How to Backup Gmail Emails in Offline Mode?

Planning to backup Gmail emails locally in offline mode? Then, you must read this blog!

Gmail is one of the most demanding cloud-based email clients for several reasons – it’s free, fast, and provides generous storage space. It’s a trustworthy email client that would never randomly delete its user emails or deactivate its account. However, it is still prone to hacker attacks that are constantly looking for Gmail account weaknesses. Or, there are chances of getting a Gmail outage. In these cases, you will not be able to access your Gmail account. So, it’s better to backup Gmail emails today, than regretting in the future.

In this blog, we will cover the two quickest ways to backup your Gmail account emails for Offline reading using Google Takeout and automated tools (for better performance).

What are Possible Ways to Backup Gmail Emails?

There are many ways using which any Gmail user can easily backup their account data without any trouble. But, each method has its own limitation. It’s better to understand which one is best suited according to your requirement. Following are the way to backup your Gmail emails for offline reading:

• View Gmail Emails Offline using Google Chrome: You can enable this feature in Gmail settings, it allows you to view your emails without an internet connection. However, this is only limited to a certain time period.
• Use Email Client for backup emails offline: You can take the help of Thunderbird / Outlook email clients for backup. This method is the only way for taking backup of emails from the Gmail account, it doesn’t backup contacts, calendars, and documents. Not to mention the time taken by this method is the longest of all other methods.
• Using Google Takeout for Backup: Google provides its own method for backup. This method backup complete Gmail account data for Offline access. It saves the emails in MBOX format that can be imported into other emails client for Offline reading. However, not being able to backup emails in any format other than MBOX makes is its only disadvantage. But still, it’s better than the other possible methods. This is why this method is one we pick for the top two.
• Taking the help of Automate tool for backup: When all the routes are blocked, the only savior is the automated tool. Yes, they cost you a bit for doing the job but they don’t impose any limitation other than that. They are the best way to backup Gmail emails Offline in multiple email formats. We will be covering the benefits of choosing this method below.

Also Refer: How to Export Selected Emails From Gmail?

Backup Gmail Emails Offline Using Google Takeout

1. Login into your Gmail account here: www.takeout.google.com

2. First, deselect all the select options and then choose the required data such as Mail that you wish to backup

3. To customize the backup, select the customize archive format:

• File Type: .zip (recommended)
• Archive Size: 2 GB
• Delivery Method: Send download link via emails

4. Click on Create export button to backup Gmail emails offline (MBOX format)

Caution: We recommend not to choose Archive storage location like Google Drive. As it will count against Google storage quota.

5. Once you get the download link, click on Manage archive and download the archive one by one.

Challenges While Using Google Takeout

• Backup emails in MBOX format only.
• Doesn’t provide a selective folder filter.
• No feature to skip taking backup of already downloaded files.
• A weak internet connection may lead to failure in downloading archives.
• Limited attempts to download an archive.
• Time taken for archive creation is too high.

Backup Gmail Data Locally Using Automated Tool

To save you from trouble in deciding which automated software to choose, we picked the one that we found best among other tools. You can take the help of Best Gmail Backup Software. It is a leading band and the most reliable software to backup Gmail emails offline.

Download for Win OS Download for Mac OS

1. First, download the backup utility on Windows / Mac PC (software are available for both)

2. Launch the tool and login into it using your Gmail account Id and Password

3. Select the format to take backup of Gmail emails, choose from PST, EML, MSG, MBOX, and PDF

4. The tool provides multiple Category options to backup data from, such as Email, Contacts, Calendars, and Documents

5. Browse the Location where you wish to save backed up emails and other data

6. Choose the Advance Filter option to backup emails from the selective Gmail folder and then click on the Start button.

The tool will begin the backup process and it will notify you when done. The backup process is quite fast when using this tool.

Also Read: How to Convert Gmail Emails to PDF?

Unique Features of Automated Tools During Backup

• Allows taking backup in multiple formats.
• Category, Folder, and Date filter for selective email backup.
• Backup multiple categories of data such as emails, contacts, calendars & documents
• Incremental backup to skip already backup data in the previous attempt
• Delete After Download option is available to free up server space.
• Generates a complete report for the backup data for validation.

Conclusion

The above write-up is a complete guide for Gmail users to easily backup Gmail emails Offline. We have discussed the most traditional way of backup which is using Google Takeout. Additionally, we have also discussed an automated tool that overcomes all the traditional methods. You can check the methods for yourself and choose the best one for the long run. For testing of the tool try its free demo version that takes backup of first 100 emails and 25 other items.