• Guide

How to download and back up Google Plus data

Google Plus is shutting down. Here's how to back up and download your Google Plus data before the service goes offline.

Kevin Tucker

January 31, 2019 11:30 AM

1

Now that Google Plus is shutting down, users are advised to back up all of their Google Plus data. Once the service goes offline on April 2, 2019, users will no longer be able to use Google Plus services and may lose access to their user data. Here's how to back up and download Google Plus data for archival and security purposes.

How to back up and download Google Plus data archive

Google has outlined a very simple way for users to back up their Google Plus data. First, head to the Google Plus download your data web page. After logging in, all of the available Google Plus data will be preselected, but users can specify which content they want to back up if they desire. After that, click Next, choose a file type, and click on the link labeled "Create archive," at which point the back up download should begin.

The Google Plus download data support page also references a way for users to choose which sort of backup data to download. After hitting the download page, look for the Down arrow button next to the content type list. Click on "Select specific data," then choose the preferred data type. After that, hit OK, Next, choose a file type, and once again click "Creative archive."

It's possible to back up data across several types of Google Plus content, including Stream, Communities, Circles, and +1. By default, the download page will back up all of that data, but users can specify their choices in order to back up nothing other than the data for the services they used most. However, if the services weren't used at all, no additional files should appear in the archive download.

Some will be sad to see Google's social network disappear, but others won't at all be sad to see Google Plus finally shut down. After all, when hundreds of thousands of Google Plus users had their data exposed last year, the service was doomed from both a technical and a user-based standpoint. It's all the more reason to back up Google Plus data now and move on to greener pastures, if you ask us.

Kevin Tucker

Guides Editor

Kevin Tucker is a core component of Shacknews' powerful guide development team. For questions, concerns, tips, or to share constructive criticism, he can be reached on Twitter @dukeofgnar or through e-mail at kevin.tucker@shacknews.com.