elibosley/archive-all-facebook-messages.js

Facebook - Archive All Messages

Because who doesn't have an inbox full of "I got a new phone", event-based group chats, and old lingering messages in their Facebook Messages?

Surprisingly, Facebook has not implemented a way to archive many messages in your inbox. This script provides that solution.

UPDATE: THIS SCRIPT HAS BEEN UPDATED TO WORK AND IS TESTED AS WORKING (OCTOBER 31st, 2017 (spooky)). LET ME KNOW IF IT DOESN'T WORK FOR YOU!

Quickstart

Load Facebook Messages in a new tab.

Open the JavaScript console and paste the contents of jquery.min.js into the console.

Paste the contents of archive-all-facebook-messages.js into the console.

If you want to only test the results before actually running the archiving, there's a param for that:

archive_all(testOnly=true);

When you're ready to run for real:

archive_all();

Caveats

Currently only detects the list of messages visible to the user in the page. You can work around this by repeatedly scrolling the message list pane to the bottom until all messages are loaded. I plan to automate this step soon. (Maybe)
There is no way to whitelist certain messages from being archived. Currently, you can manually unarchive select messages from the archived view.
Sometimes the messages page remains cached after the script reloads it. Reloading it once by hand solves this.

SouSouleBarbu · 2018-02-12T08:40:09Z

To automate on every page, you need to add this function and to change "Afficher les plus anciens" by the text on the link to display the next messages in your own language.

function archive_andGoToNextPage(testOnly) {
	archive_all(testOnly);
	$('a').filter(function(index) { return $(this).text() === "Afficher les plus anciens"; })[0].click();
}

Then you need to call this:
setInterval(function(){ archive_andGoToNextPage(false); }, 3000);

jlrumohr · 2018-05-13T08:58:58Z

IT STILL WORKS! THANK YOU!

yashvinawootar · 2018-06-26T09:58:18Z

For french language, the text is currently "Voir la suite".

So the function should be as follows :

      function archive_andGoToNextPage(testOnly) {
      	archive_all(testOnly);
      	$('a').filter(function(index) { return $(this).text() === "Voir la suite"; })[0].click();
      }

And yes, it works wonderfully. The script has been running for the last couple of minutes and has already archived hundreds of messages ;)
Thanks a lot!

ThomDap · 2018-07-07T13:09:11Z

Thanks a lot !

oswinrodrigues · 2018-10-06T06:41:32Z

Amazing! Life-saver. Only thing that was non-intuitive was learning that I had to wait while the code did its thing in the background for large numbers of messages; during that time, it didn't look like anything was happening due to inactivity in the foreground. I clued in when I tried to refresh my tab and it stopped responding. Then trying it on a smaller number of messages showed the proportional lag involved. Stil, thanks so much!

sefrijn · 2018-10-10T07:09:43Z

Beware of using this script! Big problem after using it. My Facebook Messenger is broken: Now it just shows an empty white screen after archiving a lot of messages. It doesn't work anymore in any browser or any laptop. Works oke on my phone.
Did anybody else have this problem?
Or does somebody know how to fix it?

This is the error message I get in Chrome console:
ErrorUtils caught an error: "Cannot read property 'count' of undefined". Subsequent errors won't be logged; see https://fburl.com/debugjs. reportError @ -vtndqSSWSu.js:61

UPDATE - So just after posting this, it started working. Hmmm. Strange. Messenger.com was blank for about 48 hours.

davidedmonson · 2018-10-26T15:01:37Z

I just wanted to state for the record, this worked perfectly. Thank you.

Debesyla · 2018-12-26T15:11:47Z

For some reason it just throws back gray "undefined" without any other errors?

inigolv · 2019-02-26T12:37:03Z

Got the same "Undefined" messages. Anyone knows how it might be fixed?

oilimedev · 2019-03-11T04:28:23Z

It still works, you just gotta paste jquery first, then the archive-all.js, and then you just have to type

archive_all();

And it archives all. Working as of 10-March-2019.

