Two Best Ways to Download All Gmail Emails to Hard Drive

We can compare our data to digital gold. As it contains valuable information inside it which we don’t want to lose at any cost. However, there are situations like low storage issues, where deleting them is the only option. As Google provides only 15 GB of storage. Or perhaps, an organisation is losing its employee and needs to create an archive of their email history. These are just a few examples as there might be many other reasons as well. Therefore, many users prefer to download all Gmail emails to their computers.

Having a clean mailbox makes it easier for us to maintain everything inside it with ease. So keep reading this article, as there are more advantages we will cover here along with methods we can use to download emails from Gmail.

User Query: “I want to free up my Gmail mailbox space as it is running low on storage. However, there are many important emails containing crucial information about my past record that I don’t want to lose. Is there any reliable solution to back up my Gmail data all at once?” 

Methods to Download All Gmail Emails to Hard Drive

Downloading Gmail data regularly can be beneficial in many ways. For example, we can delete the old emails once they are downloaded to create more space inside the mailbox. Also, we can import the data file into other email applications to access them. A clean mailbox helps users to maintain the items inside it with ease. And there is less chance of important emails mixing up with others.

There are two ways we can use to download all Gmail emails, a manual way and an automated one. It is up to users to choose what suits them best according to their situation.

Method 1. Pro Way to Download All Gmail Emails on a PC

To save the time and energy of our users, we would like to mention the professional way of downloading Gmail data. Nowadays there are many Gmail Backup Tools to help us download all  Gmail emails. BitResq Gmail Backup Tool is one such good tool to do it. 

This tool is packed with so many features like it enables users to download Gmail data into multiple file formats. It allows us to back up only selective emails while maintaining the folder hierarchy. Along with it, we can migrate our emails to other applications. 

Follow the steps mentioned below to download emails from Gmail:

Step 1. On the computer Download the above-mentioned tool.

Step 2. First, Login using the appropriate credentials of the Gmail account.

Step 3. Once logged in, Select Desired Email Folders to download all Gmail emails and then choose a file format from the Saving Option.

Step 4. After that, select a File Naming Option & Apply Filters, if required.

Step 5. Now select a Destination Path where the resultant file gets saved.

Step 6. In the final step, click on Export and wait for some time.

In the free demo version of this Gmail backup tool, users can export up to 25 emails from every folder. This demo version is for users to check if the performance of this tool meets their expectations. Later they can purchase its licensed version to download emails from Gmail in bulk.

Method 2(A). Manually Download All Gmail Emails Individually

There are two methods we can use to save email messages on our computers manually. The first way is to download each email message individually and in bulk using Google Takeout.

Step 1. Login to Gmail account by filling required credentials.

Step 2. First, Click on Desired Email to open it.

Step 3. After opening it, Click on three dots stacked vertically to the right of the reply option.

Step 4. Now, a drop-down menu will appear on the screen, from there click on the Download message option.

Step 5. It will download the email message into an EML File format.

Note: EML (or Electronic mail) file is an email message that is saved by an email application like Outlook or Apple Mail. It stores information like the content of a message, the subject with the sender’s and recipient’s detail and the date of the message.

Method 2(B). Download All Gmail Emails to a Hard Disk Using Takeout

Takeout is a service provided by Google that allows users to download their Gmail data in an MBOX file format. Perform the steps mentioned below to download emails from Gmail using it:

Step 1. The first step, click on this link to navigate to Google Takeout. 

Step 2. Now Login using the required credentials of your Gmail account.

Step 3. In the next step, click on “Deselect all” to uncheck all the Google apps.

Step 4. Scroll down below to locate the Mail option, then click on its checkbox to select it.

Step 5. Now move on to the Delivery Method.

Step 6. In the next step, select a Destination where you want to save this data

Step 7. After that, select the saving file type, frequency and destination to save Gmail data.

Step 8. For the next step, scroll down to the File type and Size Option, then select either .zip or .tgz file types. Also, click on the File Size to select the maximum size limit anything above it will split into multiple files. 

Step 9. After completing the above steps, click on Create Export.

Although the manual method is free to use, however, one must consider the trade-offs that come with it. Choosing to download all Gmail emails individually might turn into a nightmare when there are hundreds of emails if not thousands. There is always a risk of data loss. 

Even Takeout has some major limitations like it can take a lot of time to create an export. There should be a stable internet connection, in case of network errors we have to initialise the process again. Moreover, to access the content inside of an MBOX file users are required to use an MBOX file viewer.

Also Read: Best Way To Download Gmail Attachments Easily

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed how to download all Gmail emails to the computer. As Gmail comes with a limited storage of 15GB, we must keep it clean as much as we can. However, it is a good idea to make a backup of the email data before permanently removing it as they might contain important information. 

Therefore, in the above section, we provided different ways to download emails from Gmail. It is recommended that if there are fewer emails then a manual approach would be a good fit for you. Otherwise, we suggest using a professional tool like the one mentioned above for a larger number of files and instant results.