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Export your Gmail mailbox with Google Takeout

Google Takeout is Google's service for handing you a copy of your data. For Gmail, it delivers an archive holding an .mbox file: all your messages, with their labels and attachments.

Step by step

  1. Open Google Takeout

    Go to takeout.google.com, signed in to the Gmail account to export.

  2. Pick Gmail only

    Click "Deselect all", then tick "Mail". The included-data button lets you take only some labels.

  3. Set the delivery

    Next step: send download link by email, export once, .zip file. Pick the largest archive size offered to avoid receiving several parts.

  4. Wait

    Google prepares the export, from a few minutes to several days for a large mailbox, then emails a download link, valid for a limited time.

  5. Unzip

    Download the archive and unzip it: the file is in Takeout/Mail/, under a name such as "All mail Including Spam and Trash.mbox".

Good to know

  • The full export also holds spam and trash.
  • On a work or school account (Google Workspace), the administrator may have turned Takeout off: ask them for the export.
  • Unzipping needs as much free space as the mailbox itself.
  • Takeout hands over a copy as of the export date; messages that arrive later are not in it.

Then, in Klarinbox

Drop the .mbox file on Open an mbox mailbox: it is read in chunks, even at several gigabytes, labels become folders, and each message can be opened, extracted or turned into a PDF.

Frequently asked questions

Can I export a single label?
Yes: in Takeout, under "Mail", the included-data button lets you untick "All messages" and choose labels.