How to backup Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo!

Among the various email services you use for business and personal purposes are Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo! Since your inboxes contain important messages, you would like to create backup copies to avoid losing them, but you don’t know how to do it. Don’t worry, I can give you a hand if you want!

In the next paragraphs of this guide, in fact, I will be able to show you in detail how to backup Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo! using for this purpose both the functions available in some of these services and making the most of third-party applications that are very simple to use.

So, are you ready to get started? Yup? Very well: make yourself comfortable, take all the time you need to concentrate on reading the next paragraphs and, more importantly, try to follow the “tips” I will give you step-by-step. I wish you happy reading!

Index

• Preliminary information
• How to backup Hotmail
• How to backup Gmail
• How to backup Yahoo!
• Programs to backup emails
  • Amic Email Backup (Windows)
  • Mail Backup X (Windows / macOS)
  • Other programs to backup emails

Preliminary information

Before going into the details of this guide, let me give you some important information on how to backup Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo!

First of all, I want to tell you that if you want to backup your Gmail account, you have both an ad hoc function made available by Google and third-party programs available. As for Hotmail and Yahoo! Instead, you will have to rely exclusively on third-party solutions because, unlike Gmail, they do not integrate specific functions to back up the messages they host.

As for the backup procedure of your mailbox, doing it is very useful because it allows you to locally save the messages sent and received and possibly also other specific settings concerning your account, so as to import (if necessary) these data on other PCs and/or to keep a security copy locally.

How to backup Hotmail

As I mentioned a few lines above, if you want to backup Hotmail, you must necessarily contact third-party solutions, such as the software listed below, because Outlook.com (the service that has taken the place of Hotmail) at moment does not integrate a function to create backup copies of the content in your mailbox.

How to backup Gmail

If you want to backup Gmail, know that you can do it using a special function accessible from the page relating to the management of your Google account. To proceed, go to this web page, log in to your Google account (if necessary) and deselect all the items that have a checkmark, leaving only the one related to Gmail selected (obviously, if you want to include the other data in the backup, you can leave the items in question selected), then click on the Next Step button at the bottom of the page.

On the page that opens, customize the format of the archive you want to save, selecting the delivery method (eg. Send the download link via email ), choosing the type of export (eg. One archive only or Scheduled exports every two months for a year ), select the archive file type (eg .zip ) and its size (from 2GB up to a maximum of 50GB ).

To conclude the operation, click on the blue Create archive button located at the bottom of the page and wait for the operation to be completed. Once the archive is created, click on the link you received via email, press the Download archive button, wait for the download of the archive containing the backup of your Gmail account to be completed and extract the content to find all your messages.

Unless you have changed some settings during the creation of the archive, at the end of the download you should get a file in .zip format. If you use Windows, open it by right-clicking on it, then selecting the Extract all item in the menu that opens and selecting the folder to export the contents inside it by first clicking on the Browse button  (to select the destination folder) and then Extract. On Mac, instead, right-click on the file and then select the Open item in the context menu.

At this point, open the Mail folder contained in the archive and that’s it. You will be able to open the .mbox format files inside the folder to view the email messages you have exported. There are various software that allow you to do this, including Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird and Apple Mail, as I showed you in this other guide.

How to backup Yahoo!

If you want to backup Yahoo! , what I told you about Hotmail is valid: since the service does not integrate an ad hoc function to create copies of your emails, you have no choice but to contact one of the programs to backup emails listed below.

Programs to backup emails

There are various email backup programs that you can rely on, for both Windows and macOS. Here are some that you should carefully consider.

Amic Email Backup (Windows)

If you use a Windows PC, I recommend you try Amic Email Backup: a software that allows you to create a backup of emails sent and received through the main email clients. Please note that it is possible to test all its features for a trial period of 15 days but, to continue using it, you need to purchase the license at a cost of $ 39.95.

