Software companies
Intercom conversations at shutdown: preserving support history
By SourceX Editorial · Updated
Short answer
When a company winds down, export Intercom conversations before the subscription, payment card or single sign-on is cancelled, because a complete export needs a working admin login and API access. Capture messages, internal notes, tags, attributes and attachments with their conversation IDs, verify the counts, and hand the archive to a named owner who will outlast the closing team.
Key takeaways
- Shutdown order matters: export first, then cancel the subscription, then turn off single sign-on and email.
- Create admin access that does not depend on a departing employee's login before anything else is switched off.
- Intercom's S3 Data Export covers two years of historical conversations; older history needs a separate API pull.
- Name an archive owner, such as an officer or wind-down lead, and record where the archive lives.
- Customer terms and privacy commitments still apply to the archive after the company stops operating.
Why an Intercom shutdown needs a different plan from a tool switch#
An Intercom shutdown differs from a helpdesk switch because there is no destination system and no team that will still be there next quarter. In a migration, a new tool absorbs open conversations and the old workspace can run in parallel. In a wind-down, people leave, cards are cancelled and identity systems are turned off, often by different people on different days.
The usual failure is not a bad export but a lost login. If the only admin accounts sign in through a Google Workspace or Okta tenant that closes first, or the subscription lapses when a company card is cancelled, the support lead can lose access before anyone starts exporting. Check Intercom's current terms for what happens to workspace data after cancellation, and do not plan around getting access back afterward.
The shutdown order of operations#
The order of operations is the single most useful thing a support lead can set during a wind-down. Agree it with the wind-down lead or finance before any subscription is touched, and put the export ahead of every cancellation.
- Name an archive owner who will remain responsible after staff leave, such as an officer, the wind-down lead or an assignee.
- Confirm at least one admin can sign in without depending on a departing employee's single sign-on account.
- Create API access tied to that admin or a service account, not to a person leaving next.
- Pause any data retention or deletion settings in the workspace and connected tools.
- Run the full export and verify it against workspace counts.
- Copy the archive to storage the company or its successor controls, with a second copy.
- Only then cancel the Intercom subscription, the payment method and connected apps.
- Turn off single sign-on, email and other identity systems last.
- 01Your work records
- 02Personal details removed
- 03You approve the release
- 04Licensed to AI developers
What a complete Intercom archive includes#
A complete archive includes every element a reader would need to understand a conversation without Intercom: who said what, what the team said privately, how the conversation was classified, and what was attached. Built-in report exports are useful for volumes and performance, but check whether they include full message bodies.
Intercom's Data Export feature can send Conversations data to an Amazon S3 bucket the company controls, as JSON or JSON Lines, with a historical export covering two years of conversations, periodic hourly or daily exports, and attachments. It needs an S3 bucket and a CloudFormation stack set up in advance, so start it early. If the workspace holds more than two years of history, plan an API pull for the older conversations.
Use the table as the acceptance list for the export. Each row should be present, or deliberately excluded with a reason recorded in the archive's readme file.
| Element | Why keep it | Check before cancelling |
|---|---|---|
| Customer and teammate messages | The transcript itself | Every conversation ID has its full message thread |
| Internal notes | Diagnosis and handoffs the customer never saw | Notes appear with author and timestamp |
| Bot and automated messages | Shows where automation answered or failed | Workflow and bot replies are included, not skipped |
| Tags and conversation attributes | Topic, product area and priority labels | Attribute names are exported with their values |
| Assignment and state changes | Who handled it and how it ended | Open, snoozed and closed events are present |
| Ratings and survey replies | Customer view of the outcome | Ratings link to their conversation IDs |
| Attachments and screenshots | Errors and evidence often live here | Files are downloaded, not just linked |
| Contact and company records | Context for each conversation | Exported, but marked for privacy review |
| Help center articles | The answers agents linked to | Article text and history saved separately |
Verifying the archive while access still exists#
Verification has to happen before cancellation, because afterward there is nothing to compare against. Compare conversation counts by month between the archive and Intercom's reporting, then open a sample from each year and read it end to end, including notes and attachments.
Watch for three common gaps: attachments exported as links that point back to Intercom instead of as files, conversations from deleted contacts that the export skipped, and long threads cut off at a page limit in a script. Store the result as raw JSON from the API, a CSV index of conversation IDs with dates and tags, and a folder of attachments named by conversation ID, with a short readme describing how it was produced.
