How to Download Your Gmail MBOX Data and What to Do With It
Step 1: Download Your Gmail Data With Google Takeout
First, you need to download the export of your Gmail data from Google Takeout.
By default, all of your Google service data will be selected, so this includes stuff like Chrome and Drive. If you just want Gmail, click Deselect all at the top of the list. Scroll down to Mail and tick the box.
You will see that the MBOX format has been selected. You can click this, but you cannot change the format for Mail, though you can for other Google services.
By default, all your Gmail messages from all your categories will be included. If you want to adjust this, click All Mail data included, remove the checkmark from Include all messages in Mail, choose the folders you want, then click OK.
Scroll down and click Next. Here you can choose your Delivery method, Frequency, and File type & size. You can leave everything as default, but change them if you want. When ready, click Create export.
Your export will then process. You will receive an email notification when it’s ready. If you only included Mail in the export, it won’t take too long just wait on the page for it to finish. When it has, click Download.
Open the compressed file on your computer and export it. The necessary MBOX file is in the Takeout > Mail folder.
Step 2: Import Your Gmail MBOX Into Thunderbird
You can import your Gmail data into any email client that supports MBOX. You could also use a utility like Windows MBox Viewer.
If you use a Mac, you can import the MBOX file into your Mac’s Mail app by clicking File > Import Mailboxes. If you use Microsoft Outlook, you’ll have to first convert the MBOX file into another format Outlook supports—Outlook has no native way of importing MBOX files.
For the detailed steps of this guide, we’ll use Mozilla Thunderbird because it’s free, open-source, and supports MBOX files natively. It also runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
So, install Thunderbird on your computer and open it.
Follow the wizard to add any email account to Thunderbird. You don’t have to actually use the email account for anything; this will just ensure Thunderbird is set up properly for email.
Close Thunderbird after adding an email account. You now need to navigate to a specific Thunderbird folder on File Explorer so that you can place your Gmail MBOX in it. Here’s how to do that.
Press Windows key + R to open Run, input %appdata%\Thunderbird\Profiles\
Then click OK.
This will open File Explorer. You should see a folder in here called xxxxxxxx.default, where the x is eight random characters. Navigate inside this folder and then go to Mail > Local Folders.
Get the MBOX file you downloaded earlier and place it within the Local Folders folder. You can left-click and drag the file across between the open windows or use copy (Ctrl + C) and Paste (Ctrl + V).
Run Thunderbird again. The downloaded contents of your Gmail account will appear under Local Folders in Thunderbird.
Step 3: Use Thunderbird as an Offline Archive
Thunderbird now provides an offline way to read your downloaded email. You can browse through it, read messages, search, grab file attachments anything you could do with Gmail online.
This is an excellent backup solution that provides peace of mind. You can store an offline backup of your Gmail account in MBOX format on an external hard drive or USB somewhere, along with all your other important backup files. Of course, you’ll want to regularly download a new MBOX backup file if you’re still using Gmail, just to keep your backups up to date.
Whether you lose access to your Gmail account, Google shuts down Gmail, or the entire internet collapses, you’ll always have a way to access your email archive.