Elise-Kiesje · 2019-03-26T07:50:39Z

This is really great! Thank you for creating! In your first message you indicate that you are working on a solution for scrolling down. I have messages of 9 years old and scrolling down is not possible :( so mutch are there.
Thanks in advance!

MrMysakovich · 2019-05-17T09:27:46Z

Hi, how to archive all messages? I tried it and it does not work

surajk63 · 2019-07-11T13:26:34Z

It does works till today's date: Just stating the facts.

First open the facebook masseges in new tab, check the address bar, it should say only https://www.facebook.com/messages, if you found the link with some other conversation then archieve that manually first, and then process the following steps.
open the console panel by right clicking, and paste the jquery into the console, you will get true in return, and then copy the function from above (archive-all-facebook-messages.js) and copy the function call named as: archive_all();

riginoommen · 2019-10-24T12:26:09Z

This is not working reproducing the error

function archive_all(testOnly) {

    messages = $("._5blh")
    console.log("Found", messages.length, "messages on messsenger.");
    if (!testOnly) {
        for (i = 0; i < messages.length; i++) {
            try {
                messages[i].click()// open dialog
                $("li:contains('Archive')").last().click()
            }
            catch (TypeError) {
                console.log("TypeError")
            }
        }
    }
}
undefined
archive_all();

r03b3N9bqAO.js?_nc_x=v2Bw1ZTfcx6:118 Uncaught Error: <![EX[["Tried to get element with id of \"%s\" but it is not present on the page TAAL[1]","._5blh"]]]>
    at g (r03b3N9bqAO.js?_nc_x=v2Bw1ZTfcx6:118)
    at a [from $-core] (r03b3N9bqAO.js?_nc_x=v2Bw1ZTfcx6:118)
    at archive_all (<anonymous>:3:16)
    at <anonymous>:1:1
g @ r03b3N9bqAO.js?_nc_x=v2Bw1ZTfcx6:118
a [from $-core] @ r03b3N9bqAO.js?_nc_x=v2Bw1ZTfcx6:118
archive_all @ VM184:3
(anonymous) @ VM189:1

elibosley · 2019-10-24T15:15:02Z

@riginoommen Make sure you load jquery by pasting it into the terminal before running the script.

tracylemke · 2019-12-17T03:42:17Z

Works like a charm! Thank you.

hyiltiz · 2020-01-20T17:56:50Z

Scripts provided above doesn't work anymore.

Steps

disable adblockers etc.
paste and run jquery.min.js in the console.
paste and run archive_all function definition in the console.
scroll the Facebook Messenger chat panel on the right to the bottom with mouse manually.
run archive_all();

Result

Correctly reports finding several hundred items, and after a while returns undefined but nothing happens to the chat. Nothing changes even after a refresh.
Tested in up-to-date Firefox Developer Version or Chrome.

Fix

Facebook renamed Archive to Hide. Use this:

(function run() {
  let all = document.querySelectorAll('div[aria-label="Conversation actions"]');
  if (all.length == 0) return;
  let a = all[0];
  a.click();
  setTimeout(() => {
    document.querySelectorAll('a[role=menuitem]').forEach(act => {
      if (act.innerText.match(/Hide/)) act.click();
    });
    run();
  }, 250);
})();

Or this:

function archive_all(testOnly) {

    messages = $("._5blh")
    console.log("Found", messages.length, "messages on messsenger.");
    if (!testOnly) {
        for (i = 0; i < messages.length; i++) {
            try {
                messages[i].click()// open dialog
                $("li:contains('Hide')").last().click()
            }
            catch (TypeError) {
                console.log("TypeError")
            }
        }
    }
}
archive_all();

riginoommen · 2020-01-21T04:44:16Z

Scripts provided above doesn't work anymore.

Steps

disable adblockers etc.
paste and run jquery.min.js in the console.
paste and run archive_all function definition in the console.
scroll the Facebook Messenger chat panel on the right to the bottom with mouse manually.
run archive_all();

Result

Correctly reports finding several hundred items, and after a while returns undefined but nothing happens to the chat. Nothing changes even after a refresh.
Tested in up-to-date Firefox Developer Version or Chrome.

