Original: How to backup Gmail using Thunderbird
Author: Andrew
Publication date: March 2, 2012
Translation: A. Krivoshey
Date of transfer: August 2012
Not too long ago, there were some problems with Gmail, as a result of which some users lost all their mail, so many would like to have a backup of their emails stored in Gmail. Below is a very simple (and free) way to back up your Gmail account using Thunderbird.
By following the instructions in this post, you will configure Thunderbird so that it does not delete emails from your Gmail account or mark them as read, so it will mainly act as a backup program for your mail. Of course, you can use it to send emails as well (like any email client - I use Thunderbird as it is easily configurable and works on all common operating systems), but the purpose of this tutorial is to use Thunderbird simply to download emails from Gmail (so you can disable the outbound server altogether if you want) to create a local backup in case you have any trouble with your Gmail account.
If you want to back up your Gmail account to the cloud, you can use TrueSwitch, which will copy all your emails to your Hotmail account, or Backupify, which is free for regular Gmail accounts.
How to back up Gmail mail with Thunderbird
1. To back up your Gmail account using Thunderbird, you must first activate POP in Gmail. To do this, go to the settings and on the "Forwarding and POP / IMAP" tab in the "POP access" section, point 1 (status), select the "Enable POP for all emails (even for those that have already been downloaded)" option; then point 2 (When the letters are downloaded using POP) - select "save a copy of the letter in the Gmail inbox" ( pictures are clickable).
2. Now start Thunderbird and add a new mail account (File\u003e New\u003e Mail account). On the first screen, enter your email address and Gmail password, then click "Continue":
3. On the next screen, Thunderbird should automatically download the Gmail settings from its database. If you are using Thunderbird 3.1.x it will look like this:
Here you must select "POP" instead of "IMAP" for the inbound server. If you are using an older version of Thunderbird, you may need to click "Edit" and choose to manually enter the settings for the POP server. Then you need to enter the following data: pop.googlemail.com, port: 995.
Now click on "Create Account".
It's all! Now just click "Get mail" and the Gmail backup will start. Thunderbird will start downloading all emails from Gmail - this will take some time. Every time you want to update your "backup", just start Thunderbird and it will do the job.
To create a Gmail copy task, please follow the instructions:
- Open Handy Backup, create a new task using the button or by pressing Ctrl + N.
- In Step 1, select a backup task and click Next.
- Go to the next step and select gmail Backup plugin in the Email group.
- Create a new Gmail backup connection by clicking on the "Connect to Gmail" button.
Note: To successfully connect to Gmail, open your browser and log in to your account.
- Click OK and go to your Gmail account. Here you can select messages to back up your Gmail mail by ticking the checkboxes.
- To make a copy of Gmail, click OK again and return to Step 2. Click Next to continue.
- In the next step, you will see a list of repositories where you can put your copy of Gmail.
- Select storage. You can choose a local drive, online storage, or even move your mail to another account (backup to Gmail).
- Continue to create a task using the capabilities and functions of Handy Backup!
Video tutorial on how to back up your Gmail emails
This video describes how to back up your Gmail mail using Handy Backup.
Note: Before watching this video, please download and install Handy Backup!
Download
Buy!
Version 8.0.4 released on July 10, 2019. 104 MB
Backup program Handy Backup. 1200 RUB for a license
The Standard edition makes it easy to back up and restore Gmail from a backup! Try your free 30-day trial now!
Key Benefits of Handy Backup Approaches to Gmail Mail Backup
The universal IMAP protocol used to exchange messages with the Gmail server provides data protection and also makes it easier to recover emails and migrate Gmail mail to another server.
You can set a schedule to run backup and restore tasks for Gmail mail from a backup by starting and repeating the task at a specified time, or triggering tasks on a system event.
Handy Backup saves unencrypted messages in human readable EML format. You can view, modify and even manually restore all messages directly from your Gmail backup.
The other day I thought about the fact that there are a lot of necessary documents stored in mailboxes. Some of them, of course, I immediately save to the hard disk or to the cloud, but not all. This means that you need to periodically make backups. In principle, this applies to any important information, but usually you forget about mail. In general, I use two mail services - Gmail and Yandex - and this is a post on how to make backups of all information from these mailboxes.
