This article explains how to download backed-up Gmail as .eml files. An .eml file is a standard email file that Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird and most other mail apps open, attachments included. You can use it to hand mails to a lawyer or accountant, keep a copy of a former employee's mailbox, or take your mail with you. It works on every plan.
Downloading one mail thread
On the Home page, click "Go to..." for Google Workspace.
Select the Mail tab.
Use the sidebar to pick the user and the year.
Click the download icon next to Open mail on the thread's row. You can also click Download as .eml in the mail preview.
A thread without replies downloads as one .eml file. A thread with replies downloads as a ZIP file with one .eml file per mail, in the order they were sent.
Note: If a thread's attachments add up to more than 50 MB, you see "This mail is large; use Export emails". Tick the thread and use the export below instead.
Exporting many mails, chosen years or a whole mailbox
Select the Mail tab and pick the user in the sidebar.
Start the export in one of two ways:
Tick the mails you need and click Download emails in the bar at the bottom. When every mail on the page is ticked, you can click Export all mails sent in [year] above the table instead.
Click the Export emails icon above the table and choose Ticked mails, Mails sent in the chosen years (tick the years) or Whole mailbox (all years).
Click Export. The download page opens in a new tab.
Download each part as soon as it is ready. A part holds up to 250 mails or 50 MB.
You can close the download page: you get an email with its link when the export is complete.
Note: Each download is available for 24 hours. After that, start a new export from the vault. You can tick up to 1,000 mails at a time; for more, export whole years.
What is in the export
Which day: mails are exported as they were backed up on the date selected in the vault. To export an older day, change the date with the date picker first.
Folders: the ZIP files contain a folder per mailbox and per year. Each file is named after the date, time and subject of the mail.
Replies: when you export ticked mails, their replies are included, also replies sent in a later year. When you export years, each mail is in the folder of the year it was sent; your mail app puts conversations back together.
Labels: each file keeps the mail's Gmail labels in a header (X-Gmail-Labels). Mail apps do not show them as folders.
Missing attachments: an attachment that was not backed up, for example because your data retention settings exclude it, is replaced by a short note in the mail. The download page shows how many attachments are missing.
Who can export
The account admin can always export. Invited users can export when their access level is Export or Restore.
Tip: To put a deleted thread back into the user's Gmail, restore it instead. See How to restore Google Workspace data.