Export Teams Chat between 2 people

Question

User1 and User2.....

How am I able to have either User1 export (or just save in some format) a conversation between those 2?

I have found refferences about various 3rd party plugins etc, but they do not work as the chat is months long.

I saw a refference about using compliance.microsoft.com, but that has changed to purview, and is completely changed

if purview is the way to go, that is fine....just HOW would I export that??

Answer 1

Dear John Litster,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum. I understand you need to export a long-running Microsoft Teams chat between two specific users and have found that third-party tools are not sufficient for this task. 

The official and most reliable method for this is no longer through the old compliance center but via the Microsoft Purview compliance portal. This process uses a feature called Content Search (part of the eDiscovery toolset). 

This method requires administrative permissions. The user performing these steps must be assigned the eDiscovery Manager role in the Purview compliance portal. 

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to perform this export. 

Before you begin, ensure the appropriate permissions are assigned. 

1. A Global Administrator must go to the Microsoft Purview 
2. Choose Setting -> Navigate to Roles & scopes > Role Groups. 
3. Find the eDiscovery Manager role group. 
4. In eDiscovery Manager choose Edit and add the user who will be performing the search to the list of members. 
5. Save the changes. It may take a few minutes for the permissions to apply. 

For more details, see the official documentation: Assign eDiscovery permissions in the Microsoft Purview portal | Microsoft Learn 

Step-by-Step Guide to Exporting the Chat 

Phase 1: Create a Content Search 

1. Go to the Microsoft Purview compliance portal. 
2. In the left-hand navigation pane, click on Content search. 
3. Click the + New search button to start the wizard. 

Phase 2: Configure the Search 

1. Name and description: Give your search a clear name, for example, Chat Export - User1 and User2 - [Date]. Click Next. 
2. Locations: This is a critical step. 

• Toggle Exchange mailboxes and SharePoint sites to the Off position. 
• Toggle Teams chats to the On position. This ensures you are only searching for Teams data. 
• Click Next. 

1. Define your search conditions (The most important step): 

• Click on + Add condition and select Participants. 

• This condition allows you to find conversations involving specific people. To find a chat strictly between User1 and User2, you will use the AND operator. 
• In the text box, enter the email addresses of the two users, separated by AND. For example: [@yourcompany.com] AND [@yourcompany.com] 
• You can also add a Date condition to narrow the search to a specific time frame if needed. 
• Click Next. 

1. Review and Submit: Review your search settings on the final screen. If everything is correct, click Submit, and then Done. 

The system will now start searching for all content that matches your criteria. You can monitor the status on the Content Search dashboard. This may take some time depending on the volume of data. 

 

Phase 3: Export the Results 

1. Once the search status shows as Completed, click on the search name from the list. 
2. In the flyout pane, click on Actions (at the bottom) and then Export results. 
3. Output options: You will be presented with several options. For reading conversations, we recommend the following for clarity: 

• Select "All items, including items that have unrecognized format, are encrypted, or were not indexed for other reasons". 
• Under Export Microsoft Teams and Viva Engage conversations, choose "Individual messages". This will export each chat message as a separate .msg file, which is easy to open and read in Outlook. It will be organized in a folder structure that shows the conversation thread. 
• Enable "Deduplication" to avoid seeing multiple copies of the same message. 

1. Click Export. The system will begin preparing the data in a separate export job. 

 

Phase 4: Download the Exported Data 

1. In the Content Search area, click on the Exports tab. 
2. Find your export job in the list (it will have the same name as your search). Click on it. 
3. Once the status is Completed, copy the Export key to your clipboard. You will need this to authorize the download. 
4. Click Download results. 
5. This will trigger a download for the eDiscovery Export Tool. You may need to install this small application (it requires Windows and Microsoft Edge or Chrome). 
6. Run the tool, paste the Export key you copied earlier, and select a location on your computer to save the files. 
7. The tool will download the results. Once finished, you can navigate to the selected folder and view the exported .msg files. 

This process provides a complete and legally admissible export of the conversation that you can store securely. 

For additional reference, here are the official Microsoft Learn articles for these steps: 

• Create a Content Search: Get started with Content search | Microsoft Learn 
• Export Search Results: Export Content search results | Microsoft Learn 

I hope this detailed guide helps you resolve the issue for your customer. Please let me know if you have any further questions. 

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