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Import from Mattermost

You can import your current workspace into a Zulip organization. It’s a great way to preserve your workspace history when you migrate to Zulip, and to make the transition easy for the members of your organization.

The import will include your organization’s:

  • Name and Logo
  • Message history, including attachments and emoji reactions
  • Users, including names, emails, roles, avatars, time zones, and custom profile fields
  • Channels, including all user subscriptions
  • Custom emoji

To import your Mattermost organization into Zulip, you will need to take the following steps, which are described in more detail below:

  1. Export your Mattermost data.
  2. Import your Mattermost data into Zulip.
  3. Get your organization started with Zulip!

Import your organization from Mattermost into Zulip

Section titled “Import your organization from Mattermost into Zulip”

Mattermost’s bulk export tool allows you to export all public and private channel messages.

The instructions below correspond to various common ways Mattermost is installed; if yours isn’t covered, contact us and we’ll help you out.

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

  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 .

To start using Zulip, you will need to choose between Zulip Cloud and self-hosting Zulip. For a simple managed solution, with no setup or maintenance overhead, you can sign up for Zulip Cloud with just a few clicks. Alternatively, you can self-host your Zulip organization. See here to learn more.

If you are using Zulip Cloud, we’ll take it from here! Please email support@zulip.com with the following information:

  1. The subdomain you would like to use for your organization. Your Zulip chat will be hosted at <subdomain>.zulipchat.com.
  2. The exported data file containing your workspace message history export.

Whether you are using Zulip Cloud or self-hosting Zulip, here are a few notes to keep in mind about the import process:

  • Mattermost does not export workspace settings, so you will need to configure the settings for your Zulip organization. This includes settings like email visibility, message editing permissions, and how users can join your organization.
  • Mattermost’s user roles are mapped to Zulip’s user roles in the following way:
    Mattermost roleZulip role
    Team administratorOwner
    MemberMember
  • Mattermost’s export tool does not support exporting user avatars or message edit history.
  • Direct messages will only be imported from Mattermost workspaces containing a single team. This is because Mattermost’s data exports do not associate direct messages with a specific Mattermost team.
  • Messages in threads are imported, but they are not explicitly marked as being in a thread.

Once the import process is completed, you will need to:

  1. Configure the settings for your organization, which are not exported. This includes settings like email visibility, message editing permissions, and how users can join your organization.
  2. All users from your previous workspace will have accounts in your new Zulip organization. However, you will need to let users know about their new accounts, and decide how they will log in for the first time.
  3. Share the URL for your new Zulip organization, and (recommended) the Getting started with Zulip guide.
  4. Migrate any integrations.

When user accounts are imported, users initially do not have passwords configured. There are a few options for how users can log in for the first time.

Allow users to log in with non-password authentication

Section titled “Allow users to log in with non-password authentication”

When you create your organization, users will immediately be able to log in with authentication methods that do not require a password. Zulip offers a variety of authentication methods, including Google, GitHub, GitLab, Apple, LDAP and SAML.

You can send password reset emails to all users in your organization, which will allow them to set an initial password.

If you imported your organization into Zulip Cloud, simply email support@zulip.com to request this.

Send password reset emails (self-hosted organization)

Section titled “Send password reset emails (self-hosted organization)”
  1. To test the process, start by sending yourself a password reset email by using the following command:
    ./manage.py send_password_reset_email -u username@example.com
  2. When ready, send password reset emails to all users by using the following command:
    ./manage.py send_password_reset_email -r '' --all-users

Alternatively, users can reset their own passwords by following the instructions on your Zulip organization’s login page.