Although your Gmail email is safely stored on Google’s massive servers, it’s always a good idea to have your own backup.

The instructions here are for Windows, but the Linux version is virtually identical. If you’re using another platform, see the links at the end of this article for further instructions.

To get your backups working on Windows, follow these steps:

Note: If you have hidden your All Mail folder, you must show it before starting the backup.

1. Download Gmail backup. This is a free download, however there is an option to make a donation as with all open source software. Do a Google search for Gmail backup and it’s the first result. You have to scroll down to find the link of the .exe file for Windows.

2. When the download is complete, install Gmail Backup by running the downloaded file. Follow the instructions and keep all defaults.

The installation creates an icon for Gmail Backup on the desktop.

3.Double click the icon to start the program.

4.Specify your Gmail login and Gmail password.

5. For Server enter imap.gmail.com.

6. Select your preferred backup folder and name the backup file.

Grades:

• The file is named GmailBackup-YYYY-MM-DD.zip on purpose. This date format ensures that your backup files are listed in date order. So if you’re used to a different date format, don’t change it here. The .zip file extension tells Gmail Backup to save the backup in a zip file.
• We recommend that you create a new folder for the backup files.
• If you’ve been using Gmail for a while, you may need to change the date range to back up all your emails. The date range can be used to speed up subsequent backups by skipping emails that have already been backed up.

7. Click Backup. If you see an error message that says you can’t access IMAP folders, it’s because your All Mail folder is hidden. In this case, you will need to unhide the folder before starting the backup.

8.When you see the message “Completing account backup…”, the backup is complete.

To restore your emails from a backup, follow these steps:

1. Start Gmail backup. Gmail Backup remembers your Gmail login and the name of the last backup file.

2. Enter your password. Verify that the backup file name is correct.

3. Click Restore.

You will receive a message: “End of account restoration…” This means that the restoration is complete.

Note:

You can back up from one Gmail account and restore it to another Gmail account. This can be useful if you want to try the restore feature or if you want to move emails from one Gmail account to another Gmail account.