Meta's "Download Your Information" tool (DYI) gives you a full archive of your Facebook posts, photos, videos, reels, stories, and albums. It takes about 5 minutes to request. Meta emails you when it's ready, usually in 2–24 hours, sometimes up to 48 for large archives.

If you run a business Page: read this first

If your artwork has its own Facebook Page (separate from your personal profile — the Page has its own name like "Annie's Art Studio"), you'll want to export both:

• Your personal Facebook profile — the account you log in with
• Your business Page — your artwork's public-facing presence

Most artists end up with content scattered across both. Your personal profile usually has the candid behind-the-scenes photos, family reactions to finished pieces, studio snaps. The Page usually has the polished promo posts and finished work. Both are useful. Export flow is the same — you just submit two separate requests from the same Accounts Center screen.

Request your archive (from any device)

Meta has unified Facebook and Instagram downloads into one place called the Accounts Center. Whether you start from the Facebook app or from facebook.com in a browser, you end up in the same flow. The app is slightly easier; facebook.com on a desktop is fine too.

On the Facebook app (phone)

1. Open the Facebook app.
2. Tap your profile picture (top-right) to open the menu.
3. Tap Settings & privacy → Settings.
4. At the very top of Settings, tap Accounts Center.
5. Tap Your information and permissions.
6. Tap Download your information.
7. Tap Download or transfer information.
8. Pick which profile to export:
   • Your personal Facebook account, OR
   • Your business Page (listed by name if you admin one)
   You can only pick one per request. Do it twice if you need both.
9. Tap Some of your information (not "All").
10. Under Your activity across Facebook, check ON:
    • Posts — status updates and timeline posts
    • Photos and videos — everything you've uploaded, including albums
    • Reels
    • Stories (recent only; Meta doesn't keep old ones)
    • Check-ins (optional — useful if you've done pop-ups or gallery events)
    Leave everything else unchecked. We don't need messages, friends lists, ad preferences, login history, or any of the rest — and skipping them makes the export smaller and faster.
11. Tap Next.
12. Choose Download to device.
13. Set Date range to All time.
14. Set Format to JSON. (Important — HTML "works" but is harder for us to parse. If the only option offered is HTML, submit HTML; we'll handle it.)
15. Set Media quality to High. (Critical — Medium downsamples your photos. Low is unusable for print.)
16. Tap Create files.
17. Meta will ask for your password to confirm.

On facebook.com (desktop)

1. Go to accountscenter.facebook.com/info_and_permissions/dyi (this jumps you straight to the DYI page).
2. Log in if prompted.
3. Click Download or transfer information.
4. From here the flow is identical to the app — pick the profile, pick "Some of your information", check the Posts / Photos / Reels / Stories boxes, then Next → Download to device → JSON → High quality → Create files.

Exporting your business Page

You do not need to switch profiles first. On the same "Pick a profile" screen in Accounts Center you'll see both your personal account and any Pages you admin, listed together. Just pick the Page and run the flow a second time. Meta treats it as an independent request — you'll get a separate ready email and a separate .zip.

Heads up: if your business Page is managed through Meta Business Suite (the separate business.facebook.com dashboard), Accounts Center still covers it. You don't need to use Business Suite for this. If your Page isn't showing up in Accounts Center, message Bryce — there's a workaround.

Wait for the email

Meta emails you when the archive is ready. Usually 2–24 hours for a typical small business; can stretch to 48 for a long-active account. The email comes from [email protected] with a subject like "Your Facebook information is ready to download".

Important: the download link expires after 4 days. If you miss it, just submit the request again — no harm done. Don't kick off the export the night before you leave town.

Download the .zip

1. Open the email and tap Download your information.
2. Meta will ask you to log in again as a security step.
3. The .zip downloads. Filename is usually facebook-yourusername-YYYY-MM-DD-abc123.zip.
4. Note the file size. Most small-business exports are under 2 GB. If you see multiple files (part-1-of-3.zip, etc.), that's normal for big archives — grab them all.

Upload to your intake

1. Come back to your intake page (the link Bryce sent you).
2. Scroll down to Upload your platform exports.
3. Drag the .zip into the upload zone (or tap it and choose the file).
4. If you exported both personal AND Page, upload both .zips. If your archive came as multiple parts, upload every part.
5. Wait for Uploaded ✓ next to each file.

That's it. We process the archive on our end, pull the photos, captions, and hashtags you've actually written, and use that material to build your gallery and site copy. Nothing you posted goes public without your review.

Common snags

• "I don't see Accounts Center in my Settings." Update the Facebook app — older versions put it under a different menu. On desktop, go directly to accountscenter.facebook.com.
• "My Page isn't in the profile picker." Make sure you're signed in as an admin (not just an editor or moderator) of the Page. Only admins can request a DYI for a Page.
• "It only gives me HTML, no JSON option." A small subset of accounts get stuck on HTML-only during rollouts. Just submit HTML — we can still extract what we need. Flag it to Bryce so we know to adjust on our end.
• "The archive is huge / my upload keeps failing." Our upload cap is 2 GB per file. If yours is bigger, re-request with a tighter date range (say, last 3 years) or set media quality to Medium — not ideal, but usable. Or message Bryce for a direct-to-storage transfer.