Backing up emails from gmail before account deletion

W1zardK1ng

I have been forwarding my emails from my gmail account to my proton mail using an alias, now i don't see any mails coming from that gmail account and feels confident to delete that account completely.
Before i do that i want to take a complete backup of my emails to my local system, i don't want to import it to any other mail provider.
I tried the google takeout option but its not possible to see each mails locally. have anyone tried something like this.
Is it okay to login to thunderbird and backup it to create a local copy of mails? Any idea is appreciated.
thanks.

Eagle_Owl

W1zardK1ng
Congratulations for this step!

I can highly recommend this free product:
https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-home/

I have used it for years, before switching to Tuta.com and waiting years for their import function (not ready yet).
Maybe you know Steve Gibson, a security expert, great coder and Host of the podcast “Security Now!”?
He also uses this German software solution MailStore Home since years and recommends it (no paid advertising, for sure!).

For fans of Thunderbird and for using your old mails as templates or to have access to all new and old mails together: it's not bad to use Thunderbird for it.
But if you don't need older e-mails directly in your daily used e-mail client, archive them in a professional way with MailStore Home.

BTW: Since today, Tuta.com released their new free calendar app with quantum-save encryption!

treenutz68

Eagle_Owl

That sounds wonderful. Do you know of anything similar that runs on linux?

W1zardK1ng

Thanks, ill check it out.

AlphaElwedritsch

I did this step three years ago
As I reminder correctly, there was the possibility to backup all the mails in Google's settings. It creates one big compressed file which I could store locally.
Please don't ask where you can find this option. I don't remember.
If you uncompress this local file it can be imported in Thunderbird as local mail storage for example

Or you connect Thunderbird via imap to you Gmail account an copy all mails there to a local folder

Eagle_Owl

treenutz68
Yes, it is.
But unfortunately I have no experience with Linux.

I guess, then the solution AlphaElwedritsch has mentioned, is the easiest:
If you haven't deleted your e-mails in Gmail yet, connect Thunderbird via IMAP with your Gmail account, copy all mails there into a local folder.

If you have very much e-mails or a few folders with e-mails with heavy attachments, then I recommend to do it in stages, i.e. do not select and copy all Gmail mail folders at once, but only a few at a time. This avoids cancellations if the online connection is not optimal and you have better control over which mails have already successfully arrived in your local folder.

After this, don't forget to make a backup of your complete Thunderbird.

AlphaElwedritsch

Eagle_Owl If you have very much e-mails or a few folders with e-mails with heavy attachments, then I recommend to do it in stages, i.e. do not select and copy all Gmail mail folders at once, but only a few at a time.

mailbox.org ist recommending to select only 300-500 mails at once

https://kb.mailbox.org/en/private/account-article/move-away-from-gmail-to-mailbox-org-step-by-step#3-import-your-data-to-mailboxorg