In 2018 Facebook added story archives, giving the option for users to store all of their stories posts for longer than the initial 24 hour period, stored in a folder visible only to the owner of the profile. The archive has become one of Facebook’s more popular featrues. If you’re here that means you want in on the action.

Why Is Facebook Story Archive Missing?

When Stories Posts were introduced to our favorite social media platforms like Facebook, it was a game changer. One of the many phases of evolution the app has gone through.

Perhaps you’ve seen your friends reposting a memory from years ago, and you tried to do the same. Maybe you just want to relive some of your best moments. Neither of which can be done if your archive is missing. There are a few reasons for this.

1. Check the Correct Location

Like the rest of the world, social media is constantly changing, updating, and confusing us all. The constant additions and rearrangement of app features can be equally beneficial as it is challenging. Depending on the version you have, maybe your story archive isn’t missing, it’s just in a different place.

1. To find the story archive, open your Facebook app on any mobile device.
2. Next you’re going to go to your profile. To access this you will go to Menu, located at the bottom-right corner of the screen. It will have three horizontal parallel lines.
3. Go to Profile. To do this you will tap on your profile name.
4. At the top of your profile, located beside your name and a pencil symbol, you will see three-dots. This is your profile settings. Tap the three-dots.
5. Click on Archive. It will be beside a box symbol.
6. At the very top you will see the Story archive. Click it.
7. Review the stories you’ve previously posted. To see a specific memory tap it.

By following these steps you can also see story archives from any linked social media profiles, like Instagram.

2. Enable Facebook Story Archive

You have to give Facebook the permission to save your stories or they will be deleted after 24 hours. If you already knew this, it’s possible you accidentally turned the feature off in your story archive settings.

Fortunately, if the Facebook story archive was turned off this is an easy fix. Unfortunately, if that was the case that means all the stories you’ve posted in the past would have been lost.

Moving forward this will ensure your stories are safe, secure, and there for your use or disposal.

1. To enable your story archive, open your Facebook app on any mobile device.
2. Go to Menu, located at the bottom-right corner of the screen. It will have three horizontal parallel lines.
3. Go to Profile. To do this you will tap on your profile name.
4. At the top of your profile, located beside your name and a pencil symbol, you will see three-dots. Tap the three-dots.
5. Click on Archive. It will be beside a box symbol.
6. At the very top you will see the Story archive. Click it.
7. In the top right corner there will be a gear. Tap this to get to your Story archive settings.
8. Turn on Save to archive.

It’s important to note that if you remove a story before the 24-hour period, it will not be saved to your archive folder. Only when a story expires does it go to the archives. So if you purposely or accidentally deleted your story do not look for them here, you won’t find them .

At this time it is not possible to recover a Facebook Story if you delete it before it dissapears.

3. Database Malfunction

It could be possible that Facebook is experiencing an error in database or logic, which could be triggered by a multitude of things. In cases like this the fault is not on your end. Main causes could be a software error, system crash, sabotage, glitching, etc. All of which have to be waited out. When these things happen there is not much you can do to speed up the process. Leave the site for a few hours and check back later.

If you are someone who preferres to be proactive in a situation out of your control, there are things you can do.

To ensure that the problem is not on your end you can always use outage monitoring websites, check Downdetector. If it is found to be a Facebook malfunction, then you can also check on the status of updates.

1. Go to the Downdetector website
2. In the search bar type in Facebook
3. The top will indicate whether users report indicate problems, or if they indicated no current problems. If it reports problems, continue to the next step.
4. Under ‘I have a problem with Facebook’ select Something else, and then choose Uploading. If others are experiencing the same issue it is helpful for you to point out that you are to. There is power in numbers.
5. Routinely check the website for updates on the status of Facebook.

4. Facebook App and Web Browsers Up to Date

Maybe your story archive is missing due to the way Facebook is appearing in your web browser or you have the outdated version of the app. If either of these are the problem you are in luck, it can easily be solved.

For users who prefer a computer/laptop or web browsing experience over the modern day apps, this should be of use. Issues within your web browser are usually caused by a cache issue. This can be fixed by clearing the cache and temporary data. The instructions will vary depending on your specific operating system like Mac or PC, and your browser version like Chrome, Safari, or Firefox. Most of the time it can be found in the browser’s settings or preferences.

Sometimes third-party browser extensions could cause an issue in the way Facebook appears. In this case disable add-ons before accessing Facebook again. If the problem persists try using a different web browser. Maybe the one you are currently using isn’t compatible with the site.

For more help on this matter check out the Facebook Help Center here.

If you are an app user for Facebook and you are missing your story archive, double check and see if you are using the latest version of the app. Similar to those of the web browser, instructions for updating your Facebook app will vary depending on your device (Android or iPhone) and your app store (Google Play or App Store).

Most of the time the latest versions of all of your apps, including Facebook, will be found under your account in the app store. If you’re having trouble finding it just go to your search in the app store, and type in Facebook. If it needs to be updated, go ahead and update it.

We recommend to do the ole log out and log back in trick after any updates or browser renewals. This will refresh the program and hopefully fix any bugs that could have lingered from those previous versions. Sometimes this is all it took to resolve the case of the missing Facebook Stories, so this can be tried at any time throughout.

5. Reach out to Facebook Support

If you checked the location of your story archive, ensured it was on, the site is not having a database malfunction, and your browser and app are all up to date? It has come to this. The saving grace. Facebook Support Team. Here you will be able to adress the issues with your Facebook Stories Archives. You can go to the Help Center, or directly report the issue.

1. Open your Facebook app on your mobile device
2. Go to Menu, located at the bottom-right corner of the screen. It will have three horizontal parallel lines.
3. Scroll down to Help & support, click on the drop down arrow.

If you want to type in your issue and see troubleshooting solutions to find your Facebook Stories Archive go to Help Center under Help & Support. You will type ‘ Facebook Stories Archive’ in the search bar underneath ‘Hi, how can we help you?’ to see your options.

If you want to directly report your hidden Stories Archive go to Report a problem under Health & Support. Once there you will be asked if you want to include logs and diagnostics in your report, this will automatically include information about your account and device related to the Facebook Story Archives, helping them further understand and hopefully resolve the issue. We recommend this option, but whether you include it in the report or not is completely up to you.

You will then be brought to a Choose Feature page, where you will scroll down to the bottom and click Stories. Here you will be able to write in detail what went wrong. Then you send it off and wait for further assistance.

If these steps are not compatible with your cellular device, go to the Facebook Help Center to further assist you with your specific android, tablet, or mobile device.