Extracting Email Addresses from Slack Exports, Microsoft Teams Exports, Discord Server Exports, Zoom Chat Logs and Google Chat Exports
By Email ExtractorPublished 9 min read
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Why Chat Platform Exports Contain Email Addresses
Collaboration platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Zoom and Google Chat accumulate email addresses in multiple ways: user profiles include registration email addresses, messages contain email addresses shared in conversation (contact information, introductions, vendor details, customer inquiries), shared files and links may contain email addresses, and channel descriptions or pinned messages often include team contact lists. When an organisation needs to consolidate contact information, audit platform usage, migrate between platforms or build a stakeholder directory, these chat exports become valuable sources of email addresses that exist nowhere else:
Platform
How email addresses appear in exports
Export format
Slack
User profile emails in workspace export JSON files (users.json contains every workspace member's email); email addresses shared in messages (someone posted "reach out to contact@example.com"); email addresses in shared file contents; email addresses in channel topic and purpose fields
JSON files (one per channel per day, plus users.json, channels.json, integration_logs); available as a ZIP archive from workspace admin settings
Microsoft Teams
User profile information in exported chat data; email addresses shared in messages and conversations; email addresses in shared files (Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs shared in channels); meeting invitee lists
HTML files (per conversation); JSON format available through compliance export; Teams data also available through Microsoft 365 eDiscovery
Discord
User profile information is limited (Discord uses usernames, not email, so user emails are not in standard exports); email addresses shared in messages (contact information, sign-up links, shared documents); bot-posted content may include email addresses
HTML or JSON or CSV (through third-party export tools like DiscordChatExporter; Discord does not provide a native bulk export for server content; individual account data exports are available through Privacy settings)
Zoom
Meeting participant email addresses in participant reports (CSV from Zoom admin portal); email addresses mentioned in meeting chat logs; webinar registrant email addresses in webinar reports
User email addresses (Google Workspace email) in exported conversation data; email addresses shared in messages; email addresses in shared Drive files referenced in chat
JSON files (through Google Takeout; includes all direct messages and space conversations)
Slack Export Extraction
What a Slack export contains
A Slack workspace export (available to workspace owners and admins from Settings & Administration > Workspace Settings > Import/Export Data) creates a ZIP file containing:
File / folder
Contents
Email addresses present
users.json
Array of all workspace members with profile information: id, name, real_name, profile.email, profile.display_name, deleted status, is_bot flag
Yes: every workspace member's registration email address is in the profile.email field; this is the richest source of email addresses in a Slack export
channels.json
Array of all public channels with name, purpose, topic, creator, members list
Sometimes: channel purpose or topic fields may contain email addresses (e.g., "For support questions, email support@example.com")
[channel-name]/ folders
One folder per channel; inside each folder, one JSON file per day of messages (e.g., 2024-01-15.json); each message object contains text, user ID, timestamp, reactions, attachments
Sometimes: message text may contain email addresses shared in conversation; attachment file contents are not included in the export (only metadata and download links)
Extraction steps
Step
Action
Details
1. Download the export
Slack admin panel > Import/Export Data > Export > select date range > Start Export; download the ZIP file when ready
Free Slack plans can only export public channels; paid plans (Pro, Business+, Enterprise Grid) can export public channels, private channels and direct messages (with appropriate admin permissions and compliance requirements)
2. Unzip the archive
Extract the ZIP file; the result is a folder structure with users.json, channels.json and one folder per channel
The unzipped export may be large (hundreds of MB to several GB for active workspaces)
3. Upload to Email Extractor
Upload the JSON files to Email Extractor: start with users.json (contains all member emails), then upload channel message JSON files if you also want email addresses shared in conversation
Email Extractor processes JSON files by extracting string values that match email patterns; it will find email addresses in user profile fields and in message text fields
4. Review results
The extracted list will include: workspace member registration emails (from users.json); email addresses mentioned in messages (from channel JSON files); possibly bot or integration email addresses
Download results as CSV with sources to see which file each email address came from; this helps distinguish member emails from email addresses mentioned in conversation
What Slack exports do not include
Limitation
Details
File contents
Slack exports include file metadata (name, type, size, download URL) but not the file contents; if someone shared a spreadsheet containing email addresses, those addresses are not in the export; to extract email addresses from shared files, download the files separately and upload them to Email Extractor
Private channels and DMs (free plan)
Free Slack plans only export public channel messages; private channel and DM content requires a paid plan with corporate export enabled
External (shared channel) messages
Messages from external organisations in Slack Connect channels may have limited export availability depending on workspace settings
Deleted messages
Messages deleted before the export are not included
Microsoft Teams Export Extraction
Export methods
Method
Who can use it
What it exports
Format
Personal data export (per user)
Any Teams user for their own data
All chats and channel messages the user participated in
HTML files (one per conversation)
eDiscovery / compliance export
Microsoft 365 admin with compliance role
All messages across the tenant; searchable by date, participant, keyword
PST, EML or MSG files; HTML review
Teams channel files (SharePoint)
Channel members; SharePoint admin
All files shared in a Teams channel (stored in SharePoint)
Original file formats (DOCX, XLSX, PDF, etc.)
