# How do I download all my Gmail? — Adinand Email Cleaner

Last reviewed: October 8, 2026. HTML version: https://adinandemail.com/answers/download-all-my-gmail

**Use Google Takeout, Google's own export tool. You pick Mail, choose how the archive should reach you, and Google emails a link when it is ready; your Gmail is left exactly as it was.** The steps below are from Google's Takeout help page ([*How to download your Google data*](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190), read 8 October 2026), which also says the wait can run from minutes to days. Google recommends doing it from a computer: "We recommend downloading and viewing Takeout exports from a desktop computer, not a mobile device."

## Step 1: choose Mail <p>Sign in and go to takeout.google.com. Google says the products you use "are automatically selected", so for mail alone, deselect everything else: "If you don’t want to download data from a product, uncheck the box beside it." For part of a product, the page says only that "you may have the option to select a button like All data included" and untick what you do not want. The page does not list what the choices are for Mail (the *How to download your Google data* page above), so look at what the button offers on your own account. Then click Next step.</p>

## Step 2: decide how it arrives <p>Takeout asks four questions:</p> <ul> <li>**Delivery method.** A download link by email, or straight into Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive or Box. Note the catch with Drive: "Your data will count toward your storage", which matters if a full account is the reason you are exporting.</li> <li>**Export type.** A one-time archive, or scheduled exports that "Automatically create an archive of your selected data every 2 months for one year."</li> <li>**File type.** Zip, which "can be opened on almost any computer", or tgz, for which on Windows "You may need additional software".</li> <li>**Archive size.** The largest single file you want. "If the data you’re downloading is larger than this size, multiple archives will be created." Google's tip for fewer pieces is to "select the 50GB size limit."</li> </ul> <p>Click Create export. If you use Google's Advanced Protection Program, the page says the archive "will be scheduled for two days in the future."</p>

## What the download contains <p>Gmail's own export page lists "Message content", "Message headers" and "Attachments", plus labels for every class of mail from the inbox and sent mail to Spam, Trash and snoozed messages, and your settings: signatures, the vacation response, forwarding addresses, filters and blocked addresses ([*Export your data from Gmail*](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/10016932), read 8 October 2026). Three limits from that page: you get only "data that hasn't been deleted"; "encrypted messages remain encrypted"; and on a work or school account "some data might not be available for download."</p>

## What Google's pages do not tell you <p>Neither page names the file format the mail itself arrives in (the *How to download your Google data* and *Export your data from Gmail* pages, both cited above). The Takeout page says instead that the archive includes "a file named archive_browser.html that will have additional information about the file formats, how to open the file, and view the data", so open that first. Labels come through as a header on each message, and the page is candid that "no mail client recognizes this header now". Nor does either page say how attachments are laid out inside the archive; if they are what you need, [downloading Gmail attachments](https://adinandemail.com/answers/download-gmail-attachments-in-bulk) takes a different route.</p> <p>There is also no date range. In Google's words: "At this time, we do not currently support exporting data for certain time frames." It is the whole mailbox or nothing.</p>

## Collect it before it expires <p>"Your archive expires in about 7 days", and "We only allow each archive to be downloaded 5 times; after that, please request another archive." Expect a password prompt before the download starts; Google asks so that "you're the only person downloading your data". If an export fails, the page's advice is to try again, or export one product at a time. For a single message, Gmail on a computer has a separate route: open it, click More, then Download message, and you get an EML file; Google notes that "To open the EML file that downloads, you need a desktop mail client." ([*Download & send emails as attachments*](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/9261412), read 8 October 2026).</p>

## If the export is a step before deleting <p>Move the archive somewhere outside Google first. The Takeout page warns: "If you use Google Drive and plan to delete your Google Account, you'll have to move your archive to a different storage space before deleting your account." The rest of that process is on [deleting a Gmail account](https://adinandemail.com/answers/delete-a-gmail-account). If the worry is an old account that might be closed for lack of use, see [whether Google deletes inactive accounts](https://adinandemail.com/answers/does-google-delete-inactive-gmail-accounts).</p>

Related: [Downloading Gmail attachments](https://adinandemail.com/answers/download-gmail-attachments-in-bulk) · [Deleting a Gmail account](https://adinandemail.com/answers/delete-a-gmail-account) · [How long Gmail keeps old emails](https://adinandemail.com/answers/how-long-does-gmail-keep-old-emails) · [Does Google delete inactive accounts?](https://adinandemail.com/answers/does-google-delete-inactive-gmail-accounts)