How to find your old Facebook posts
Short answer: Open your Activity Log in the Facebook app, go to Manage Activity, and filter your posts by date to jump straight to a specific year. To see everything at once, including comments on other people's posts, download your Facebook data with the date range set to All time.
Option 1: Your Activity Log, filtered by date
Your Activity Log is the most direct way to browse your own history. Its Manage Activity section lets you filter your posts by category, date range, and people tagged, so you can jump straight to a specific year instead of scrolling.[1][2]
- In the Facebook app, go to your profile and open your Activity Log.
- Tap Manage Activity, then Your Posts.
- Tap Filters and choose a date range, or a category like text updates or photos.
- Scroll the results. You can archive or trash anything right from the same screen.
Menu names shift a little as Facebook updates its apps.
The Activity Log also covers more than your posts, including comments and interactions, so it's worth browsing those sections too if you're preparing for a job search.
Option 2: Download everything at once
If you want to see your whole history in one place, including comments you've left on other people's posts, request a copy of your data. Facebook's export includes your posts and comments going back to when you joined. Choose All time and JSON, or you'll only get the last year. See our step-by-step Facebook download guide.
The export is complete but not easy to read. That's where PruneSocial helps: drop the ZIP file in, and it scores your posts and comments from the last seven years against published screening categories, then lists only the items worth a second look.
Why people go looking for old posts
Often it's a job search. Some screening companies publicly describe lookbacks of up to seven years, and some review likes and comments, not just your own posts.[3][4][5] A post you wrote in 2019 may feel ancient to you, but it can still fall inside that window.
Once you've found them
- Archive posts you want to keep for yourself. Archived posts are visible only to you.[2]
- Trash posts you don't need. They're deleted after 30 days.[2]
- For bulk cleanup, see how to delete old Facebook posts in bulk.
See what your own history looks like
PruneSocial scores supported text activity from your own account exports against publicly documented screening categories and gives you one specific cleanup action for anything flagged. Try a free 50-item preview first.
Start a free previewRelated guides
Sources
- TechCrunch: Facebook makes it easier to trash your old posts (Manage Activity launch)
- Facebook Help Center: Use Manage Activity in your activity log to archive or delete content
- Checkr: Social media search
- Fama: Does social media screening only cover social media platforms?
- SHRM Vendor Directory: Background Runner social media screening