# Import from Mattermost

Starting with Zulip 2.1, Zulip supports importing data from Mattermost,
including users, channels, messages, and custom emoji.


**Note:** You can only import a Mattermost team as a new Zulip
organization. In particular, you cannot use this tool to import data
into an existing Zulip organization.

## Import from Mattermost

First, export your data from Mattermost.
The instructions below correspond to various common ways Mattermost is installed; if
yours isn't covered, [contact us](/help/contact-support) and we'll help you out.

Replace `<username>` and `<server_ip>` with the appropriate values below.

{start_tabs}

{tab|mm-default}

1. SSH into your Mattermost production server.

    ```
    ssh <username>@<server_ip>
    ```

2. Navigate to the directory which contains the Mattermost executable.
   On a default install of Mattermost, the directory is `/opt/mattermost/bin`.

    ```
    cd /opt/mattermost/bin
    ```

3. Create an export of all your Mattermost teams, as a tar file.

    ```
    sudo ./mattermost export bulk export.json --all-teams --attachments
    mkdir -p exported_emoji
    tar --transform 's|^|mattermost/|' -czf export.tar.gz \
        data/ exported_emoji/ export.json
    ```

4. Exit your shell on the Mattermost server.

    `exit`

5. Finally, copy the exported tar file from the server to your local
   computer.  You may need to replace `/opt/mattermost/bin/` with the
   path to your Mattermost installation.

    ```
    scp <username>@<server_ip>:/opt/mattermost/bin/export.tar.gz .
    ```

{tab|mm-docker}

1. SSH into the server hosting your Mattermost docker container.

    ```
    ssh <username>@<server_ip>
    ```

2. Navigate to the the Mattermost docker directory. On most installs the
   directory should be `mattermost-docker`.

    ```
    cd mattermost-docker/
    ```

3. Create an export of all your Mattermost teams, as a tar file.

    ```
    docker exec -it mattermost-docker_app_1 mattermost \
        export bulk data/export.json --all-teams --attachments
    cd volumes/app/mattermost/data/
    mkdir -p exported_emoji
    tar --transform 's|^|mattermost/|' -czf export.tar.gz \
        data/ exported_emoji/ export.json
    ```

4. Exit your shell on the Mattermost server.

    `exit`

5. Finally, copy the exported tar file from the server to your local
   computer. You may need to replace `mattermost-docker` with the
   appropriate path for your installation.

    ```
    scp <username>@<server_ip>:mattermost-docker/volumes/app/mattermost/data/export.tar.gz .
    ```

{tab|mm-gitlab-omnibus}

1. SSH into your GitLab Omnibus server.

2. Create an export of all your Mattermost teams, as a tar file.

    ```
    cd /opt/gitlab/embedded/service/mattermost
    sudo -u \
        mattermost /opt/gitlab/embedded/bin/mattermost \
        --config=/var/opt/gitlab/mattermost/config.json \
        export bulk export.json --all-teams --attachments
    mkdir -p exported_emoji
    tar --transform 's|^|mattermost/|' -czf export.tar.gz \
        data/ exported_emoji/ export.json
    ```

3. Exit your shell on the GitLab Omnibus server.

    `exit`

4. Finally, copy the exported tar file from GitLab Omnibus to your local computer.

    ```
    scp <username>@<server_ip>:/opt/gitlab/embedded/bin/mattermost/export.tar.gz .
    ```
{end_tabs}

### Import into Zulip Cloud

Email support@zulip.com with your exported archive,
the name of the Mattermost team you want to import, and your desired Zulip
subdomain. Your imported organization will be hosted at
`<subdomain>.zulipchat.com`.

If you've already created a test organization at
`<subdomain>.zulipchat.com`, let us know, and we can rename the old
organization first.

### Import into a self-hosted Zulip server

First
[install a new Zulip server](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/stable/production/install.html),
skipping "Step 3: Create a Zulip organization, and log in" (you'll
create your Zulip organization via the data import tool instead).

Use [upgrade-zulip-from-git][upgrade-zulip-from-git] to
upgrade your Zulip server to the latest `main` branch.

Log in to a shell on your Zulip server as the `zulip` user. To import with
the most common configuration, run the following commands, replacing
`<team-name>` with the name of the Mattermost team you want to import.

```
cd /home/zulip
tar -xzvf export.tar.gz
cd /home/zulip/deployments/current
./scripts/stop-server
./manage.py convert_mattermost_data /home/zulip/mattermost --output /home/zulip/converted_mattermost_data
./manage.py import "" /home/zulip/converted_mattermost_data/<team-name>
./scripts/start-server
```

This could take several minutes to run, depending on how much data
you're importing.  The server stop/restart is only necessary when
importing on a server with minimal RAM, where an OOM kill might
otherwise occur.

**Import options**

The commands above create an imported organization on the root domain
(`EXTERNAL_HOST`) of the Zulip installation. You can also import into a
custom subdomain, e.g. if you already have an existing organization on the
root domain. Replace the last line above with the following, after replacing
`<subdomain>` with the desired subdomain.

```
./manage.py import <subdomain> /home/zulip/converted_mattermost_data/<team-name>
```

{!import-login.md!}

[upgrade-zulip-from-git]: https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/production/upgrade-or-modify.html#upgrading-from-a-git-repository

## Caveats

Mattermost's export tool is incomplete and does not support exporting
the following data:

* user avatars

We expect to add support for importing these data from Mattermost once
Mattermost's export tool includes them.

Additionally, Mattermost's data exports do not associated private
messages with a specific Mattermost team.  For that reason, the import
tool will only import private messages for data export archives
containing a single Mattermost team.

[upgrade-zulip-from-git]: https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/production/upgrade-or-modify.html#upgrading-from-a-git-repository