Capturing large Facebook profiles / capturing specific date ranges in Facebook

Date range capture in New Facebook

There are currently two solutions for breaking down long Facebook profiles: using Facebook's profile Date Filter or Page Vault's Post-by-Post Feature.

1. Filter by Date: best for personal timelines
2. Page Vault Post-by-Post: best for business timelines or groups

Solution 1: Filter by Dates

Facebook has introduced the ability to jump to a date on an individual's timeline, which we're calling "Filter by Date." This method is only available on an individual person's Facebook timeline, it is not an option on business pages or groups (as of July 21, 2021).

1. Expand the comments for the top part of the profile by clicking the Facebook Expand button and selecting "scroll to the bottom AND open comments" (for more detailed instructions, see this post). Do not select to save after expansion.
2. We find that the browser functions best when expanding 150,000 pixels or fewer at a time. Watch the status bar at the top of the profile; when it reaches 150,000 pixels, click on the "stop" button.
3. Note the date of the last expanded post on the timeline. You'll need that to filter to the date to begin from for the next set of captures.
4. Click the "capture" button. Select the folder to save to, then under "What to scroll and capture," select "Top to active." Then click "Save Capture." Page Vault will capture the expanded portion of the timeline.
5. Once the capture is complete, either scroll to the top of the page or reload the page to go to the top of the timeline. At the top of the timeline is a bar titled "Posts" with a "Filters" button on the right hand side. Click on "Filters" (see image below).
   

   

6. A dialog box will appear with a year. Select the year, then the month, then the day of the date you noted in step 3. Click "Done."
   

   

7. Facebook will jump down the timeline to the selected date, or the closest date before the selected date. Note that it does not actually filter, it simply jumps down the timeline to that date. If you scroll down, all posts that were generated prior to that post will load as per a normal timeline. Then repeat steps 1 through 6, capturing 150,000 pixels at a time, until you capture the entire timeline.

Solution 2: Page Vault Post-by-Post

To address the need to capture very long Facebook profiles that do NOT have the date filter, Page Vault has developed a solution for timeline breakdowns that is currently in beta testing. This feature:

1. Finds the URL of each post on the timeline;
2. Sends you the full list of URLs;
3. Gives the option to immediately capture each post or you can enter groups of posts into Page Vault in bulk.

A full walkthrough of the feature, including a demo video, can be found on the Post-by-Post knowledge base page.

If you would like to have access to the beta, please contact our support team to get trained and have the feature enabled on your account. 

Dates in URL: No longer available in Facebook

In the past, we have advised clients on how to use some of Facebook's hidden functionality for jumping to specific time periods on an individual's timeline. Unfortunately, Facebook appears to have completely removed the Date URL feature in New Facebook.