# How do I download Gmail attachments in bulk? — Adinand Email Cleaner Last reviewed: September 23, 2026. HTML version: https://adinandemail.com/answers/download-gmail-attachments-in-bulk **Google's help page on downloading attachments documents no bulk-download button — not for a mailbox, and not even for one message.** That is worth saying plainly before you go looking for one. Three routes actually work, they produce quite different things, and picking the wrong one costs an afternoon. ## Route 1 — one at a time, or straight to Drive

Google's own page on opening and downloading attachments documents exactly two actions, and neither is a bulk one ([*Open & download attachments in Gmail*](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/30719), read 23 September 2026). To download: "Open a message", "At the bottom of the message, hover over the attachment", "Click Download". To send it to Drive instead, the same three steps and then "Click Add to Drive" — with the caveat Google flags, "You can’t add certain attachments to Google Drive".

That page does not document a save-all control, so if a guide describes a "download all attachments" button, check it against your own screen before relying on it.

## Route 2 — Google Takeout (the whole mailbox)

Takeout exports the mail you have not deleted, and Google lists **"Attachments"** among what the download includes ([*Export your data from Gmail*](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/10016932), read 23 September 2026). Two further things Google states: "each message's labels are preserved in a special X-Gmail-Labels header in your download file", and "Unfortunately at this time, we don’t support timeframe exports" — you cannot ask for just last year ([*How to download your Google data*](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190), read 23 September 2026).

What neither Google page says is how the attachments are laid out in the export, so do not count on a tidy folder of loose PDFs. The same Google page talks about the labels header in terms of what "mail clients" can read, which suggests the file is meant for a mail program rather than a file browser. Takeout is the right tool for *keeping a copy of everything* and the wrong one for *getting my invoices out*.

## Route 3 — narrow the search first, then download

Usually the real request is "all the attachments of a certain kind", and that is a search problem. These operators are all documented by Google ([*Refine searches in Gmail*](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190), read 23 September 2026):

Work through that result set message by message. It is manual, but it is a bounded list rather than a mailbox. [The full operator set.](https://adinandemail.com/answers/use-google-search-operators)

## A word on third-party "attachment downloader" add-ons

Add-ons that promise this need access to your mail to do it. That is a real decision, not a formality: an add-on that can read every message is an add-on that can read every message. Check what scope it asks for before installing, and prefer one that names exactly what it will touch.

## The step everyone forgets

Downloading an attachment copies it. It does not remove it from Gmail, and it does not give you a single byte of storage back. Google's own words: "Attachments count toward your Google storage. Storage is shared across Drive, Photos, and Gmail" ([*Send attachments with your Gmail message*](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6584), read 23 September 2026). If the point of the exercise was space, the download is step one of two, and step two is deleting the mail that carried it. [What is actually holding the bytes.](https://adinandemail.com/answers/what-takes-up-space-in-gmail)

Related: [Where are attachments in Gmail?](https://adinandemail.com/answers/attachments-in-gmail) · [Find large emails in Gmail](https://adinandemail.com/answers/find-large-emails-in-gmail) · [Gmail attachment size](https://adinandemail.com/answers/gmail-maximum-attachment-size) · [What takes up space in Gmail?](https://adinandemail.com/answers/what-takes-up-space-in-gmail)