Archiving Gmail Emails

Creating a zipped archive file in Gmail and saving it to your computer

The following instructions will guide you through creating a zip file of your emails on Gmail. You can then download this file to your local computer.

Start by…
1. Open Gmail.
2. Click on your profile icon in the top right corner (usually your initial by default).
3. Click on My Account.
4. In the Personal Info and Privacy section, click Control your content.
5. Click Create Archive under the Download your data window.
6. The Select data to include section has every option selected by default. What you include in your archived file is your choice, but you’ll want to make sure that Mail is enabled (Mail is probably sufficient for most users). You’ll notice an arrow next to Mail and if you click it, now you have the option to select All Mail or specific labels (folders, directories).
7. Once you have everything selected that you want, click Next at the bottom.
8. Make sure the File Type is .zip.
9. Set an Archive size (max). This will depend on how much Mail is in your Gmail account and what other choices you selected in step 6. If your zip file is greater than your max size, then you will get multiple files. For example, if your select 2GB as your max size but your zip file is 4GB then you will get two 2GB zip files.
10. Next, select a Delivery method. Options are: Send a download link via email, Add the file to Google Drive, Add the file to Dropbox or Add the file to OneDrive.
11. Finally, click Create Archive.

The archive creation can take several hours or even a couple of days to create depending on how big the archive is. Google will send you an email when the archive is ready.