Uncovering Deleted Discord Messages: A 4-Step Guide for Streamers, Gamers and Techies

Have you ever wanted to retrieve a deleted Discord message? As an avid gamer and streaming enthusiast myself, I‘ve certainly been in situations where accessing deleted messages would have been useful.

Maybe you wanted to bust someone cheating or breaking rules in your server. Or perhaps you needed to fact check a conversation that someone conveniently removed.

Whatever the reason, you likely discovered that retrieving deleted Discord messages is…well…impossible.

Or so it may seem.

But with a few simple tools, you can unlock the ability to view deleted messages on your Discord servers. Intriguing, right?

In this guide, I‘m going to show you how to see and recover deleted Discord messages with just a few easy steps. Read on to unlock one of Discord‘s hidden superpowers!

Why Retrieve Deleted Discord Messages?

First, let‘s talk about why you might want to see deleted messages on Discord in the first place.

Here are some of the top reasons:

• Investigating rule violations or misbehavior: As a server admin, being able to see deleted messages allows you to better investigate potential cheating, harassment or other bad behavior that users try to cover up.

• Moderation review purposes: Even if there wasn‘t ill intent, reviewing deleted messages helps give moderators context around why something was removed. This helps keep your mod team aligned.

• Accessing conversations from blocked users: Ever been blocked by someone mid-conversation? Their messages get auto-deleted. Retrieving those messages lets you see what they said.

• Troubleshooting bots: Deleted message logs help debug bot errors by seeing full bot-user conversations.

• Archiving server activity: Keeping a record of all server chatter, including deletions, is useful for server owners.

Clearly there are many valid reasons for responsible, transparent server management. Just be mindful of privacy – access deleted chat logs ethically.

Now that I‘ve convinced you this is worthwhile, let‘s get into how to access deleted messages on Discord.

Step 1: Install BetterDiscord (5 Minutes)

BetterDiscord is an enhanced Discord client that lets you add custom themes, plugins and extensions beyond what‘s officially supported. It‘s very popular among Discord power users.

BetterDiscord allows installing plugins that can do things like log deleted messages. Here‘s how to get set up:

1. Go to https://betterdiscord.app and click Download.

2. Select Install BetterDiscord when prompted.

3. Choose your Discord client – either the Stable, PTB or Canary version.

4. Click Install and follow the steps as BetterDiscord sets up.

5. Restart Discord when prompted to complete the install.

When Discord reloads, you‘ll briefly see a BetterDiscord welcome message if everything went smoothly.

And just like that, you now have BetterDiscord ready to go! Time to add our secret weapon…

Step 2: Get MessageLoggerV2 (2 Minutes)

The plugin that will capture our deleted Discord messages is called MessageLoggerV2.

Let‘s get it installed:

1. Visit https://github.com/Lighty-/MessageLoggerV2/releases/latest

2. Download the file called MessageLoggerV2.plugin.js – this is the plugin.

3. When your browser asks if you want to keep the file, click Keep.

Great – you now have the plugin file downloaded. Next we‘ll add it into Discord.

Step 3: Add MessageLoggerV2 Plugin to Discord (2 Minutes)

Now we just need to install the MessageLoggerV2 plugin file into Discord:

1. In Discord, click the Gear icon and go to User Settings.

2. Scroll down and click on the BetterDiscord section, then Plugins.

3. Click the Open Plugin Folder button – this opens Discord‘s plugin directory.

4. Drag the MessageLoggerV2.plugin.js file you downloaded into this plugin folder.

5. Back on the Plugins page, toggle on MessageLoggerV2 to activate it.

That‘s it! You may get some weird plugin loading errors, but you can ignore them. Just be sure to enable MessageLoggerV2.

You now have the plugin installed and ready to start logging deleted messages.

Step 4: Open Deleted Message Log (1 Minute)

Here‘s how to start viewing deleted messages with MessageLoggerV2:

1. In your Discord server, right click on the server name at the top.

2. Hover over Message Logger in the menu.

3. Click Open Logs.

4. Select the Deleted tab.

You should now start seeing deleted messages appear in the log if there are any recent deletions.

The log displays the message content, sender, and time it was deleted.

And that‘s all there is to it! With just those four simple steps, you can now reveal deleted messages on any of your Discord servers. Pretty cool trick as a server admin!

Next I‘ll go over some additional tips for getting the most from your newfound message retrieval powers.

Pro Tips for Maximizing MessageLoggerV2

Here are some power user tips for taking your deleted message viewing to the next level:

• Search the log: Use CTRL+F to quickly search for keywords, users, URLs, etc. in the log. Great for investigations.

• Check emoji reacts: Before deletion, see if any emoji were reacting to give context.

• Review adjacent messages: understand conversation flow around deletions.

• Cross-reference edited messages: Combining the deleted and edited logs tells a fuller history.

• Frequently clear cache: Avoid performance issues by wiping huge logs when not needed.

• Export logs: Back up investigation data by exporting logs in multiple formats.

• Analyze user deletion habits: Use logging to see who deletes most often and when.

These tips will help you conduct chat investigations like a pro. Ethically, of course 🙂

Now let‘s go over some common questions about retrieving deleted Discord messages.

FAQ About Deleted Discord Messages

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions:

Can you recover deleted DMs?

Unfortunately no – MessageLoggerV2 can only log deletions in servers, not DMs. Direct messages are lost forever once deleted.

Does it show who specifically deleted the message?

No, the plugin doesn‘t capture the deleting user, just the message content itself.

Can you retrieve permanently deleted servers?

No, MessageLoggerV2 can‘t recover deleted servers, only messages deleted within existing servers.

Does it work retroactively before installing?

No, MessageLoggerV2 only logs messages deleted after you install the plugin. It doesn‘t pull history.

Hopefully that clears up some common questions! Now let‘s talk about potential risks.

Is It Risky Using Unauthorized Plugins on Discord?

I want to provide an important warning about using third party Discord plugins like MessageLoggerV2.

Technically these plugins violate Discord‘s Terms of Service. While extremely rare, there is a small risk your account could get banned.

Discord may occasionally detect and crack down on unauthorized plugins in "ban waves". I recommend disabling unauthorized plugins when you don‘t need them. Only use on trusted servers where you have permission.

Overall though, countless Discord users have plugins like BetterDiscord and MessageLoggerV2 with very few incidents. The risk seems small, but still exists.

You have been warned! Use at your discretion.

Now I‘ll suggest some alternative options that don‘t carry ban risk.

Safe Alternatives to MessageLoggerV2

If you want to avoid possible Discord account penalties, here are some authorized alternatives:

• Discord chat log bots: Configure a verified bot like Dyno to log all messages including deletions. Limited compared to MessageLoggerV2 but safer.

• Email notifications: Depending on your settings, Discord may email notifications that contain deleted message text. Unreliable but low risk.

• Manual screenshots: Tedious, but you can manually screenshot conversations in real-time before messages get deleted.

• Subpoena Discord: Law enforcement or lawyers can formally request deleted chat records from Discord via subpoena.

Overall though, MessageLoggerV2 provides the most robust deleted message access with minimal ban risk if used responsibly.

Conclusion

Being able to see deleted messages is an extremely valuable tool for server moderators and Discord enthusiasts.

While Discord doesn‘t officially support viewing deletions, with BetterDiscord and MessageLoggerV2 you can unlock this capability yourself in just minutes.

Keep in mind that retrieving deleted messages does raise some ethical considerations. Use your powers respectfully and responsibly!

I hope this guide was helpful for installing MessageLoggerV2 to watch over your Discord servers. Let me know if you have any other Discord tips and tricks you‘d like to learn!