How to download your Gmail emails
Google Takeout gives an easy way to download your entire email history with attachments in just a few clicks. Learn how in this guide.
There are a handful of people who want to go on the open-source voyage for email services but are reluctant because they have a lot of important emails on their Gmail that they cannot abandon. This is understandable, seeing that I have used my Gmail account for over a decade, and I have a lot of important documents there.
The good thing is that you can export your Gmail content and move safely to another Email service. Google does not have a built-in method for bulk exports, but you can use Google Takeout, which provides a comprehensive way to download all Gmail emails in MBOX format, complete with all attachments, labels, and metadata intact.
Unfortunately, the MBOX format isn't directly readable, so you'll need to use a third-party application like Mozilla Thunderbird to read your message. In this guide, we will show you how to export your emails.
Kelechi Edeh
How to download your Gmail emails using Google Takeout
Step 1: Go to Google Takeout and sign in to your Google account.
Step 2: By default, all Google services are selected. Click Deselect all and then check only Mail. Then, underneath, click Next Step.
Step 3: Select your Export method, the frequency, the file type, and the size. After that, click Create Export.
Step 4: Google will send you the link through the selected means of your exported data for download.
Step 5: Once you receive the link, click it to download the export.
Step 5: Once you download your export sent to you, download Mozilla Thunderbird and open the file in it.
Oyinebiladou Omemu
Conclusion
It’s great to be able to have your Gmail data outside the Gmail app if you choose to no longer use Google. While Google doesn’t make this possible inside the Gmail app itself, with Google Takeout, it’s as easy as possible.
While the MBOX files format you get with Google Takeout aren’t instantly readable, applications like Thunderbird unlock them easily for you to access.
Image Credit: Oyinebiladou Omemu/Techloy.com
