Data Protection Centre/Google Workspace/How to Recover Permanently Deleted Items from Google Chat

How to Recover Permanently Deleted Items from Google Chat

3 Jan 2022

5 min read

Jeena

Google Chat (replaced Google Hangouts) is a messaging service provided by Google Workspace. Google Chat helps employees across an organization collaborate with each other, upload, and share Drive files, connect through video meetings and set up calendar events.

Does Google Chat have a trash folder?

Google Chat does not have a trash folder. This means, chat messages once deleted, cannot be retrieved later. However, administrators can enforce chat retention using Google Vault.

To learn more about how to protect Google Chat using Google Vault, click here.

What happens when a Google Chat is deleted?

Once the user deletes a chat, it is removed from their account permanently. That is unless there is a retention rule in place. In which case, the administrator can retrieve the deleted Chat item from the Google Vault.

Below is a diagram depicting the process of Google Chat deletion when a retention rule is applied.

How to ensure the safety of Google Chat messages

Google Chat is one of the most popular messaging tools adopted by enterprises across the world. The increasing reliance on the service also means several important conversations are stored in these chats. And if the business hasn’t adopted any measures to secure Google Chat data, it could be lost forever.

Different ways to avoid accidental deletion

Although Google Chat does not have a trash folder, administrators and users can take steps to ensure the safety of important Google chat messages.

Google Chat retention using Google Vault

Administrators can use the retention tools (retention rules and eDiscovery matters) to ensure the safety of important Google Chat messages. To learn how to create a retention rule or eDiscovery matter, click here.

Archiving Google Chat

If there are no retention rules in place, users can hide important Google Chats to avoid accidental deletion. The hidden chats will be removed from the chat list and can be accessed only by searching the name of the receiver.

To hide important Google Chats, follow the below steps

Step 1: Navigate to Google Chat.
Step 2: Find the chat you want to hide.
Step 3: Click the vertical ellipsis next to the username and click “Hide conversation”

How to recover Google Chat?

You can recover Google Chat data by:

Manually downloading Google Chat data using Takeout and accessing thee chats offline when needed.
Backing up Google Chat messages using a third-party backup tool and restoring when needed.

Recovering deleted Google Chat using Google Takeout

Businesses can regularly download Google Chat messages (including attachments) using Google Takeout.

Follow the below steps to manually download Google Chat data:

Step 1: Navigate to Google Takeout.
Step 2: Click “Deselect all”

Step 3: Navigate to “Hangouts” and click the checkbox next to it.

Step 4: Click “Next Step”

Step 5: Choose the delivery method (can be sent as a link, added to a cloud storage platform), the frequency of the download (users can set up regular downloads every 2 months for a year), file type and size. Click “Create export”.

The Google Chat messages will be download in JSON format and the attachments that were added in the Chat will be downloaded in its original format.

Users can then extract the downloaded data and import the chat messages and media back to Google Chat whenever needed.

Limitation of using Google Takeout

Google Takeout is not error-free. If the download gets interrupted because of internet issues, users will need to start the process all over again.
Any data downloaded using Google Takeout needs to be done manually.
Importing data back to Google Workspace can be a long and cumbersome task.
The maximum limit for an archive download is 50 GB per day.
Although Takeout allows businesses to download their data, it is not a backup solution.

Recover Google chat using third-party backup tools

There are several third-party backup tools that can help businesses backup their Google Chats. Once backed up, the Chats can be recovered whenever needed.

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