Back up Gmail mail
Google has the Gmail Data Backup Tool and it makes the task of backing up mail a lot easier. Go to the page Content management and press the button Create archive ... On the page Saving data deselect all services and find only the item Mail... Select it and click Further.
In the next step, configure the archive and choose where you want to save it.
- The archive format is ZIP.
- Archive size - 4 GB was enough for me
- The method of obtaining is by link or to the cloud.
Wait and download.
Done. By the way, to save individual letters, you can use the extension Save emails and attachments from Gmail.
Backup from Yandex.Mail
With Yandex.Mail, everything is a little more complicated, since I couldn't find my own backup tools. If so, let me know. We will make backups using the program Handy Backup... It's good that she has a 30 day trial period. Download the program from here, install and run. Save a new backup task, and in step 2 expand the list Email on the left pane. Select plugin Email.
A window will open to create a new connection. Enter access parameters to your Yandex.Mail mailbox (your login and password, port 993, server - imap.yandex.ru, connection type - SSL).
Backup Mail.ru over the network is carried out using the plugin "E-mail" over the IMAP protocol. Handy Backup software provides direct mail copying of Mail without using local clients and intermediate sites.
Principles of Mail.ru backup using Handy Backup
The "E-mail" plugin provides access via the IMAP protocol to any remote mail server that supports this protocol, including the mail.ru mail service (backup Mail.ru). A backup copy of Mail ru mail using this plugin is created automatically.
How to make a backup of Mail.ru mail using the E-mail plugin?
To make a Mail.ru mail backup an automated Handy Backup task, please use the following instructions:
- Open Handy Backup. Call a new task using the Ctrl + N keys or the button.
- Select the backup data in the task creation wizard at Step 1.
- Go to Step 2 and select the plugin from the list of data sources Email.
- Double click on the plugin, or click the add button - the plugin window will open.
- In the dialog that opens, enter your account details for the Mail.ru backup >
On a note: full set of standard settings for Mail.ru mail backup - imap.mail.ru server, port 993, SSL / TLS connection type, "Plain" authorization.
- Click OK - the program will establish a connection. Return to the plugin window.
- Check the data to copy mail mail.
Note. You can backup your Mail with an accuracy of one message.
- After checking all the required data, press OK again and return to Step 2.
- Continue creating your task. More details about the steps of the task can be found in the User Guide.
Download
Buy!
Version 8.0.4 released on July 10, 2019. 104 MB
Backup program Handy Backup. 1200 RUB for a license
The Standard solution contains the entire set of functions for backing up mail.ru and storing copies of mail messages on popular data carriers.
Advantages of Mail.ru mail backup with Handy backup
Wide range of data stores
You can choose at Step 3 where you will save your Mail.ru mail backup. Choose from a wide range of storage options including local and removable drives, FTP servers, network drives and NAS devices, Yandex.Disk clouds, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, HBDrive dedicated storage, and more.
Data protection and compression
Encrypt your messages with a 128-bit key using the modified BlowFish algorithm. Compress the data into a single file or separately into a ZIP archive. Or leave the data unchanged to view and modify mail backups without restoring.
Variety of Mail backup options
Choose from incremental, differential or mixed mail backup to save time and network traffic. Keep several versions of the mail.ru backup, timestamped as needed. Get rid of outdated backups.
Calling other programs before or after a task
Use the opportunity to run other tasks, for example, a mail client with POP3 protocol or a garbage collector, before or after performing the Mail.ru mail backup task. Automate Mail Copying Within Your Work Cycle!
Automatic start and repeat tasks
Run a Mail backup at a specific time, and repeat it at specified intervals from months to minutes inclusive. Link the task launch to a system event or a USB drive connection. Use autostart for missed tasks.
Other control options
Run Handy Backup as a Windows service or as a command line program to avoid distracting the user. Send notifications by E-mail about the work done. Use reports and logs to monitor your work. Start tasks manually from the main panel.
Mail.ru mail backup with Handy Backup is a fully automated, highly efficient method of saving your messages. Try it now by downloading your free 30-day trial!