Extraction steps
Step
Action
Details
1. Export Teams data
For personal export: Settings > Privacy > click "Request a copy of my data" (or use Microsoft's privacy portal); for compliance export: Microsoft Purview Compliance Center > eDiscovery
Personal export takes 24-48 hours; compliance export speed depends on data volume
2. Download and extract
Download the export ZIP; extract to a folder
Personal exports contain HTML files organised by conversation; compliance exports may be in PST or EML format
3. Upload to Email Extractor
Upload the HTML files (personal export) or EML/MSG files (compliance export) to Email Extractor
Email Extractor supports HTML, EML and MSG formats; it will extract email addresses from message content, participant fields and headers
4. Upload shared files separately
Download files from the Teams channel's SharePoint folder; upload DOCX, XLSX, PDF files to Email Extractor for additional email address extraction
Files shared in Teams channels are stored in SharePoint; they may contain email addresses in their content (contact lists in spreadsheets, email threads in documents)
Extracts email addresses from participant reports (structured data) and chat logs (unstructured text); deduplicates across all files
4. Review results
Download results as CSV with sources to distinguish participant emails (from reports) and mentioned emails (from chat logs)
Participant report emails are verified Zoom accounts; chat log emails are user-submitted and may need verification
Cross-Platform Consolidation
When migrating between platforms or consolidating contact data from multiple collaboration tools, the same person appears across Slack (work email), Teams (Microsoft 365 email), Discord (personal email or no email), Zoom (Zoom account email) and Google Chat (Google Workspace email). Some people use different email addresses on different platforms:
Consolidation step
Action
1. Export from all platforms
Follow the export steps for each platform above; download all exports
2. Extract from all exports
Upload all export files (JSON from Slack, HTML from Teams, CSV from Zoom, JSON from Google Chat) to Email Extractor in a single batch
3. Deduplicate
Email Extractor deduplicates across all files; the result is one list of unique email addresses with source information
4. Download with sources
Download results as CSV with sources; the source column shows which platform export each email came from; a person who appears in multiple platforms will have their email deduplicated to a single entry
5. Cross-reference
Use the source information to identify which contacts are on which platforms; contacts appearing in only one platform may need to be invited to others during migration
Volume Expectations
Platform
Typical email yield per 100 users over 1 year
Why
Slack (users.json only)
90-100 unique email addresses
Nearly every workspace member has a registration email; bots and integrations may have system-generated addresses
Slack (including channel messages)
100-300+ unique email addresses
Messages add email addresses from external contacts, vendors, customers and partners mentioned in conversation
Microsoft Teams (personal export)
50-200 unique email addresses
Participant emails in chats and meetings; email addresses in shared content
Zoom (participant reports)
20-100+ unique email addresses per recurring meeting series
Each meeting captures participant emails; webinar registrant lists can be large (hundreds to thousands for popular webinars)
Discord (server export)
10-50 unique email addresses
Discord does not expose user registration emails; only email addresses shared in message text are extractable
Google Chat (Takeout)
50-150 unique email addresses
Google Workspace emails of all conversation participants; email addresses shared in messages
