user in Android, start Messenger and find the chat you need to archive. Click on such chat and hold until a context menu appears.

How to archive Messenger history for Android

Choose the line «Archive» and the message history with this user will no longer be visible in the list of your chats because it will be archived.

It can be restored both at Facebook website and in the Messenger of your smartphone.

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Where are pictures sent by Messenger for Android kept?

By default, all photos and pictures sent via Messenger are not saved to the smartphone’s memory. They are just shown in the application and they can be viewed, but it is not possible to use them for other purposes in your device.

Nevertheless, in Messenger for smartphones you can set up automatic saving of all photos and pictures sent to your Android device. To do it:

  • Start the Messenger on your smartphone

  • Go to the Settings menu and select the item Photos & Media

    Go to the Settings menu and select the item Photos & Media
  • Enable functions «Save Photo» and «Save on Capture», and all images received or taken with the use of an application will be automatically saved to the smartphone’s memory. To be more exact, in the folder: Pictures / Messenger

    Pictures / Messenger

If the application is uninstalled or fails, such pictures will still be stored in the memory of your device.

If there is no need to save automatically all images received via your Messenger, you can save them one by one (when and as necessary). To do it, go to the chat that you need to save messages from and click on the necessary image by holding your finger on it.

«Save Image»

In the menu that opens, choose «Save Image» and it will be saved to the same folder: Pictures / Messenger.

Vladimir Artiukh

Author: , Technical Writer

Vladimir Artiukh is a technical writer for Hetman Software, as well as the voice and face of their English-speaking YouTube channel, Hetman Software: Data Recovery for Windows. He handles tutorials, how-tos, and detailed reviews on how the company’s tools work with all kinds of data storage devices.

Oleg Afonin

Editor: , Technical Writer

Oleg Afonin is an expert in mobile forensics, data recovery and computer systems. He often attends large data security conferences, and writes several blogs for such resources as xaker.ru, Elcomsoft and Habr. In addition to his online activities, Oleg’s articles are also published in professional magazines. Also, Oleg Afonin is the co-author of a well-known book, Mobile Forensics - Advanced Investigative Strategies.

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