Import from Slack

With Rocket.Chat's import feature, you can migrate users, channels, messages, and other workspace data from Slack into your Rocket.Chat workspace. This guide walks you through exporting your Slack data and importing it into Rocket.Chat.

Before you begin, ensure you have:

• Permission to export data from your Slack workspace.

• Permission to import data into your Rocket.Chat workspace.

Key considerations

Review the following considerations before importing your data:

• If your Slack workspace is configured to hide user email addresses, emails will also be excluded from the export file. To include email addresses, temporarily update the workspace setting in Slack and generate a new export.

• For large exports, it is recommended to split the export into smaller time ranges so that each import file remains under 15 MB.

• If you experience issues uploading the export file, copy the archive directly to the server uploads directory using a method such as scp. Then, select Server File Path as the File Type.

• If your Slack channel names contain special characters, enable Allow Special Characters in Room Names in your Rocket.Chat layout settings before importing. For more granular control, you can also configure accepted characters in the UTF-8 setting under General Configuration. For example: [0-9a-zA-Z-_.ãÃàèìòùÀÈÌÒÙáéíóúýÁÉÍÓÚÝâêîôûÂÊÎÔÛãñõÃÑÕäëïöüÿÄËÏÖÜŸçÇßØøÅåÆæœ]+$

• If a Slack user has the same username as an existing Rocket.Chat user, that Slack user is skipped during import.

• If a Slack channel has the same name as an existing Rocket.Chat channel, Slack messages are imported into the existing Rocket.Chat channel.

Step 1: Export Slack data

Before importing, you need to export your data from Slack.

• To export your full Slack workspace data, refer to the official Slack export documentation.

• To export only your Slack users as a CSV file, refer to Slack’s documentation for downloading a list of members in your workspace.

Once your export files are ready, proceed to the import steps below.

Step 2: Import Slack data to Rocket.Chat

In your Rocket.Chat workspace, go to Manage > Workspace > Import. The Import page provides a history of all import operations performed in the workspace, including:

• Import type

• File name

• Status

• Import date

• Imported item counts such as users, channels, and messages.

To start a new import:

1. Click Import New File.

2. For Import Type, select one of the following options:

   1. Slack: Import workspace data including users, channels, and messages.

   2. Slack's Users CSV:  Imports users only from a CSV file.

3. Select one of the following options for the File Type field:

   1. Upload: Upload the exported data as a .zip file.

   2. Public URL: Enter a publicly accessible URL to the file.

   3. Server File Path: Enter the file path on the server.

4. Click Import to load up the data.

   1. If you are importing your entire Slack workspace data, the users, channels, and messages tabs are displayed. Deselect the Users and Channels you do not want to import. By default, all messages from the selected users and channels are imported.

   2. If you are importing only your Slack's Users CSV, the list of users is displayed. You can deselect the users that you do not want to import.

5. Click Start Importing. Once the import is successful, you can view the import details on the Import page.

You can also use the additional actions available on the Import page:

• Download Pending Files: Downloads files that are still pending processing during an import.

• Download Pending Avatars: Downloads user avatars that are pending import or processing.

Step 3: Verify the imported data

After the import is complete, verify that your data was migrated successfully.

1. Go to Manage > Workspace > Users.

2. Check that your Slack users are present. Users with the Workspace Admin role in Slack are assigned the admin role in Rocket.Chat. All other users are assigned the user role.

3. Use the global workspace search to locate imported channels and confirm that messages were imported correctly.

For large or complex migrations from third-party tools like Mattermost or Slack, Rocket.Chat offers migration pipelines to transform exported data and import it into Rocket.Chat. Since export formats can vary, setup may require customization. Please contact sales to schedule a discovery call and determine the right approach.