Guides · 16 articles
Tools and alternatives
What the common email backup and export tools do, and where mailmd fits next to them.
How to Export Gmail with Google Takeout
Google Takeout creates a downloadable copy of your Gmail messages and attachments. The messages come in MBOX, a file format that email programs can open or…
What Is Google Takeout and How Do You Use It?
If you want a copy of information stored in your Google Account, Google Takeout lets you export data from products.
MailStore Home: Free Email Archiving on Windows
If you want a separate copy of your email on a Windows PC, MailStore Home provides a local archive you can search and export.
mbsync and isync: Syncing IMAP Mail to Maildir
If you want a local copy of mail from an IMAP account, mbsync can synchronize server mailboxes with Maildir, a folder format that stores each message as a file.
ImportExportTools NG: Exporting Mail from Thunderbird
ImportExportTools NG adds export commands to Thunderbird, Mozilla’s desktop email client. The add-on exports individual messages, folders, or account mail…
imapsync: Copying Mail Between IMAP Servers
When you move email to a new provider, you need to copy messages and folders from your old mailbox to your new one.
How Long Does Google Takeout Take?
If you are exporting data from a personal Google Account, Google says preparing a Takeout archive can take from a few minutes to a few days.
Gmvault for Gmail Backups: What It Does and Where It Stands
Gmvault is a tool for copying Gmail messages to local storage and restoring backed-up messages to Gmail.
lieer: Syncing Gmail with notmuch
If you want to search Gmail from a local email archive, Lieer connects a Gmail account to notmuch, a tool that indexes email stored on your computer so you…
A MailStore Home Alternative for Linux: mailmd
Linux users who want a local copy of their email can use mailmd, a free, open-source command-line tool that saves messages as Markdown files on the computer.
Got Your Back (GYB): Backing Up Gmail from the Command Line
If you want to save a local copy of your Gmail account and restore it later, use Got Your Back (GYB), a command-line tool for backing up and restoring Gmail.
A GYB Alternative That Saves Gmail as Markdown: mailmd
If you want Gmail messages as readable files on your computer, mailmd saves each message as a Markdown file, a plain-text format that supports headings,…
Is Google Takeout Safe to Use?
If you want a copy of your Google data, Google Takeout is generally safe when you use Google’s official export page and keep the archive private.
notmuch: Fast Search and Tagging for Mail on Your Disk
If your email is stored as files on your computer, notmuch can build an index, a searchable catalog of those files, so you can search and tag messages from…
OfflineIMAP: Syncing IMAP Mail to Local Folders
When you want to read mail offline, OfflineIMAP connects to a mail server using IMAP, the protocol mail clients use to access server mail, and copies and…
An OfflineIMAP Alternative That Writes Markdown: mailmd
If you want a local copy of your email as text files, mailmd is a better fit than OfflineIMAP. OfflineIMAP syncs mail between an IMAP server, which stores…
Free and open source
Try mailmd
mailmd is a free command-line tool that copies your email into Markdown files on your computer, one file per message. It works with any IMAP mailbox, and with Gmail and Outlook through their own APIs.
Install
$ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vincentsch/mailmd/main/install.sh | sh
Set it up with your coding agent
Set up mailmd so you can read my email. Use https://github.com/vincentsch/mailmd: read its AGENTS.md and follow the steps. Connect my mailbox and run the first sync. Then show me where the files are.