POP lets you download email messages from Gmail's servers onto your Microsoft Outlook (or Outlook Express). Unlike Yahoo or Hotmail, POP access is free for all Gmail users and Google has no plans to charge for it in the future. This is a step-by-step guide to download your email messages from Gmail servers and create a backup in the extreme scenario when GMail Inbox is corrupted or you need access to your Gmail emails on a computer that is not connected to the intenet.
1. Enable POP in your Gmail account available in Mail Settings | Forwarding and POP - Select 'Enable POP for all mail' or 'Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on.' Be sure to click 'Save Changes'. You can choose to trash messages in Gmail after accessing them with POP or let them stay in Inbox or Archive them. [#]
2. Configure Microsoft Outlook as POP email client - Read detailed instructions for configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Outlook Express and Outlook 2002 (XP)
3. Test the GMail-Outlook connection. If everything works fine, click Send Receive (F9) in Microsoft Outlook. Your GMail messages become available in batches in MIcrosoft Outlook Inbox. It may take some time for all of your mail to download if you have lots of messages. Outlook status bar will display the download statistics in real time.
4. Microsoft Outlook will store all your GMail Email messages and attachments in a file on your hard disk called a personal folders (.pst) file. To create a pst file of your GMail message, click Import And Export on the Outlook File menu. Click Export To File, and then click Next. Click Personal Folder File (.pst) , and then click Next. Choose the Inbox folder that contains your GMail emails, and then click Next. Click the Browse button, and then select the location to save the file. In the File Name box, type a descriptive file name, and then click OK. Click Finish.
Once your have created a pst file of your GMail Inbox, you can restore your GMail Inbox even if is damaged due to a hardware failure or other unexpected events. You can also move or transfer GMail emails to a different computer by backing up the data from the original hard disk, and then restoring it to the new hard disk.
You should also note that messages in 'Spam' and 'Trash' aren't automatically downloaded. If you'd like to access messages in 'Spam' and 'Trash' with POP, you can move them to your inbox, or 'All Mail.' Also, Mail sent from your POP client will not download again.
If your Outlook client has trouble sending / receiving message from GMail, it could be due to a know bug in Outlook that corrupts the SSL cache. Try to clear the Internet Explorer SSL State and if that doesn't work, change the Outgoing mail server (SMTP) port from 465 to 25.
Find this article at: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/11/gmail-inbox-backup-with-microsoft.html
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
Nice Post...
Heres my post on the exact opposite of your post - backup your outlook to gmail
Written on 20/11/05 11:59 PM
Changing your GMail Password through Google Accounts or GMail Interface will disable POP access for sometime. Clearing your IE SSL cache (open IE > tools > options > content > click 'clear ssl state') won't help either.
It takes around 24 hours before the password change is propagated to the GMail POP servers. There is definitely a lag between pop3 server and the regular Gmail server for password change propagation.
The Outlook or Thunderbird Email client will display send receive errors initially but that would disappear when the gmail password change is processed by pop.gmail.com and smtp.gmail.com
There was a problem logging onto your mail server. Your Password was
rejected. Account: [email address]', Server: 'pop.gmail.com', Protocol: POP3, Server Response: '-ERR [AUTH] Username and password not accepted.', Port: 995, Secure(SSL): Yes, Server Error: 0x800CCC90, Error Number: 0x800CCC92
Written on 11/12/05 9:44 AM
There was a problem logging onto your mail server. Your Password was
rejected. Account: [email address]', Server: 'pop.gmail.com', Protocol: POP3, Server Response: '-ERR [AUTH] Username and password not accepted.', Port: 995, Secure(SSL): Yes, Server Error: 0x800CCC90, Error Number: 0x800CCC92
Written on 23/11/06 1:26 AM
Nice tips, Amit. Came to your site through Google.
The idea with Outlook Express works fine, but why does it need to download all the SENT mails ?? :-(
Written on 21/1/07 9:08 PM
Backing up mail is a great idea, backing up to a proprietary storage format like PST isn't. What happens when you want to move to another platform, or even another email client?
Written on 16/3/07 9:25 PM