Syncing & browsing your archive
How syncing works
The first time you sync, SlackVault captures your full available history. After that, syncs are incremental — they only fetch new messages — so they finish much faster. You control the cadence in the extension's sync settings: manual only, every 6 hours, every 12 hours, or daily.
Behind the scenes the extension calls Slack's Web API with conservative pacing (one request at a time, ~1.2 seconds apart) and automatic back-off if it hits a rate limit, so a sync pauses and resumes cleanly rather than failing. See Slack API & rate limits for the details and sync-time estimates.
What gets captured
| Data | Captured |
|---|---|
| Public channels | Messages, timestamps, reactions, threads |
| Private channels | If you're a member |
| Direct messages & group DMs | If included in settings |
| Threads | Full reply chains, relationships preserved |
| Reactions | Emoji name + the users who reacted |
| Files | Metadata always; the file itself downloaded to FilesHub if "include files" is on |
| Users | The full workspace directory — names, profiles, roles, emails |
| Workspace | Name, domain, icon |
Once a message is backed up it stays in your Firebase even if the original is later deleted from Slack — SlackVault captures the state at sync time. You can manually delete from your backup any time.
Multiple workspaces
You can connect as many workspaces as you like from the same extension. Each workspace stores its data in a separate collection in your Firebase, keyed by workspace ID, so they never mix.
Browsing the archive
Open the SlackVault web app (or the extension's Browse Archive) to explore what you've backed up:
- Workspaces — pick a workspace to view its channels, users, and stats.
- Channels — browse channel-by-channel; each shows its message history.
- Messages & threads — messages render with their author, timestamp, reactions, and any attached files. Click a threaded message to open the thread pane with full context.
- Files — a file browser/grid with previews, backed by the file metadata and FilesHub URLs.
- Users — the workspace user directory with profiles and contact info.
Sync status
While a sync runs, the dashboard's status widget shows live progress, and you can trigger a manual sync at any time. After it finishes, the totals (messages / channels / files) and the "next scheduled sync" time update.