Email backup is one of the most crucial aspects of information management, to make sure important emails can be reinstated in case of accidental data loss.
With the ever-increasing number of cyber attacks, it is no wonder why you might want to backup your emails You may want to back up your emails because of server failures, internet downtime, account closure, migration, etc but whatever reason it is, You need to regularly backup your emails
Backing up emails in mail clients can vary depending on the specific mail client you are using. Here are some general steps for some popular mail clients:
Backing up Email on Outlook
Follow these steps to backup your Outlook email folders and mail locally on your computer
- Click File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
- Select Export to a file
- Click Next and choose the Outlook Data File (.pst, .csv) as the export format.
- Click Next and select the mail folder you would like to back up
- Choose the destination folder and backup name
- Select “Finish”.
Backing up Email on Gmail
Follow the steps below to download all emails from Gmail:
- Log in to your Gmail account on your computer.
- Click your Profile icon
- Go to your Google Account.
- Select Data & privacy from the list of options.
- Look for the “Download, delete or make a plan for your data” section and select the “Download your data” option.
- Ensure “Mail” is selected.
- Under “Mail,” select all the labels you want to download.
- Click “Next step” below.
- Now, choose the file type or format you would like to download
- Once done, click “Create archive.” to download all emails on your computer.
Backing up Email on Thunderbird
Open Thunderbird.
Select your Inbox or any preferred folder you would like to download
Select the message you want to export. Or press CTRL + A to select all mail on Windows(CMD + A for macOS) within the folder.
Select Save as -> File.
Locate the folder where the messages should be saved and click Save.
By default Thunderbird will export all the selected email messages in .eml format, you can also choose .txt or .html type depending on your needs
Backing Up Emails on Mac
Follow these steps to back up emails using the Apple Mail client. if your account is already set up, skip to the fourth step
Go to Mail -> Add Account.
Choose the Other Mail Account option. Click Continue.
Enter your email server details and Sign In.
Click the email folder you want to download and choose Export Mailbox.
Select your destination folder and click “Choose”. Mail will export your emails in the form of a .mbox archive.
You just successfully backed up your email using Apple Mail.
Backing up Email on Yahoo Emails Using Kernel IMAP Backup
Follow the steps below to backup your Yahoo emails on your computer:
Open the app and select.
Select the Set Filter and Migrate options in the email account you wish to download
Select all the desired filters, click on, “I am Ok”, and Start Migration.
Select the file format from the list of given options for saving the selected IMAP server data (PDF, PST, DOCX, etc.)
Provide a file path to save the backed-up IMAP mailbox on your computer.
You will get a prompt stating “process completed”. A CSV file containing the credentials of all your backup.
We have learned how to back up emails using Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, Thunderbird, and Apple Mail. It is less expensive and time-consuming, and emails could be restored immediately in case of data loss.