tools to download private messages

[bumbacoin]

so i'm wondering if there's some simple way to download all my messages, inbox and outbox?

[1715398954]

1715398954

[1715398954]

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[1715398954]

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[SFR10]

so i'm wondering if there's some simple way to download all my messages, inbox and outbox?

There isn't any (AFAIK) but "theymos" mentioned a "one time PM export for established users ^{[take note]}":

I actually have code written for exporting PMs into an mbox file compatible with Thunderbird, but I haven't gotten around yet to figuring out how best to present this functionality to users. (It's unusual because it takes a bit of time to generate and the resulting file should maybe be encrypted.)

If any established members have a strong need for it, I can manually create an export for you. For example, if you have so many PMs that the PM page is slow to load for you, you can get a PM export from me and then use the "purge PMs" feature. I'll probably only do this one time per person...

[Pmalek]

I dont think you would be able to do that without admin privileges or copy of the database.
I was able to find this thread, it is pretty old but maybe some of the suggestions might help you further.
https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2091629

Edit: Just noticed SFR10's reply so it seems that theymos did create a feature to do exactly that.

[bumbacoin]

thanks for finding those. my obvious rudimentary searches werent good enough


i will now consider how desperate my need is

[LeGaulois]

Maybe too late if it's about PMs already received but for the following you can use a service like IFTTT and create a container, to sync every mail reply to a google sheet, so when you receive a reply a copy will be added to the sheet. It' surely doable.
Forward the old emails (about the PM. Since the messages are in) and do like I said before, you will also have the old emails in the sheet.

[Piggy]

so i'm wondering if there's some simple way to download all my messages, inbox and outbox?

If you don't find a reasonable free way to do it and you are willing to pay the work, i can help you to extract and save them in the way and format which is more suitable for you.