To download Amic Email Backup, go to this page, click on the Download now button located at the top left and wait for the automatic download of the program to start (if this does not happen, click on the restart the download link to start it “manually” ). When the download is complete, open the .exe file you obtained, click on the Yes button and then press the buttons,  OK,  Next four times in a row,  Install and  Finish.

After installing and starting Amic Email Backup, click on the Continue item in the welcome window and, if necessary, translate the software interface into Italian by first clicking on the Options tab, then on the Language drop-down menu and, then, selecting the Italian item. Then click on the Save button, in order to save the changes you just made.

Now, to create the backup of your emails, click on the Save tab located at the top left, select the client of your interest from the sidebar on the left (eg MS Outlook ), click on the button (…)  located under the heading Save in, to select the folder where to save the data, and click on the Create save button! , to confirm and start the mail download.

In case you want to restore the emails you have backed up, all you have to do is double-click on the safety copy that was created by the program and, in the window that opens, click on Continue, then on Next  (to three times in a row) and finally on Exit. Easier than that?

Mail Backup X (Windows / macOS)

Mail Backup X is another program that I recommend you to try to create backups of emails. It is available for Windows (starting with Windows 8) and for macOS. It allows automatic and manual backup of emails received and sent in various email clients and services (including Gmail and Yahoo!) and is quite simple to use. It costs $ 79, but you can test its features for 15 days at no cost.

To use it, download the program on your computer by connecting to its download page and clicking first on the Download Now button and then, on the page that opens, on the Download Now button located in correspondence with the operating system installed on your PC.

When the download is complete, if you use Windows, open the .exe file you obtained, click on the Next button three times in a row and then on the Yes, Install and Close buttons, to complete the setup.

If you use a  Mac, on the other hand, open the .dmg package you obtained and double-click on the .pkg file that is inside it, in order to start the application installation procedure. In the window that opens, click on the Continue and  Install buttons, enter the password of your macOS user account and, finally, click on the Install software and  Close buttons.

Now, still on Mac, start the application by going to the Applications folder on your computer, right-clicking on its icon and selecting the Open item from the menu that opens (twice in a row), so as to “override” the restrictions imposed by Apple to software from non-certified developers.

After installing and starting email Backup X, click on the Agree button in its welcome window, so as to accept the conditions of use of the software and then click on the Start Trial button to start the free 15-day trial.

Now, click on the OK button and, in the main application window, select the Setup a new backup profile option, indicate the email client or email service for which you want to create the backup and click on the Next button. Then type in the login details and other information needed to access your mailbox, click on the Next button and make sure that all the folders you want to backup are selected, otherwise do it “manually”.

At this point, click on the  Chose a backup schedule button and decide whether to backup the emails automatically, manually or recurrently, using the Storage Locations section located at the top, specify the destination location for the backup and, finally, click on the  Done button.

Once you have completed the backup, you can import, read and manage your emails simply by selecting the Import Data from an existing file or Restore exported profile option from the window that will be offered to you when the software is first started. Simple, right?

Other programs to backup emails

There are also other email backup programs that are worth considering. Below you will find listed some that I am sure will be useful to complete the operation in question.

• Mozilla Thunderbird( Windows / macOS / Linux ) – it is a very famous free and open source email client, which also integrates a very useful function that allows you to locally save the messages of your mailbox. More info here.
• Outlook Express Backup( Windows ) – is a free application for Windows that allows you to backup from Outlook by intervening on messages and also on other aspects of your mailboxes, including the address book, browser settings, rules for emails and whatever else.
• Email Archiver Pro( macOS ) – is a program for Mac that allows you to backup messages received and sent via Apple Mail, storing them as PDF files. It costs 39.99 euros, but it is possible to test its features for a short trial period.
• Horcrux Email Backup( macOS ) – is another application for Mac that allows you to backup emails to any account with IMAP protocol support. It also offers a feature that allows you to restore messages to any other account while leaving the tags and folder hierarchy unchanged. It costs $ 19.99, but you can test its features for 30 days.