# Accessing data older than six months?

**URL:** <https://devforum.zoom.us/t/accessing-data-older-than-six-months/44189>\
**Category:** API and Webhooks\
**Created:** [February 24, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/accessing-data-older-than-six-months/44189 "2021-02-24T18:06:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tzoom](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/tzoom/32/34019_2.png) [@tzoom](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/tzoom)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/accessing-data-older-than-six-months/44189/1 "2021-02-24T18:06:24Z")

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**Description**  
We are in the process of writing an inhouse compliance application with the ability to ingest of our historic chats/im’s. Via the API, we are receiving Response 400 (Error Code 300: Only provide past chat messages in recent 6 months.) which is stated in the Zoom API documentation as a restriction.

As \> 6 months is a compliance requirement for many industries I am assuming there is another way to access this data outside the API.

Could someone please advise the best way to get this data?  
Thank you

**Error**  
Response 400 (Error Code 300: Only provide past chat messages in recent 6 months.)

**Which App Type (OAuth / Chatbot / JWT / Webhook)?**  
OAuth

**Which Endpoint/s?**

> **[Retrieve IM Chat Messages - IM Chat - Zoom API - API Reference](https://marketplace.zoom.us/docs/api-reference/zoom-api/im-chat/imchatmessages)**
>
> Retrieve IM chat messages for a specified period of time. Note: This API only supports oauth2.
> 
> Scopes: imchat:read
> 
> Rate Limit Label: Medium
> 
> Authoriz...

> **[List User's Chat Messages - Chat Messages - Zoom API - API Reference](https://marketplace.zoom.us/docs/api-reference/zoom-api/chat-messages/getchatmessages)**
>
> A Zoom user can have conversations with other Zoom users via chat. Use this API to list the current user's chat messages between the user and an individ...

**How To Reproduce (If applicable)**  
Send a GET request to the API with a start date older than six months.

**Additional context**  
I’m aware this response is stated in the API documentation but am assuming there is another way to access this data if not via the API.

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**Author:** ![will.zoom](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/devforum.zoom.us/will.zoom/32/14417_2.png) [@will.zoom](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/will.zoom)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/accessing-data-older-than-six-months/44189/2 "2021-02-25T16:01:47Z")

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Hi @tzoom,

Thanks for reaching out about this.

Currently, we only return data within the last 6 months via API, as you noted. If you need to retrieve messages beyond this, you can retrieve data up to 1 year from the reports available on [zoom.us](http://zoom.us):  
[Storing and viewing chat message history – Zoom Help Center](https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115005516426-Storing-and-viewing-chat-message-history#:~:text=downloading%20stored%20messages-,Sign%20in%20to%20the%20Zoom%20web%20portal.,the%20From%20and%20To%20fields).

While this is expected behavior for the API, I can appreciate the need to be able to query further beyond 6 months. If you’re so inclined, I recommend posting a feature request for this here: #feature-requests

Thanks,  
Will

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/zoomdeveloper/original/3X/6/1/614bdd549b610bbaa46ff934617683a02bdaa03c.png) [@system](https://devforum.zoom.us/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2021, 2:02am UTC](https://devforum.zoom.us/t/accessing-data-older-than-six-months/44189/3 "2021-03-28T02:02:45Z")

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Closed on March 28, 2021, 2:02am UTC

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