How to Find My Facebook Chat History
To find a past message thread on your computer, click on the message icon on the top bar of any Facebook page to see a list of your most recent Message conversations. If you do not see the conversation you're looking for, you can scroll down the list or click See All in Messenger at the bottom of the box.
You can also click on Messenger in the left panel of your News Feed for a complete list of Messenger conversations. Click on any one of them to see the entire conversation.
How to Delete Facebook Messenger History
In Facebook Messenger, you can delete individual Facebook messages from your history, or you can delete an entire conversation history with another Facebook user. Although you may delete a message or an entire conversation from your Facebook Messenger history, this does not delete the conversation from the histories of other users who were part of the conversation and received messages that you deleted. After you send a message, you cannot delete it from the recipient's Messenger.
How to Delete an Individual Message
You can delete single messages in any conversation, whether you sent them yourself or received them some someone else.
- Click on the Messenger icon at the top right of the screen.
- Click See All in Messenger at the bottom of the Messenger box that opens.
- Click on a conversation in the left panel. The conversations are listed in chronological order with the most recent conversation at the top. If you don't see the conversation you want, use the search field at the top of the Messenger panel to locate it.
- Click on the individual entry of the conversation you want to delete to open a three-dot icon next to the entry.
- Click the three-dot icon to bring up the Delete bubble and click it to remove the entry.
- Confirm the deletion when prompted to do so.
How to Delete an Entire Messenger Conversation
If you no longer plan to communicate with a person or just want to clean up your Messenger list, it is faster to delete the entire conversation than to go through one post at a time:
- Click on the Messenger icon at the top right of the screen.
- Click See All in Messenger at the bottom of the Messenger box that opens.
- Click on a conversation in the left panel. When you select a conversation, Facebook displays a cog wheel icon next to it. The conversations are listed in chronological order with the most recent conversation at the top. If you don't see the conversation you want, use the search field at the top of the Messenger panel to locate it.
- Click on the cog wheel icon next to the conversation you want to delete.
- Click Delete in the menu that opens.
- Confirm the deletion and the entire conversation disappears.
Download Facebook Messages and Data
Facebook offers a way to download your Facebook messages, along with all of your Facebook data, including pictures and posts, as an archive.
To download your Facebook data:
- Click the down arrow in the top right of the Facebook browser window.
- Select Settings from the drop-down menu.
- Under General Account Settings, click Download a copy of your Facebook data at the bottom of the screen.
- Supply your password when prompted to do so to begin the gathering and download process.