Workspaces on paid plans can import a Google Chat Takeout archive and rebuild spaces and message history in HansaChat — with original timestamps, threads, reactions, and links.
What is imported
- Spaces as channels. Every space becomes a public channel named after the space.
- Messages with their original timestamps.
- Threaded conversations. Replies whose thread start is missing from the export become normal messages.
- Emoji reactions.
- Links in message texts.
- Senders: accounts that match an existing member by email are linked; everyone else is imported as an inactive placeholder profile with no password. Inviting that person later by their email address links the history to their new account.
What is not imported
- Direct messages and group chats. The import covers spaces.
- File attachments and Google Meet artifacts. Message text is kept.
- Mentions render as plain text; Google's Takeout export does not carry structured mention data.
Prepare the archive
- Go to takeout.google.com and deselect all products.
- Select Chat only and export. Google prepares a ZIP download.
- Download the archive. Inside, each space lives in its own folder with a
messages.jsonfile.
Google Workspace administrators can also produce Vault exports; HansaChat imports the Takeout shape. Take nothing else along — the archive should contain the Google Chat/Spaces/ folder.
Run the import
- Open the workspace dashboard on the HansaChat website.
- Find your workspace and choose Import from Slack.
- Select the ZIP archive and choose Import archive.
Each workspace can start one import per day. The import runs in the background; the page shows live progress and you receive an email when the import has finished.
How your history lands
- Your existing #general channel is reused and the imported history is appended to it.
- Other spaces are recreated with their original name. If a channel with the same name already exists, the imported one is created with an "-imported" suffix.
- Imported history appears when you reload the workspace. Nothing is pushed to open sessions while the import runs.
- Members who were not linked to an existing account appear as inactive profiles. They never receive email and cannot log in unless you invite them.
Data protection note
The archive contains personal data of your Chat members, such as names, email addresses, and message content. Create and download the export only when you are ready to import, and delete your local copy afterwards. HansaChat deletes the uploaded archive as soon as the import has finished.