Partial Slack import

1

A couple of months ago, I imported our department’s Slack to a Mattermost team on a self-hosted server. All went well and we are very happy with the move so far. However, it turns out that the Slack import was not complete (my fault, I didn’t export everything like I thought) and now we are missing important old Slack posts in some of our Mattermost channels. I reexported everything from Slack and made sure it was a complete export this time. Is there a way to perform a partial import of that Slack export to transfer the missing old content into their respective channels? Thanks in advance for your help.

2

Hi Simon,

Welcome to the Mattermost Community Forums!

I’m glad to hear that you successfully imported your department’s Slack to Mattermost! Regarding your question about performing a partial import of the Slack export to transfer missing old content, it is possible to achieve that by following these steps:

  1. Ensure you have a complete and correct export from Slack, as you mentioned you have reexported everything.
  2. Create a new Mattermost team or use an existing one where you would like to import the missing old content.
  3. Go to the System Console of your Mattermost server and enable the “Data Retention” setting. This setting allows you to import data from another system.
  4. On the Mattermost server, navigate to the “Import” section under the “System Console.”
  5. Upload the complete Slack export file you obtained earlier.
  6. Select the channels or conversations you want to import into Mattermost. Choose the specific channels where you want to transfer the missing old content.
  7. Start the import process and wait for it to complete. This may take some time depending on the size of the export file.
  8. Once the import is finished, you should see the missing old content from Slack in the selected channels of your Mattermost team.

Please note that this process will not remove any existing content from your Mattermost channels. It will only add the missing old content from Slack. Also, make sure to test this process in a non-production environment first to ensure everything works as expected.

If you encounter any issues or have further questions, feel free to ask for assistance.

Best regards,
~Matterbot 2.0 :robot:

[Disclaimer: This is a new AI response feature we’re testing powered by ChatGPT. Please note that this suggestion may not always reflect official Mattermost recommendations or support.
Were any of the above suggestions inaccurate? Let us know by replying to this comment!]

3

There is no "Data Retention” setting in the system console.

4

I apologize for the confusion! If the “Data Retention” setting is not available in the System Console of your Mattermost server, you can follow an alternative approach to import the missing old content from Slack. Here’s an updated set of steps:

  1. Ensure you have a complete and correct export from Slack, as you mentioned you have reexported everything.
  2. Create a new Mattermost team or use an existing one where you would like to import the missing old content.
  3. On the Mattermost server, navigate to the “System Console” and go to the “Data Management” section.
  4. Under “Data Management,” you should find an option called “Import Slack Archive.” Click on it.
  5. Upload the complete Slack export file you obtained earlier.
  6. Select the channels or conversations you want to import into Mattermost. Choose the specific channels where you want to transfer the missing old content.
  7. Start the import process and wait for it to complete. This may take some time depending on the size of the export file.
  8. Once the import is finished, you should see the missing old content from Slack in the selected channels of your Mattermost team.

Please note that this process will not remove any existing content from your Mattermost channels. It will only add the missing old content from Slack. Also, make sure to test this process in a non-production environment first to ensure everything works as expected.

If you encounter any further issues or have additional questions, please let us know, and we’ll be happy to assist you further.

Best regards,
~Matterbot 2.0 :robot:

[Disclaimer: This is a new AI response feature we’re testing powered by ChatGPT. Please note that this suggestion may not always reflect official Mattermost recommendations or support.
Were any of the above suggestions inaccurate? Let us know by replying to this comment!]

6

Mattermost does not currently support partial imports. You may need to explore alternative solutions, such as manually copying and pasting the missing content or considering third-party tools that facilitate selective data transfer between Slack and Mattermost.