Today, almost every person has an e-mail (email), or even several. At the same time, quite often an e-mail contains a large amount of important information. And losing it can be worse than taking and formatting your computer's hard drive. Therefore, taking care of creating backups, so-called backups, of your mail is no less important task than backing up your documents. But its solution is not as trivial as copying files from one place to another. Even if you find mailer files that contain all your emails, it will be difficult for you to do something with them. Try to answer yourself a few questions: "how will you restore the letters?", "How will you view one of the letters?", "How are you going to search for the letter you need in the backup copy?" etc. Almost all questions do not have a clear answer, or it will be so difficult that you will quickly abandon it.
The class of utilities considered in the review will allow you not only to save your precious letters in a safe place, but also to perform simple operations with them, such as: viewing, searching, etc.
Review of free programs for creating mail backup
MaiStore Home is a powerful mail backup tool
Allows you to create backups of all e-mail messages (emails) from various applications and online services, and store them in one secure archive. The utility really knows how to work with huge sizes. It's easy to feel, just try looking for something, and you will see that the speed is simply amazing. It belongs to the category "once set up - you use it." The utility has a fairly flexible interface for configuring the restore from a backup. So you can always quickly restore everything you need. Always remember that the utility does not create backup copies of account and contact settings, although you can always restore the latter from emails.
Knows how to create backups:
- Microsoft Outlook 2000, XP, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013
- Outlook Express, Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013
- Mozilla Thunderbird and SeaMonkey
- POP3 and IMAP (including webmail services such as Gmail and Yahoo)
- Microsoft Office 365 (Exchange Online)
- .eml and other files
For products of this kind, MailStore is updated quite frequently. This gives you confidence that in a year you will not have to search for a suitable utility again and set everything up again. At some points, the user interface is a bit angular. But, nevertheless, the utility is quite easy and simple to use. You can read emails directly from the backup, and it will be as easy as reading them from email clients. You can even reply to messages directly from the MailStore. We can say that this program is suitable for users of any level.
KLS Mail Backup is a simple and high-quality program for creating a mail backup
is a simple and high-quality utility designed to create email backup copies of many popular email clients. It also allows you to backup profiles of various Internet programs. The utility uses the well-known Zip format to compress and store emails. So you can always directly access your messages. The processes of creating and restoring backups are presented with special setup wizards. Even the most inexperienced user can quickly figure out what's what and start using it. KLS Mail Backup is free for personal use only.
KLS Mail Backup does not know how to work with POP and IMAP protocols. This means that you cannot make a backup of your mail directly from the server.
Various backup products ...
MozBackup is a utility for backing up the following programs: MozSuite / SeaMonkey, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Netscape, Flock, Sunbird, Spicebird, PostBox, and Wyzo. It saves mail, bookmarks, address books, passwords, etc.
Comodo Backup is a general purpose backup utility that also allows you to create email backups. You are also offered free 5 GB of online storage. Comodo operates at the expense of customers who use online storage on a commercial basis. It supports Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook, Windows Live Mail and OutLook Express. It also allows you to back up files and folders.
MailBrowserBackup is a simple portable program that detects and offers to back up Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox (profile), Flock, Windows Mail, Windows Contacts (Win 7), Windows Live Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Opera (browser and mail), Apple Safari , Google Chrome, SRWare Iron, FileZilla FTP Client, and Windows Live Messenger Plus.
In Windows 7, you will need to run the program as an administrator or the account associated with Windows Contacts, otherwise the utility will not be able to create a backup for it.
Microsoft provides a free Outlook backup program that backs up your pst files. Works with Outlook 2002 and later.
Gmail Backup (site no longer available) is an open source solution that allows you to back up your emails using IMAP.
Quick Pick Guide (links to download free email backup software)
MailStore Home
| Back up all emails from multiple apps and accounts. Quick search. Ease of work with backups. POP3 and IMAP backups (including webmail such as Gmail and Yahoo! Mail). Very easy to use. | ||
| Requires Microsoft .NET. | ||
| ------------- | ||
| http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home-email-archiving.aspx | ||
| 5.5 MB 8.1 Free for private use only Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7/8 | ||
KLS Mail Backup
| Lots of popular email clients. A clear and simple tool for creating backups. Uses zip archives to store your mail, so you always have direct access to emails. | ||
| Doesn't support POP and IMAP protocols. This means that you cannot create backups directly from the mail server. | ||
