You've probably deleted a Facebook message at least once in your life. Maybe you were annoyed at that person, or perhaps you wanted to organize your inbox.

But whatever the reason, the chat is gone from your app and computer forever once you delete it. So, what happens if you need that information back?

You can try various methods to retrieve these messages, or at least what was said in them. This article explains how to recover deleted Facebook messages.

How to See Deleted Messages on Facebook Archive

Your first place to go is the archived messages. If you can't find the message you need in your chats, the reason could be because you deleted it. But you might have archived it instead, which is possible since the buttons on the app are one below the other.

Follow these steps to find archived messages on your computer:

  1. Navigate to the Facebook site and click on the Messenger icon in the top right.
  2. Pick See all in Messenger.
    see in messenger
  3. Click the … icon next to Chats.
    facebook archived chats
  4. Pick Archived chats from the dropdown menu.
  5. Scroll down to see if you can find the message you need.

If you want to find archived messages in the Messenger app, the only way you can do this is with the names of the other people in the chat. Follow the steps below to do this:

  1. Launch the Messenger app on your phone.
  2. In the search bar, type the name of the person in the missing chat.
  3. If you archived the message, it'll show below. Tap to view it.

In both cases, you need to send a new message if you want to put the chat back in your main inbox.

If you can't find the messages you're looking for using this method, you probably deleted them. But don't lose hope—you can still try a few other things.

How to Find Deleted Facebook Messages on Android

Android devices store cache data from almost every app you use. So, if you use your Messenger on your Android phone, there's a good chance you'll be able to dig deep enough to find the deleted chats:

  1. If you don't already have a file manager installed, download one from the Google Play Store.
  2. Launch it and navigate to Main Storage > Android > data > com.facebook.ocra > cache > fb_temp.
  3. Inside that folder, you can find messages from recent history. Hopefully, you'd be able to locate the deleted message.

Unfortunately, if you use an iPhone, it's much harder to access the phone's backup for Messenger correspondence. In that situation, you may need to try a third-party iPhone data recovery tool.

How to Get Deleted Facebook Messages From the Other Recipients

If still can't find the deleted messages, another way to go is to contact the other side of the conversation. When you delete a Facebook chat, it's gone forever on your end. However, the person you were talking to probably still has a copy.

The easiest thing to do is to ask them for a screenshot of the conversation, or to resend it to you by copying and pasting.

If you need the information for official purposes, such as proving that you were talking to someone at a certain time, you can ask them to download a copy of their Facebook data.

Remember, though, that they don't have to share all the information with you, and can pick and choose what to download and send over.

How to Retrieve Deleted Facebook Messages From Your Email or Backup

As a final attempt, you can check two more places. If you know some of the content in the messages, search your email inbox. This method will only work if you have email notifications enabled on Facebook.

The last place to check is your most recent Facebook backup file. If you don't know how to create that backup, you probably don't have one. In that case, you've exhausted your options.

Create a Backup for Current Messages

To stop this situation from happening again, back up your messages. One way to do this is by enabling your email notifications. Follow the steps below to do this:

  1. Open Facebook on your desktop and click the down arrow at the top right-hand corner of the page.
  2. Pick Settings & privacy from the menu, and then pick Settings again.
    facebook settings
  3. Scroll down until you see Notifications on the left menu and click it.
    facebook notifications settings
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Email.
  5. Pick All notifications, except the ones you turn off. This ensures you'll get the messages in your inbox in the future.
    all facebook notifications

You can also create a backup of your messages. Unlike WhatsApp backup, which allows you to recover any deleted message, Facebook's version only saves your messages until a certain point in time.

However, creating backups on Facebook can still be useful. If you want to do so, follow the steps below:

  1. As before, navigate to the Settings page on your computer.
  2. Choose Your Facebook information from the left menu.
  3. Click on Download your information.
    download facebook info
  4. On this page, you can choose exactly what you want to back up, and the dates you want included. If you only want a backup of your messages, click on Deselect all. Then, reselect Messages.
    download facebook messeges
  5. Hit Create File.

The process takes a few minutes. Once it's done, you'll receive an email with the backup file. You can also download it from the Available copies tab.

facebook backup

Now You Know How to Retrieve Deleted Facebook Messages

So, can you recover deleted Facebook messages? On some occasions, yes. But only in a limited number of cases.

Even if you like everything to be completely organized and easy to access, it doesn't mean you need to delete old messages. This goes for any messaging software—not just Facebook Messenger.

Most places offer an archive option, which keeps your main inbox neat, but still allows you access that information in the future if you need it. Utilize these to ensure that your messages are available.