Fix

Facebook renamed Archive to Hide. Use this:

(function run() {
  let all = document.querySelectorAll('div[aria-label="Conversation actions"]');
  if (all.length == 0) return;
  let a = all[0];
  a.click();
  setTimeout(() => {
    document.querySelectorAll('a[role=menuitem]').forEach(act => {
      if (act.innerText.match(/Hide/)) act.click();
    });
    run();
  }, 250);
})();

Or this:

function archive_all(testOnly) {

    messages = $("._5blh")
    console.log("Found", messages.length, "messages on messsenger.");
    if (!testOnly) {
        for (i = 0; i < messages.length; i++) {
            try {
                messages[i].click()// open dialog
                $("li:contains('Hide')").last().click()
            }
            catch (TypeError) {
                console.log("TypeError")
            }
        }
    }
}
archive_all();

New script works perfectly. Thanks

szczepkacpra · 2020-04-19T07:41:11Z

I reproduced steps to the letter on Chrome's regular and Incognito mode (to rule out plugins interfering with the outcome) with no success.

Running archive_all(); on @hyiltiz 's code:

(function run() {
  let all = document.querySelectorAll('div[aria-label="Conversation actions"]');
  if (all.length == 0) return;
  let a = all[0];
  a.click();
  setTimeout(() => {
    document.querySelectorAll('a[role=menuitem]').forEach(act => {
      if (act.innerText.match(/Hide/)) act.click();
    });
    run();
  }, 250);
})();

returns:

VM1902:1 Uncaught ReferenceError: archive_all is not defined at <anonymous>:1:1

on both facebook.com/messages and messenger.com.

Running archive_all(); on on @hyiltiz 's code:

function archive_all(testOnly) {

    messages = $("._5blh")
    console.log("Found", messages.length, "messages on messsenger.");
    if (!testOnly) {
        for (i = 0; i < messages.length; i++) {
            try {
                messages[i].click()// open dialog
                $("li:contains('Hide')").last().click()
            }
            catch (TypeError) {
                console.log("TypeError")
            }
        }
    }
}
archive_all();

on facebook.com/messages console returns:

Found 0 messages on messsenger.
undefined

on messenger.com console returns:

Found 20 messages on messsenger.
undefined

The only hidden conversations, are those which I manually hide following @surajk63 instructions.

FIX:

Change Facebook's language to English

surajk63 · 2020-04-19T14:59:04Z

Scripts provided above doesn't work anymore.

Steps

disable adblockers etc.

paste and run jquery.min.js in the console.

paste and run archive_all function definition in the console.

scroll the Facebook Messenger chat panel on the right to the bottom with mouse manually.

run archive_all();

Result

Correctly reports finding several hundred items, and after a while returns undefined but nothing happens to the chat. Nothing changes even after a refresh.
Tested in up-to-date Firefox Developer Version or Chrome.

Fix

Facebook renamed Archive to Hide. Use this:
(function run() {
  let all = document.querySelectorAll('div[aria-label="Conversation actions"]');
  if (all.length == 0) return;
  let a = all[0];
  a.click();
  setTimeout(() => {
    document.querySelectorAll('a[role=menuitem]').forEach(act => {
      if (act.innerText.match(/Hide/)) act.click();
    });
    run();
  }, 250);
})();
Or this:
function archive_all(testOnly) {

    messages = $("._5blh")
    console.log("Found", messages.length, "messages on messsenger.");
    if (!testOnly) {
        for (i = 0; i < messages.length; i++) {
            try {
                messages[i].click()// open dialog
                $("li:contains('Hide')").last().click()
            }
            catch (TypeError) {
                console.log("TypeError")
            }
        }
    }
}
archive_all();
New script works perfectly. Thanks

Try this one again, it should work.
I just tried today and it is working perfectly.

szczepkacpra · 2020-04-20T07:56:26Z

Try this one again, it should work.
I just tried today and it is working perfectly.

