How to Back Up Your Gmail and View .MBOX Files
There are many reasons you most certainly can wish to wait on up your Gmail memoir, corresponding to: It’s true to own a duplicate of your most-significant data; you’re about to be fired from your job and you wish to set all the pieces you doubtless did; you’d real like rather of further safety in case somebody hacks your memoir and takes it over (or deletes it).
Whereas most of us doubtless belief that our Gmail accounts will doubtless be there with out a raze in sight—since it’s Google’s command to manipulate, no longer ours—it’s continuously price having a backup of your emails. Worst case? You’ll by no method want the backup. Best case? You’ll pause a psychological breakdown when bother strikes. That, and you’ll ranking your data wait on.
Download all the pieces from Google
One of many best ways for backing up your Gmail occurs to come from Google itself. High-tail to the “Download your data” share of your Google memoir settings, uncheck all the pieces by the “Preserve None” field (or else this route of will make a selection principal longer than it must furthermore composed), and scroll down except you search for the option for Mail. Preserve that. Must you don’t wish to wait on up your entire Gmail, and only settle on emails with advise labels, it is probably you’ll possibly per chance be in a field to also click the down-arrow to ranking more advise about what Google saves.
Once you’ve made your alternative—”Consist of your entire mail” needs to be true ample for many of us—scroll to the backside of the page and click Subsequent. I are inclined to head away your entire alternate options as their defaults on the next veil, however it is probably you’ll possibly per chance be in a field to continuously commerce the archival dimension while you happen to suspect it is probably you’ll possibly per chance own a lot of email and attachments to wait on up and wish to handle fewer recordsdata. Possibilities are you’ll possibly per chance well possibly furthermore furthermore disclose Google to dump your backup to your Google Drive routinely—or Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box. I usually real own Google email me a salvage link, so I will then retailer my backup on my PC, NAS field, or other portable storage.
Click “Create Archive” while you’re ready, and settle some time to chill while Google backs up your stuff.
What extinguish I extinguish with this .MBOX file?
Once you unzip Google’s archive, you’ll search for one (or a couple of) .MBOX recordsdata. Viewing their contents—your emails—is continuously a cumbersome route of. First, salvage Thunderbird—Mozilla’s no longer-rather-stupid email consumer. Must you real want a short and straightforward model for viewing archival .MBOX recordsdata, I imply downloading a conveyable model of Thunderbird as one more of the elephantine Thunderbird consumer. Your name.
Once you’re in Thunderbird, click on Instruments, after which Add-ons. Click on Get Add-ons at the pause of the left sidebar and survey for ImportExportTools. Install that.
Head wait on to the Native Folders tab. Click on Instruments again, scroll down to ImportExportTools, and favor “Import mbox file.” Steal which option makes the most sense for you—importing a single .MBOX file or more than one—after which trot get grasp of the .MBOX file(s) you downloaded from Google.
It might per chance well possibly possibly per chance well make a selection the add-on rather of time to dump your emails into Thunderbird, reckoning on what number of it has to fight thru, however it is probably you’ll possibly per chance well furthermore composed search for them all pop up as a folder (or folders) within Thunderbird. You’ll now be in a field to click thru them (and re-set attachments) as you search for fit.
Right here’s also section of the technique you’ll disclose to restore your messages to your Gmail memoir—or to repeat them over to a new Gmail memoir, if all the pieces hit the fan with your venerable one.
Must you don’t wish to fuss with Thunderbird and an add-on, it is probably you’ll possibly per chance be in a field to try the app CutePieSMPT Daemon, which also makes it extremely easy to peep the contents of an .MBOX file. The app felt rather of laggy—and crashed once—after I worn it, however while you happen to real must snappy check something in your downloaded Gmail archive, it’s a ravishing alternative. I also admire its identify.
Must you’re on a Mac, it is probably you’ll possibly per chance be in a field to disclose Apple’s Mail app to import .MBOX recordsdata. Start the app, click on File, and click on “Import Mailboxes.” Make advantageous that “Recordsdata in mbox structure” is chosen, after which get grasp of your .MBOX file(s). The leisure you import will ranking dropped into the “On My Mac” section of Mail as a subfolder of a new “Import” folder.
