How to Export Gmail Emails to Hard Drive? Discussed

Nowadays several users are looking for a proven solution to export Gmail emails to hard drive because of email security and creating a backup to avoid data loss scenarios. This blog post discloses various manual and professional solutions to save Gmail emails to external hard drives.

Gmail offers some inbuilt features like “Download Message” or “Print” that allow you to export Gmail to hard drive. You can also “Google Takeout” offered by Google which allows you to export your Gmail data. Also, you can use “Third-Party Software” to save emails from Gmail to hard drive.

Upcoming sections disclose the step-by-step process to save emails from Gmail to hard drive using Download Message, Print Option, Google Takeout, and Backup Software. But first, let’s understand why users prefer to store their emails on a hard disk.

Why Save Gmail Emails to External Hard Drive? Let’s Understand

• Restore Emails: Users prefer to export Gmail emails to hard drive for storing purposes so that they may restore accidentally deleted emails from exported data.
• Creating Backup: Backup all Gmail emails to hard drive is considered a good habit because a backup is helpful to avoid all data loss scenarios.
• Offline Access: If your emails are stored on a hard drive then you can easily access them offline without internet connectivity when Gmail not working.
• Free Up Storage: As we all know, Gmail provides 15 GB storage space to store emails as well as other items. So, users want to mass delete emails on Gmail to free up storage space but before deleting they store emails on a hard disk.
• Legal Reasons: According to government policy multiple organizations need to store employee data for a specific time when they leave their jobs.
• Switch Email Service: There are some situations when users prefer to switch Gmail to another email service. Then users save all Gmail emails to hard drive in a specific format accordingly.

#1 How to Export Emails from Gmail to Hard Drive Using Takeout?

1. First, sign in to your Gmail account and go to https://takeout.google.com/.
2. Choose the “Deselect all” option to uncheck all Google services.
   
3. After that, select “Mail” from the listed services and click “Next Step“.
   
4. Then, choose “Destination” as “Send download link via email“.
   
5. Enable the “Export Once” option that is available under “Frequency“.
   
6. Thereafter, select “File Type as ZIP” and “File Size” accordingly.
7. Click the “Create Export” button to initiate the export process.
   
8. Next, you will receive an email with an export data link.
9. After receiving the email, download Gmail emails to hard drive in a “ZIP” file.
10. Right-click on the ZIP file and choose “Extract here” to get the MBOX file.

What Does Google Takeout Offer?

• Export Gmail emails to MBOX format on your hard drive with all items.
• Options to send download link via email, add to Drive, add to Dropbox, add to OneDrive, and add to Box.
• Takeout allows us to set Frequency to export once (1 export) and export every 2 months for a year (6 exports).
• You can choose File Type to export Gmail to hard drive into ZIP, and TGZ compressed format.
• Freedom to select specific maximum size i.e. 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 10 GB, and 50 GB, choose accordingly.
• Choose specific Gmail folders to store on a hard drive using the All-Mail Data Included option.

#2 How to Backup Gmail to Hard Drive with Download Message Option?

1. Login to your Gmail from which you want to export emails to hard drive.
2. Then, open an email and click the “Three Dot” icon to continue.
3. After that, choose the “Download Message” option from the dropdown choices.
4. Gmail email downloaded to hard drive in “EML” file under “Download folder”.

What Does the Download Message Option Provide?

• The Download Message option permits exporting emails from Gmail to EML format on hard drive.
• This option allows you to download Gmail email to hard drive into the download folder without asking for the destination path.
• Preserves complete email items and components while storing emails on a hard drive i.e. subject, date, time, headings, attachments, inline images, etc.
• You can save multiple emails from Gmail to hard drive one by one according to your choice.

#3 How to Export Gmail Emails to Hard Drive via Print Option?

1. Sign in to your Gmail account from which you wish to export email.
2. Then, open an email and click the “Print” icon from the right corner.
   
3. After that, choose the “Save as PDF” option under the “Destination” option.
   
4. Tap the “Save” button and choose the “Hard Drive” as the destination path.
5. Click the “Save” button to export Gmail email to hard drive in “PDF” format.

What Features Does the Print Option Provide?

• Utilize this feature to save Gmail emails as PDF format on external and internal hard drives.
• The print option also permits you to print an entire email thread in Gmail to create a hard copy of the email.
• Save emails from Gmail to hard drive by choosing custom and all pages as per your requirements.
• Facility to choose paper size i.e. Legal, Letter, Tabloid, A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, and A5.
• You can also choose margins i.e. Default, None, Minimum, and Custom.
• Freedom to enable and disable headers and footers/ background graphics for printing needs.

#4 How to Backup Gmail to Hard drive Using SysTools Software?

SysTools Gmail Backup Software is specifically designed to save Gmail emails to external hard drive in bulk. This is the easiest way to perform this task with ease as it offers various additional features that are missing in manual methods. Even this software comes with a free trial version so you can evaluate it before upgrading to a licensed edition.

Note: This software asks for Gmail credentials like Email Address and App Password. First, you need to create an App Password for your Gmail account then you can use our software effectively.

What Is Special in Software Over Manual Methods?

• Backup Gmail emails to hard drive into multiple formats like PST, PDF, MBOX, EML, and MSG.
• The tool has the option to delete emails after exporting them from Gmail to external hard drive to free up space.
• It comes with various file naming conventions to manage resultant emails and documents in different styles.
• The software has an Incremental backup feature so that you can start downloading where you finished.
• You can check or uncheck required Gmail folders to save them on a hard drive from whole folders.
• Separately export Google calendars to VCF format and calendars into ICS format with the entire information.
• Use advanced filter mode to save Gmail emails to hard drive within a specific date range.

Steps to Save All Gmail Emails to Hard Drive

1. Start the software, type Gmail credentials i.e. Users Name and App Password, and click Login.
   
2. After that, choose a saving option from multiple choices accordingly.
   
3. Select the categories and browse the destination path from your hard drive.
   
4. Enable advanced filters if required and click the Start button.
   
5. Gmail emails to hard drive export process is running, please wait for completion.
   
6. After completion, get the resultant data from the selected hard drive location.
   

Conclusion

Above we have discussed the top 4 reliable techniques to export Gmail emails to hard drive using Google Takeout Utility, Download Message Option, Print Option, and SysTools Software. Also, we have learned the features and benefits of each method, you can choose any technique according to your requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q 1: How to save all Gmail emails to hard drive?

Above we have disclosed 4 tried and tested ways to save Gmail emails to hard drive. However, if you want to download all emails, you must use Google Takeout or SysTools Software. Other methods allow you to export Gmail emails to hard drive one by one.

Q 2: Can I copy Gmail emails to hard drive within a specific date range?

Yes, choose the Apply Filter option from the software panel and then select a specific date range according to copy emails from Gmail to hard drive.

Q 3: How do I save all my Gmail emails to external hard drive?

First, connect the external hard drive to your computer then choose it as the preferred destination path to save Gmail emails to external hard drive.