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Google Hangouts, the communication application from Google, is used extensively to keep in touch with friends, colleagues, and clients through chat, audio, and video calls. It is a helpful communication method since users can conduct a simple interface chat instead of sending elaborate emails every time. Google had released it as a part of Google + but made it a standalone application in 2013.
Today, it is part of the Google Workspace (G Suite) line of products and consists of two essential components: Google Meet and Google Chat. Here are the features of Google Hangouts that help in maintaining an enhanced quality of communication:
- Multiple users can chat with each other.
- All the previous chats are saved online, making them accessible on various devices.
- Images are sharable.
- Users can share emoji symbols.
- A video chat facility is available.
- The Android and iOS platforms have mobile versions of the application.
- Google Chrome users do not need to install a plugin separately, as it is available by default.
Why backup Google Hangouts chat messages?
Besides informal chats, Google Hangouts is also used extensively for professional work between team members, like interviews, webinars, client demonstrations of your software, business consultations, etc. During the pandemic, it gained popularity among schools and teachers as well to take online classes.
Due to the importance of the content of these messages, you will not want to lose such messages. Therefore, periodic Google chat backup is recommended for safeguarding your essential messages.
Kernel Google Workspace Backup and Restore (formerly Kernel G Suite Backup) is an automated tool to backup Google Hangouts/Chats, Contacts, Emails, Google Drive data, and Calendar in a few steps.
How to take the manual backup of the Google Hangout?
Google has not provided any dedicated method to backup Google Hangouts chats the chats separately. But there are two simple methods that you can apply to save the chats in PDF and.zip format, respectively.
Method 1. Taking Google chats backup using print command
A simple approach to create a Google Chat backup is using the print option of your browser. To backup Hangouts messages in the PDF format, follow the steps given below:
- Login to your Gmail account.
- In the textbox, type in:chats and press enter. It will retrieve all the messages present in the hangout chats.
Note: You can also type label:chats, and it will recover the same results.
- If the Chats folder is visible in the folder list of your mailbox, then you can select the messages there.
- Choose the emails that you want to save and open them. Gmail will open all the chats from the same day on an email-like page.
- Click the three dots at the top right-hand side. Then click Print.
- In the given printer options, there will be options for saving the emails in PDF format. Such options are available in major browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, etc.
- You can save the G Suite Emails to PDF format at any desired location.
Limitations of using Print command to take backup of Google chats
When you backup Hangouts messages in PDF files, you can only save the chat for a particular day at a time. It will take much time if you have to backup chats for many months. Imagine taking a backup of chats with multiple users over a period of time! It is tiresome to save the chats of multiple days and with different users.
Method 2. Taking Google Hangout backup using Google Takeout
Google Takeout is a free tool that allows users to export various types of G Suite data. You can also backup Google data with Takeout. It is a quick and hassle-free way to export your data and save it in your local storage. To backup Hangout chat with Google Takeout, follow the given steps:
- Open the Google Takeout web page.
https://takeout.google.com/takeout - Scroll down and select the Hangouts section. Click on Next step to proceed.
- Choose the destination, frequency, file type, and file size.
Destination: Add the data to the Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box or download it via a link on your email
Frequency: Export once or export every two months for a year
File type: .zip or .tgz. You can easily open .zip files on almost all computers, while .tgz requires additional software on Windows.
File size: 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 10GB or 50GB. If the data size is larger than the selected option, it will be split into multiple files.
- Click on Create export, and the export time will depend on the data size.
- You will receive the email along with the option to download the file.
An automated method to backup G Suite data
If you want to easily backup Google Hangouts chats, then you should use a professional tool that supports the Google environment. Kernel Google Workspace Backup and Restore (formerly Kernel G Suite Backup) is a unique tool that backs up all Google Apps. The G Suite backup tool is a robust application that can save Gmail emails, contacts, calendars, appointments, and chats.
The powerful algorithms embedded in the tool can precisely save the Hangout chats and also allow users to backup Google Contacts/Calendar in PST format. If you want to keep your chats in backup, then you can follow the below procedure.
- Start the software, select Backup. Click the Add button to add the G Suite account.
- You must provide the G Suite account, its Service Account ID, and the public P 12 key on the Google Workspace Login page. Then, choose a single mailbox. Click Add.
- After successfully adding the G Suite account, click Set Filter and Migrate.
- On the Filter Selection page, you can see all the folders of your G Suite mailbox. You can also see the Chat folder. Deselect all the other accounts except the Chat folder. Apply the remaining filters and click I am OK Start Migration.
- Choose the destination format and click OK.
- Browse the folder to save the chats in the selected format. Click OK.
- The Chat folder is saved successfully. Click OK.
- Save the report in the CSV format. Click OK.
Conclusion
There are two possible methods to take a backup of all Google Hangouts chats, one using the Print option and the other using the Google Takeout tool. But sadly, both bring along many limitations. Try the automated tool – Kernel Google Workspace Backup and Restore (formerly Kernel G Suite Backup) to simplify the G Suite/Google Workspace backup process, including that of Google Hangouts chats. Use the tool to quickly create Google Photos backup and safeguard your precious memories.