Gmail account is the most trusted and preferred web-based email application – it’s free, provides generous storage space, business application, and many more. However, being a web-based email client, its user are unable to access their emails without the internet connection. This arises the demand to save Gmail emails offline.
This is why in this article, we are gonna cover 2 of the best strategy for offline access of Gmail emails.
Need to Save Gmail Emails Offline
There could be many possible reasons for saving Gmail emails offline or taking its backup. Gmail account is a reliable email client application but it does not guarantee the complete security of the data.
The need to backup or save Gmail emails may also arise when the free Gmail storage of 15 GB gets exhausted and lead to bounce back of incoming emails.
The other reason could be that the emails in the Gmail account are always prone to data corruption, hacking or undesirable malware and viruses. This is why the need for cybersecurity arises.
Solution for Saving Gmail Emails Offline at Enterprise Level
When the Gmail emails need to be saved offline for multiple users, then the solution is required for the enterprise level. In such a case, an automated tool ‘Gmail Backup for Win & Mac’ is the most preferred solution. It downloads and saves the Gmail emails of multiple users simultaneously without any loss of data.
In this blog, you will study the different methods as how you can save Gmail emails in an offline mode. The intent is to prepare the backup of the Gmail emails so that there is no loss of data and it can be prevented from data corruption or any fraudulent activities.
There are possibly two methods to save emails in an offline mode. One is the automated tool and the other is the manual method.
Using Third-Party Tool to Save Gmail Emails in Multiple Formats
Gmail Backup is a proficient tool that is known for the backup of Gmail data like emails, calendars, contacts, Google Drive documents, and many more.
The following are the reasons for choosing the Gmail Backup as a tool:
- Backup emails along with the attachments
- Gmail emails can be converted into multiple file formats like PST, MSG, MBOX, EML etc.
- Can save Gmail emails as PDF with attachments inside it
- Single or Multiple Gmail account emails can be backed up simultaneously
- ‘Delete After Download’ is a feature that can download the emails and simultaneously delete them from the server
- ‘Select Folders Filter’ is an option to choose the folders from where the emails need to be downloaded
- ‘Email Filter’ is an option that can display the emails within the date range specified which is required to download the desired emails
- Maintains the Folders Hierarchy and structure along with data consistency and integrity
Using Takeout Service For Saving Emails
There are various manual methods for taking the backup of Gmail emails in the local secondary storage.
Method 1: Download Gmail Emails Using Google Takeout
Google Takeout is an inbuilt feature provided by the Google. This tool is available free of cost and requires only internet connectivity to execute the functions.
The following are the step by step procedure to download Gmail emails using the Google Takeout feature:
1. Open the web browser and go to the URL as ‘https://myaccount.google.com/’
2. Click on the tab ‘Data & personalization’ on the left side of the page.
3. On the right side of the page, under ‘Download, delete or make a plan for your data’, choose ‘Download your data’ as an option.
4. Click on ‘Deselect all’ and scroll down to select ‘Mail’. Now, click on ‘All Mail data included’.
5. A small window will get opened where deselect ‘Include all messages in the mail’ and choose the type of messages to include. Then click ‘OK’ and move down to click on ‘Next’ Step.
6. A window will get opened where you need to choose the delivery method as ‘Download link via email’, choose the frequency as ‘Export once’, file type as ‘ZIP’, and file size as ‘2 GB’. The choice of options can be changed as per the user’s requirements.
7. Now, click on ‘Create Export’ button.
8. The export process will begin and the single file with all the email messages will be sent as a link on your email id. All the messages will be in MBOX format.
Limitations of Using Google Takeout Feature
- It is a lengthy and time-consuming process as the export may take several hours or days to complete export depending upon the amount of data
- Once the export is started, then it cannot be paused or restart
- It does not provide the filters like Date Filter or allows to select of the emails within the folders
- Its usage is limited to a single user only
Method 2: Save Gmail Emails as a PDF
The Gmail emails can be saved in the PDF format as follows:
- Sign in into Gmail account and open the email which you want to save in the PDF format
- Once the email is opened, then go to the ‘Print All’ option and click on it
- The ‘Print’ window will get opened where you can save the File type as ‘PDF’ format. Then, your email file will get saved as ‘PDF’
Limitations of saving Gmail emails as PDF
- The user can download only a single email in PDF format
- The multiple emails can be saved one by one which becomes a time-consuming and tedious task
In the above blog, you have learned the need, solution for saving Gmail emails at the enterprise level, and the different methods to save Gmail emails offline by means of automated tool and manual method. The automated tool is the best fit for enterprise-level and single users which can give the best results without taking much time. However, the manual method is limited to a single user only with a very lengthy approach and time-consuming process.