How to back up your Gmail messages

Updated: 07/31/2022 by Computer Hope
Gmail logo

Whether it's for posterity, security, or you want to move your messages, Google offers a service (called Google Takeout) to create a backup file of all your currently-stored e-mails. To learn how, follow the instructions below.

How to back up your Gmail messages

  1. Access your Google Account and sign in, if prompted.
  2. On the left side of the screen, click the Data & privacy selector.

Data & privacy selector.

  1. Scroll down to the Data from apps and services you use section and, under Download or delete your data, click Download your data.

Download your data selector.

  1. On the next page, click Deselect all to the right of Products.

Deselect all link.

  1. Scroll down and check the box next to the Mail entry.

Checkbox in the Mail section of Google Takeout.

Tip

To choose what's included in the backup file, click the All Mail data included button, check or uncheck the appropriate boxes, and click OK.

  1. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Next step button in Chrome. button.
  2. In the Choose file type, frequency & destination section, select a delivery method (A), click the Export once radio button (B), and choose File type & size options (C). Then click the Create export button (D).

Creating a data export with Google Takeout.

  1. If everything works correctly, a screen similar to the one below is displayed. From here, you can choose to cancel the export or create another.

Data export confirmation.