As most people know, Google is shutting down its social network, Google+ next month. The official sunset date is set for April 2, 2019. But, Google is only going to allow you to download all of your Google+ data until March 31st, which is less than two weeks away. So it’s time to get started on that download. But the question remains, how do you download your Google+ data? Well let’s walk you through how it’s done.
How to download all your Google+ data
Google will allow you to download all of your data, this includes your Google+ circles, Communities, Streams, as well as your +1’s. To do this, you’re going to want to go to Google takeout which allows you to download all of your data – essentially “take it out” of Google, hence the name.
You may need to sign in. After you’ve signed in, all of your available Google+ data will be selected. Then click next.
You’ll now have to choose a file type, then select how you want the data delivered.
Finally, click Create archive.
Note that if you want to download data for a Google+ page, you’ll need to sign in as that page and repeat the steps above.
The archive could take anywhere from five minutes to several hours to zip up so that you can download it to your account. You may want to keep it in your Google Drive or Dropbox – which are options. That way it is not using space on your laptop. As some of these archives can be pretty big.
How to download Photos & Videos from Google+
It’s the same process as above, but only select Google+ Stream, and make sure that the Photos and Videos options are selected. Then you’ll select a file type and delivery method and you’re all set. This is obviously going to take longer, as those pictures and videos are going to be much larger than just text posts.
Wrap Up
Downloading all of your Google+ data could take a while, depending on how much data you have in Google+. Seeing as Google+ has been around for over six years, many people may have a whole lot of data available on Google+. You can get an archive up to 50GB, which is a pretty large archive, but it could also take a while to actually be archived so you can download it.
While you can download your data from Google+, there’s not much else you can really do with this data. You can get all of the pictures and stuff from this archive, but things like posts and +1’s are all going to be in an XML file, which isn’t the easiest to read. And you can’t import it to another site like Facebook or Twitter. But it is nice to have your information available in case you do need it, especially since Google+ will be going away pretty soon.
Remember, that you only have until March 31 to download your data before it is gone for good. So you’re going to want to download it now before you won’t be able to any longer.