Facebook users have long been able to download their photos from the social media site, but the process has always been a bit of a hassle. With Facebook’s new Download Your Photos tool, however, the process has become much simpler. To use the new tool, first log in to Facebook and click on the profile picture at the top of the page. Then, on the left side of your screen, click on “Download Your Photos.” Once you’ve clicked on this link, you’ll be taken to a page where you can select which photos you want to download. You can select all of your photos or just those that have been shared publicly on Facebook. After you’ve selected your photos, click on “Download.” Facebook will then start downloading your photos and they’ll be saved in a folder called “Facebook Photos.” ..
Facebook isn’t the best place for keeping your photos, but its convenience makes it a decent space for sharing them. If you want to download a photo you’ve uploaded (or even one your friend has uploaded), here’s how.
Download Individual Photos
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Find the photo you want to download on Facebook. This can be any photo you can view on Facebook, no matter whether yours, a friend’s, or a complete stranger’s that has made their photos public. Just remember, unless you took the photo yourself, it doesn’t belong to you and you can’t do whatever you want with it.
Hover over the image until the photo’s (and the Like, Comment, and Share buttons at the bottom) appear.
Click the “Options” link in the bottom right corner, and then select the “Download” command.
The photo should now download in the highest resolution Facebook has on their servers.
On mobile apps, the process is similar. Open the photo you want to save, tap the three little dots in the top right corner, and then tap the “Save Photo” command.
Download All Your Photos At Once
Facebook also has a tool that lets you download all your data—including wall posts, chat messages, About You information, and, of course, photos. On the Facebook site, click the downward facing arrow in the top right corner, and then select the “Settings” option. You can also go directly to Facebook.com/Settings.
Click “Download a Copy of Your Facebook Data” at the bottom of the “General Account Settings” page.
Next, click the “Start My Archive” button.
You need to enter your password to verify. You’re then told that it will take Facebook a few moments to gather your data, and that they’ll email you when the archive is ready.
When the email arrives, click the link it provides.
On the resulting page, click the “Download” button, type your password again, and your archive will start downloading. If you’ve used Facebook a lot, the download could be quite large. Mine was 1.58 GB!
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The archive downloads as a .ZIP file. Extract it, and then navigate to the “Photos” folder.
Here, you’ll find subfolders with every album and photo you’ve ever posted to Facebook. There are also HTML files you can open to show a rough, offline version of Facebook in your browser that might make the photos easier to scan.
It might take a while to dig through and find the right photos, but they will all be there.
