How to download files from a Claude project

Short answer: Run AI Chat Archive's Project Export and open the files/ folder in the ZIP. Text knowledge documents are saved as Markdown, and uploaded files such as PDFs and images are saved as files alongside them when they can be downloaded. Project Export is a paid feature; single-chat export is free.

What "project files" means

Every project has a knowledge area — the Files panel on classic projects, or Library on Beta Projects — holding the documents the project uses as context:

Project Export saves them together with the project's instructions and conversations in one ZIP.

Steps

  1. Install AI Chat Archive and activate a paid license. (Single-chat export is free if you want to test first.)
  2. Open the project: a classic project at claude.ai/project/<id>, or a Beta project at claude.ai/code/project/<id>.
  3. Click Export this project (ZIP) in the extension popup, or Export project on the page, and pick Markdown, HTML, JSON or TXT for the conversation transcripts.
  4. Wait while the extension retrieves the project files and conversations and builds the ZIP.
  5. Unzip the download, open the project-named folder, then open its files/ folder. Start with files/_INDEX.md, which lists the files included. On Beta Projects, Library folders keep their structure.

Your choice of transcript format does not convert the files in files/, and you do not need the Include attachments in the ZIP option for project knowledge files — Project Export always tries to download them, whatever that setting is. That option only adds available files attached to individual conversations.

Are uploaded PDFs included?

Yes, when they can be downloaded. Uploaded PDFs are saved in files/ as PDF files; they are not converted to Markdown. For classic projects the exporter prefers the actual document but may fall back to an available preview or thumbnail. Files that fail or are cancelled are listed in files/_SKIPPED.md.

What is not available is a PDF transcript of the whole project: Project Export writes conversations as Markdown, HTML, JSON or TXT. PDF export goes through the browser's print dialog one conversation at a time, so to get a PDF of a project chat, open that conversation and use single-chat PDF export, which is free.

How this differs from Claude's own export

Claude's Save to project menu does not offer a way to export a project as a whole. Claude's official data export is requested from Settings → Privacy and arrives as an email link; it is an account-data export rather than a download of one selected project.

If a file is missing