Who owns the archive after the company closes?#
The archive belongs to the legal entity, not to the support lead who exported it, and the entity's obligations travel with it. Whoever controls the company's remaining assets, such as its officers, a buyer of the assets, an assignee for the benefit of creditors or a trustee, decides what happens next.
Two sets of commitments shape those decisions. Customer agreements may require deletion or return of customer data at termination, and the company's privacy policy describes what it told end users. Legal holds can require keeping records the contracts would otherwise have the company delete. Record which commitments apply to the archive and assess the decisions with counsel.
Reading the archive as a potential dataset#
A preserved Intercom archive can later be assessed for licensing, but only if it was kept complete and its rights are clear. AI developers look for full transcripts that show a customer's problem, the troubleshooting and a confirmed outcome, so missing notes or stripped attachments reduce what the archive can show.
Preparation comes later and is never trivial. Chat transcripts carry names, emails, account details and sometimes payment or credential data pasted by customers. Automated PII detection helps but is not enough on its own: Presidio's documentation warns that there is no guarantee it will find all sensitive information and that additional systems and protections should be employed. Plan for human review alongside tooling.
Illustrative: the last support lead at a music school software company#
Illustrative: a fictional company selling enrollment and billing software to independent music schools decided to shut down after a failed sale process. Its support lead was among the last employees, and the company's Google Workspace, which every Intercom admin used to sign in, was scheduled to close at the end of the wind-down.
She asked the wind-down officer to delay cancelling the company card, created a password-based admin account under a shared operations mailbox, and generated API access tied to it. Her script pulled every conversation with its notes and tags, and a second pass downloaded attachments that the first export had only linked. Monthly counts matched Intercom's reporting, and a sample read showed bot replies were present.
The archive went to encrypted storage controlled by the officer, with a readme listing the customer deletion terms and the privacy policy versions that applied. Only then were Intercom and Google Workspace cancelled. Months later the officer used the inventory to request a metadata-only fit check.
How SourceX approaches support archives from closing companies#
SourceX starts with preservation: records that are lost when a subscription ends cannot be assessed later. The initial fit check collects only metadata, such as the systems used, the years of history and the record types, and no conversations are shared at that stage.
If the archive proceeds, the SourceX five-step transaction runs from Supply through Rights, Preparation, Approval and Delivery, with the officer or other authorized signer approving each step. The archive stays in the company's own storage, and the SourceX Evidence Packet records its provenance, the rights review and the privacy record.
Frequently asked questions
Does Intercom keep our conversations after we cancel?
Do not rely on it. Vendors set their own retention and deletion practices after cancellation, and those terms change. Read Intercom's current terms and data processing documents, but plan as if access ends with the subscription and finish a verified export before cancelling anything.
Should we export open and snoozed conversations too?
Yes. Conversations still open at shutdown often record the problems the company never solved, and they explain customer complaints that may surface later. Export them with their state at the time, and label them as open at shutdown so no one later mistakes them for resolved conversations.
Do we need customer consent to keep the archive?
Keeping records for legal, tax or dispute purposes is a different question from reusing them. Customer agreements may require deletion at termination, and privacy laws may apply depending on who the end users are. Record the obligations that apply and decide retention with counsel before deleting or reusing anything.
Can a buyer of our assets take over the Intercom workspace?
Sometimes a buyer prefers to take over a workspace rather than receive an export, which depends on Intercom's account transfer terms and the asset purchase agreement. Even then, keep your own verified export, because the seller entity may still need records for its own obligations after the sale.
What if our only admin has already left?
Contact Intercom support quickly through an owner or officer of the company, with proof of authority, to request admin access. Do not cancel payment or identity systems while the request is pending, because those changes can make recovery harder or impossible.
Sources
- Intercom's Data Export feature sends Conversations data to the customer's Amazon S3 bucket. It offers a Historical export (two years of all Conversations data), Periodic exports (hourly or daily, new and updated data) and Attachments, in JSON or JSON Lines format only. Source
- Presidio's own documentation warns that "because it is using automated detection mechanisms, there is no guarantee that Presidio will find all sensitive information. Consequently, additional systems and protections should be employed." Source
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