Whenever you want a copy of the data your OutaStory account holds,
you can download it yourself. There is no form to fill in and
nobody to ask first.
How to get it
- Open Profile → Privacy at
/profile/privacy. - Click Download my data.
- Your browser saves the file.
That really is the whole flow. The file is put together while you
wait and downloads straight to your device. There is no email,
no background job, no queue and no waiting period — so nothing
will arrive later, and there is nothing to come back for. If it
looks like nothing happened, check your browser's downloads list
before you try again.
What is in the file
The export covers the things you put into your account and the
things the platform recorded as you used it, grouped by category:
- your profile details,
- your stories and drafts,
- your comments,
- your reading activity,
- your preferences and settings, and
- your consent records — what you agreed to, and when.
Which categories actually contain anything depends on how you use
OutaStory. A reader who has never written a story simply has no
stories section worth speaking of.
For the full picture of what we collect, why, and who else is
involved, read the privacy policy.
Opening a JSON file
The download is JSON — a plain-text format meant to be read by
machines as well as people. You do not need a special program:
- Any text editor opens it (Notepad, TextEdit, VS Code, and so
on). An editor that can "format" or "pretty-print" JSON makes it
much easier to read. - Your browser can open it too — drag the file onto a browser
tab. Most browsers show a folding, searchable tree. - If it all looks like one endless line, that is normal. It is the
file being compact, not the file being broken.
The file contains personal data about you, so treat it like any
other private document: keep it somewhere safe, and think twice
before mailing it around or dropping it in shared storage.
When to use it
A download is a good idea before any change you cannot undo. In
particular, export before you ask for an erasure or delete
your account — see
Erasing your data and
Deleting your account.
Once those have run, the data is no longer there to export.
If something in your export looks wrong or missing, open a ticket
at /help/contact and tell us what you expected
to see.