How to Save and Migrate Yahoo Groups Data Before It’s Permanently Disappeared
Finally it happens: Yahoo Groups is being closed. Well, mostly – it will still exist, but only as a shell of its former self, as Yahoo turns the various groups that were once active on the platform into glorified email lists. So what will you do now?
The great Yahoo groups have calculated that all public groups will become private. Users will still be able to search and join private groups, and administrators will retain management rights, but all communication will only be possible via email. And soon, all downloaded data will be deleted from Yahoo’s servers.
However, you still have a few days to access and export your group data. We’ll show you how to do this and also highlight some of the alternative platforms you might want to consider moving your group to, now that the Yahoo platform is going away, going away, going away.
Export your Yahoo Groups data by December 14th.
Effective October 28, 2019, Yahoo will disable all uploading and chatting features in Yahoo Groups, including:
- Conversations
- Calendar tools
- Database
- Send updates by email
- Polls
- Message digest and history
- Ability to download file attachments, folders, photos and HTML links.
Even after turning off these features, you can still access and export your data for a few more weeks – until December 14, 2019. After that date, all previously uploaded content will be deleted and lost forever.
To save the data, go to the official Yahoo support page and download their export tools . The page also provides step-by-step instructions for saving your personal content for individual users, as well as retrieving data for an entire group (for administrators).
Alternatively, some platforms also include tools that can automatically transfer your data to Yahoo.
Try These Alternatives to Yahoo Groups
There are many great alternatives for groups looking for a new home. Some of them are better than the Yahoo Group has ever been, but one of the others stands out in particular.
Best: Groups.io
Groups.io is not only a great place to land a diaspora of Yahoo Groups – replete with tools that painlessly import Yahoo Groups data and message history – it’s one of the best messaging platforms, period. The process of creating your own forum is simple, although the service is generous with its features and customization options if you want to spend a little more time customizing things. It also integrates with Facebook, RSS feeds, Github, Trello, and more, which is useful if your team is working on a project.
Most importantly, everything you need to quickly create a new group is immediately available to you. Well, pretty much everything – you’ll have to pay for some of the more advanced tools and extra features, but the free package should be more than enough for most users. Honestly, we, every Yahoo group should go to Groups.io, but we have a detailed explanation if you need more persuasion .
Rest
If you don’t use Groups.io and still need additional suggestions, other popular services can help:
- Google Groups – Google Groups are just like any other forum; You can create and invite other users to your groups, where users create discussion threads, calendar events, set up polls, and much more what you expect to do in a message board. It’s not as robust as Groups.io and its design and toolset is archaic by comparison, but it is a decent alternative to Yahoo Groups (although you can also easily export your Google Groups data to Groups.io if you ever decide to leave ship) .
- Facebook – Facebook allows users to create private and public groups. These groups have some of the same features and capabilities as Yahoo Groups — for example, submitting individual topics, creating private groups, uploading and sharing files — but they are limited compared to Groups.io or Google Groups. Facebook Groups also look and work just like your regular Facebook feed, for better or for worse.
- Discord – Discord is primarily a game-focused service, but many non-gaming groups use it due to its high level of privacy and end-to-end encryption. Discord allows you to create customized private chat servers. On the server, you can create various text or voice chats, upload files and links, send direct messages, and there are a number of member management tools and permissions that you can use to fine-tune your group according to your needs. While this is great for non-gaming groups, those who play games will be able to see what their friends are playing and can even send invites directly to Discord. Discord is available for Windows, Android, iOS, Mac and Linux, or online.
- Slack – Slack can be synonymous with business and collaboration, but it’s also a great tool for creating private chat channels for large groups, with a range of management options available to administrators. Like Discord, Slack allows users to create subchannels, upload and share files, and also supports private messaging. Slack’s feature set can also be expanded with plugins, and it integrates with a host of other apps and productivity tools such as Trello, Google Drive, and Adobe Creative Suite. You can download Slack for free on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and it is also available as a web app.