Import Data from Slack to Pumble

If you’re looking to try Pumble as an alternative to Slack but don’t want to start from scratch, importing your Slack messages and other information from Slack can make the transition much smoother. With Pumble, you can easily import public and private channels, messages from those channels, DMs and users from Slack.

Only Workspace Owner can perform the import action on Pumble.

Prepare for import #

To get started, you will need to create a new workspace on Pumble, or log in to an existing workspace if you already have one.

Export from Slack #

Once you have your Pumble workspace set up, you can proceed to export your Slack channels, messages from channels and users. We’ll guide you through the steps to download the export file.

To export information from Slack, make sure that you are the Owner or Admin of your Slack workspace.

To do the export from Slack:

1. Navigate to Settings and administration > Workspace settings
2. Click on Import/export data in the top right corner
3. Select the Export tab
4. Choose the Export date range in a dropdown menu (from the last 24 hours to the entire workspace history) and hit Start Export

Depending on size of your export, it might take some time to complete. You’ll receive an email with the link to the export page when it’s ready.

Please note that Slack teams that are on Free or Standard plans can export Public channels message history, and that Slack deletes workspace content older than one year on Free workspaces. Private channels message history export is available on Business and Enterprise plans. However, if you want to export Direct messages, please contact Slack. Additionally, your avatars and integrations on the Slack workspace will not be exported.

Download the export file #

Once your Slack export file is ready, open the email, click on Visit your workspace’s export page button, and download the file from the export page. Please do not edit the file before importing it to Pumble, as it will fail the import process.

Please note that Safari browser converts the exported zip file from Slack to a folder, making it incompatible with Pumble’s import feature. To overcome this, you can temporarily switch your default browser to an alternative one before exporting from Slack.

Import to Pumble #

Now that you have the export file, importing it to Pumble is a breeze. Make sure that you are the Owner of your workspace on Pumble, as only workspace Owner can import Slack’s information.

To do the import:

1. Navigate to Workspace settings
2. Select General settings from the dropdown
3. Open Import & Export section, Import tab
4. Click Choose zip file
5. Choose the zip file you previously downloaded
6. Ensure that the file was not edited
7. Confirm the file and click Start import

Depending on the amount of information in your import, it might take some time to complete. You’ll receive an email when your workspace is fully ready.

The import limit from Slack to Pumble is 300MB per zip file, so make sure that the zip file is under 300MB for a successful import to Pumble.

Notes for Pumble import #

When exporting from Slack to import into Pumble, only visible data from Slack will be included. Slack has a 90-day history, so data older than 90 days becomes hidden and is not available for export.

The files shared on Slack will not be imported to Pumble, but the links shared in messages on Slack will be preserved and imported.

If a member already exists, their Slack messages will be merged to their existing Pumble account.

All imported members are treated as newly invited members, but they will not receive an email invitation to the workspace. Instead, they simply need to accept the pending workspace invitation when logging in to Pumble and activate their account that way. To activate their Pumble account and enter the workspace, they need to either:

1. Register or log in with their email, and accept pending invitation to your workspace
2. Join the workspace using invitation link

Users need to have their emails displayed on Slack, in order to be successfully exported and then imported to Pumble. In case you receive this error message when uploading to Pumble: One or more users are either missing emails or it is in incorrect format, change Slack settings for email display and export the file again.

Owner or Admin can also navigate to Workspace settings > Manage members, and manually resend invitation email to a member by clicking ‘Resend invitation’. Once the user receive the invitation email, they can join by clicking the Join button in the invitation email.

The maximum number of messages that can be imported from Slack is 250,000. The maximum number of users that can be imported is 2,000.

Import history #

Last imports subsection on the Import & export section displays all the past import processes on a Workspace level. If there is a current import in progress, it will be placed in Current import subsection, and as soon as it is over, after you refresh the screen, it will appear in the Last imports subsection. Last imports and Current imports subsections contain information about the time when the import started, the user who initiated the import, import source, file name and the status of the import. To access them:

1. Navigate to Workspace settings
2. Select General settings from the dropdown
3. Open Import & Export section, Import tab