Can You Download Gmail Emails to Your Computer?

How to Backup Gmail Emails to Computer
How to Backup Gmail Emails to Computer

Gmail, Google's popular email service, is widely used by individuals and businesses alike. It's crucial to ensure the safety and availability of your important emails, which is why knowing how to back up Gmail emails with attachments to your computer is essential. This article will guide you through different methods to safeguard your emails and provide step-by-step instructions for each method.

Why Backup Emails to Computer from Gmail?

Before learning how to save all Gmail emails to computer, you may wonder what can this operation brings advantages to you. Well, you can at least benefit from the following aspects.

  • Data Loss Prevention: Accidental deletion, hacking attempts, or technical issues can lead to the loss of important emails. Backing up your emails ensures that you have a copy of your data even if something unexpected happens.
  • Offline Access: Having a local backup of your Gmail emails allows you to access your messages even without an Internet connection. This can be useful when you're traveling or in situations where Internet access is limited.
  • Archiving and Organization: Backing up emails allows you to organize and archive them based on your preferences. You can create folders, categorize emails, and easily search for specific messages without relying solely on Gmail's interface.
  • Migration and Transition: If you plan to switch email providers or need to migrate your Gmail data to another account, having a backup simplifies the process.

How to Backup Gmail Emails to Computer: 2 Simple Solutions

Backing up Gmail emails to your computer is similar to the solution for how to back up Gmail emails to hard drive. You can use an official Google tool called Google Takeout to download all emails from Gmail to computer as a zip file. Or, you can also use a professional email-to-PDF converter, MultCloud, to download Google emails to computer with more powerful options.

Way 1. How to Download All Gmail Emails to Computer via Google Takeout

Google Takeout is a built-in feature that allows Google users to export and download their data from various Google services, including Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos. Therefore, you can use Google Takeout to batch backup emails from Gmail to computer with a few clicks.

Step 1. Log in to your Google account on the browser and click Data and privacy > Download your data to open Google Takeout.

Open Google Takeout
Open Google Takeout

Step 2. Click “Deselect all” and scroll down the page to tick “Mail”.

Backup Gmail Emails to Computer from Google Takeout
Backup Gmail Emails to Computer from Google Takeout

Step 3. Move to the bottom of the page and click “Next step”.

Step 4. Make sure the transfer destination is “Send download link via email”. Then choose the frequency and other settings you need. After that, click “Create export” to export Gmail emails to computer.

Download Gmail Emails to Computer from Google Takeout
Download Gmail Emails to Computer from Google Takeout

Google Takeout Limitations

  • The free version of Google Takeout has limitations, allowing only 2-3 downloads per day and a maximum of 7 downloads per week.
  • Google Takeout may occasionally encounter issues and fail to download the complete data, which can make it an unreliable option as a free tool.
  • It's worth mentioning that data downloads through Google Takeout are restricted to a maximum of 50 GB per day, even when using the .tgz format. This means that when exporting large files or folders, you may experience incomplete downloads of your Google data.
  • When using Google Takeout, it's important to note that folders shared with you in Google Drive cannot be included in the export, even if you have added files to those shared folders.

Way 2. How to Save Gmail Emails to Computer via MultCloud [Efficient]

Instead of using Google Takeout to backup your Gmail emails to computer which may download for several days, you can use a professional third-party service to quickly and batch backup your Gmail emails and attachments to computer without waiting, that is MultCloud.

  • Email Download: Download emails as PDFs to local devices.
  • Email Migration: One-click online migration from emails to clouds.
  • Multi-Cloud Manage: Manage 30+ clouds in one safe place.
  • Cloud-to-Cloud: Transfer, sync, and backup across clouds quickly.

MultCloud offers a secure website for you to move emails to computer or cloud storage services without any risk of data loss. Your emails will be converted to PDF for easy access on different devices. All you need is to add your Gmail to MultCloud and use the Email Download feature (coming soon before June 2023) to efficiently download Gmail data to computer.

Step 1. Sign up for MultCloud on your browser.

Step 2. Click the “Add Email” button and choose Gmail to log in.

Add Gmail to MultCloud
Add Gmail to MultCloud

Step 3. Your Gmail will be automatically opened to you after adding. You can open the Inbox and select the emails that you want to back up to your computer.

Step 4. Click “Download” above, name your backed-up email folder, and choose the settings you need. Then click “OK” in the pop-up window and your Gmail emails will be backed up to your computer as soon as possible.

How to Backup Gmail Emails to Computer via Email Download
How to Backup Gmail Emails to Computer via Email Download
  • Save Attachments: Your Gmail attachments can also be backed up to your computer.
  • Conversation Format: All your conversations in one email will be combined properly without containing repeated references.
  • Save the Last Message Only: Only the last message of an email will be backed up.

In the End

In conclusion, learning how to backup Gmail emails to computer ensures that you have a secure and accessible copy of your valuable data. In this comprehensive guide, we explored different methods to back up Gmail emails, including using Google Takeout and the third-party email download service. You can choose one according to your needs.

Besides, you can also use the Email Migration feature of MultCloud to save email to Google Drive, Dropbox, or other clouds to protect your emails properly while saving your local storage.

MultCloud Logo

Quickly transfer, sync or backup files from one cloud to another.

Sign up Free

100% secure

iCloud Photos is Now Supported!

MultCloud Supports Clouds

Multcloud Key Features