How to View a Facebook Chat History

Facebook chat is an immediate way to communicate with your Facebook friends in real time.

Facebook is a social media website that has pioneered the way Internet users communicate with each other. There are three main ways to communicate directly with other Facebook users: messages through private inboxes, public comments written on other users' walls and status updates, and an instant-message chat. While private messages and public comments are all permanently stored to view later, Facebook doesn't provide a native way to view the history of a chat with another user. Fortunately, there is a free add-on that allows users of the Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers to store and manage Facebook chat histories.

Things You'll Need

• Facebook account
• Internet-enabled computer

Instructions

Firefox Instructions

1. Install the Facebook Chat History Manager for Firefox extension. While logged into your Facebook account, open a blank tab on the Firefox browser. Go to the download page for the Facebook Chat History Manager add-on (see Resources). Click on the "Install Extension" link at the top of that page. This will take you to the most current landing page on the Mozilla website for the Facebook Chat History Manager Add-on. Click on the "Add to Firefox" button. A pop-up window will appear. Wait for it to fully load and click on "Install Now." Wait for the installation to finish downloading, and then click the "Restart Firefox" button in the new pop-up window. This will restart your Firefox browser, so be sure to save any other tabs you had open before clicking "Restart Firefox."

2. Sync the extension to work with your Facebook account. With Firefox open, log back into Facebook if necessary and click on "Tools" in the top menu of the browser, then mouse-over the "Facebook Chat History Manager" menu option. Click on "Get Facebook ID." You will need this ID number in order to set the extension to work with your Facebook account. Right-click and copy the ID number in the pop-up box, then click on "OK" to close the box. Click on "Tools" in the Firefox menu bar again, then scroll back down to "Facebook Chat History Manager," but this time, select "Create Account" from the sub-menu. Paste your Facebook ID in the top field, and then type and re-type your Facebook password in the two password boxes. Click on "Create," and you will get a pop-up box telling you that your account has been created successfully. Click on "OK." You can enable this extension to work with multiple accounts on the same browser by repeating these steps, so if you'd like to set this account to be your default user, make sure the "Set as default user" option is checked before clicking "OK."

3. View your chat history. Log into Facebook in the Firefox browser, then either press "CTRL+ALT+F," or click on "Tools" in the menu bar, scroll down to Facebook Chat History Manager and select "View history." Log into Facebook in the pop-up box, using either your Facebook username or your ID that you copied from the extension during installation. Select the name and chat session from the left-hand column you wish to view. This is also the screen in which you can delete and modify your sessions and accounts by clicking on the appropriate links in the left-hand menu.

Google Chrome Instructions

1. Install the Facebook Chat History Manager extension for Google Chrome. While logged into your Facebook account, open a blank tab on the Chrome browser. Go to the download page for the Facebook Chat History Manager add-on (see Resources). Click on the "Install" button. A pop-up window will appear asking if you want to install the extension. Click on "Install" in the pop-up window and wait for the extension to download. This will automatically install a blue "H" button in your Chrome tool bar.

2. Sync the extension to work with your Facebook account. Right-click on the "H" button in your Chrome toolbar menu and select "Options." Click on the "Get Facebook ID" link. You will be prompted to log into Facebook if you aren't already logged in. Once the extension has logged into your account, click on the "Click to Get Facebook ID after login" button at the bottom of the page. Right-click and copy the ID number that it generates. Click on the "Create Account" link from the left-hand menu. Paste your Facebook ID in the top field, and then type and re-type your Facebook password in the two password boxes. Click on "Create," and you will get a pop-up box telling you that your account has been created successfully. Click on "OK." This extension can handle multiple Facebook accounts by repeating these steps with each account, so make sure the "Set as default user" option is checked before clicking "Create" if this is your main Facebook account.

3. View your chat history. Left-click on the "H" button in your Chrome menu bar. Do not right-click, as that will generate the options menu of the extension. Log into Facebook in the pop-up box, using either your Facebook username or your ID that you copied from the extension during installation. Chrome will open a new window with links to the chat logs of any Facebook chat sessions initiated since its installation. Should you wish to delete or modify the chat logs or accounts, access the options menu at any time by right-clicking on the blue "H" button.

Tips & Warnings

• For both Firefox and Chrome, this extension only keeps histories of chats that take place after it has been installed, so you will not be able to view the chat history for chats that took place prior to its installation.

References

• Addons for Firefox: Facebook Chat History Manager
• The Facebook Blog: Facebook Chat

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Facebook Chat History Manager for Firefox
• Google Chrome Extensions: Facebook Chat History Manager