Thanks for answering. You sent me the same codes I have tried and quoted in my question.

Did you use top or the bottom code?
Did you go to facebook.com/messages or messenger.com?
What browser are you using?

surajk63 · 2020-04-20T08:04:29Z

Try this one again, it should work.
I just tried today and it is working perfectly.

Thanks for answering. You sent me the same codes I have tried and quoted in my question.

Did you use top or the bottom code?
Did you go to facebook.com/messages or messenger.com?
What browser are you using?

I used the second code, first you have to load jquery code and then this function.
Then you can call the function as many times as you required.
You can try on both link: facebook.com/messages or messenger.com on chrome latest browser.

Thanks
-Suraj

szczepkacpra · 2020-04-20T08:39:38Z

I found the solution: Facebook language has to be set to English. Otherwise the script won't work.

Thanks for getting involved @surajk63

@elibosley could you please include this information in your description?

elibosley/archive-all-facebook-messages.js

Facebook - Archive All Messages

Quickstart

Caveats

SouSouleBarbu commented Feb 12, 2018

jlrumohr commented May 13, 2018

yashvinawootar commented Jun 26, 2018

ThomDap commented Jul 7, 2018

oswinrodrigues commented Oct 6, 2018

sefrijn commented Oct 10, 2018 •

edited

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davidedmonson commented Oct 26, 2018

Debesyla commented Dec 26, 2018

inigolv commented Feb 26, 2019

oilimedev commented Mar 11, 2019

Elise-Kiesje commented Mar 26, 2019 •

edited

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MrMysakovich commented May 17, 2019

surajk63 commented Jul 11, 2019

riginoommen commented Oct 24, 2019

elibosley commented Oct 24, 2019

tracylemke commented Dec 17, 2019

hyiltiz commented Jan 20, 2020

riginoommen commented Jan 21, 2020

szczepkacpra commented Apr 19, 2020 •

edited

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surajk63 commented Apr 19, 2020

szczepkacpra commented Apr 20, 2020

surajk63 commented Apr 20, 2020

szczepkacpra commented Apr 20, 2020 •

edited

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	function archive_all(testOnly) {

	messages = $("._5blh")
	console.log("Found", messages.length, "messages on messsenger.");
	if (!testOnly) {
	for (i = 0; i < messages.length; i++) {
	try {
	messages[i].click()// open dialog
	$("li:contains('Archive')").last().click()
	}
	catch (TypeError) {
	console.log("TypeError")
	}
	}
	}
	}

elibosley/archive-all-facebook-messages.js

Facebook - Archive All Messages

Quickstart

Caveats

SouSouleBarbu commented Feb 12, 2018

jlrumohr commented May 13, 2018

yashvinawootar commented Jun 26, 2018

ThomDap commented Jul 7, 2018

oswinrodrigues commented Oct 6, 2018

sefrijn commented Oct 10, 2018 • edited Loading

davidedmonson commented Oct 26, 2018

Debesyla commented Dec 26, 2018

inigolv commented Feb 26, 2019

oilimedev commented Mar 11, 2019

Elise-Kiesje commented Mar 26, 2019 • edited Loading

MrMysakovich commented May 17, 2019

surajk63 commented Jul 11, 2019

riginoommen commented Oct 24, 2019

elibosley commented Oct 24, 2019

tracylemke commented Dec 17, 2019

hyiltiz commented Jan 20, 2020

Steps

Result

Fix

riginoommen commented Jan 21, 2020

Steps

Result

Fix

szczepkacpra commented Apr 19, 2020 • edited Loading

FIX:

surajk63 commented Apr 19, 2020

Steps

Result

Fix

szczepkacpra commented Apr 20, 2020

surajk63 commented Apr 20, 2020

szczepkacpra commented Apr 20, 2020 • edited Loading

sefrijn commented Oct 10, 2018 •

edited

Loading

Elise-Kiesje commented Mar 26, 2019 •

edited

Loading

szczepkacpra commented Apr 19, 2020 •

edited

Loading

szczepkacpra commented Apr 20, 2020 •

edited

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