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. Available products include Gmail and Drive, as well as Calendar, Photos, and YouTube. Takeout creates downloadable archive files. Creating an archive does not delete the original data from Google. For email saved as files you can read and search on your computer, mailmd is a free, open source alternative that copies messages into Markdown files.

Takeout works well for a one-time export from several Google products. mailmd works well for a local copy of your email that you update with later syncs. Choose based on whether you want data from several Google products or files focused on your mailbox.

What Google Takeout exports #

Takeout lets you choose which Google products to include. It preselects products that contain your data, and some products let you select particular data items. Depending on the products and data in your account, the export can include several kinds of information. These include email and documents, as well as calendars, photos, videos, and account activity. Google’s data export help page lists the available choices and explains how to create an archive.

You can request a one-time archive or schedule exports every two months for a year. The first scheduled archive is created immediately. Scheduled exports for Google Photos cover new and updated data only when Photos is the sole product selected.

Takeout offers a download link by email. Other options include delivery to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box. You can choose ZIP or TGZ files and a maximum archive size; if the export exceeds that size, Google splits it into multiple files. ZIP works on almost any computer, while TGZ may require extra software on Windows. Once a third-party cloud provider receives your archive, its terms and policies apply.

How to use Google Takeout #

Open Google’s Download your data page and sign in to the account you want to export. Review the selected products, uncheck anything you do not need, and adjust product-specific options where they are offered.

Next, choose where Google should deliver the archive and whether to create it once or schedule exports. Set the file type and maximum size. Confirm the request. Google may ask you to re-enter your password or complete 2-Step Verification. Archive creation takes from a few minutes to a few days, depending on how much data the account contains.

When Google finishes, use the email link or selected cloud destination to retrieve the files. Download and review the archive on a desktop computer. The archive includes archive_browser.html, which describes its file formats and how to view the exported data.

Limits to keep in mind #

A Takeout archive is a copy of your Google Account, not an ongoing connection to it. Google says changes made between the export request and archive creation might not appear, including some changes to Drive permissions or additions and deletions in Photos. Takeout also does not export data for a specific time range, and Gmail cannot be limited to a date range.

You can download archives up to five times; they expire after about seven days. If the link expires or the export fails, request another archive. For a large export, Google recommends selecting products one at a time if you need to troubleshoot.

The export leaves your data in Google. If you use a school or work account, an administrator can restrict downloads for some products. Google also says users in the Advanced Protection Program face a two-day delay for archive creation and cannot use scheduled exports.

How mailmd compares and when it is a better fit #

Takeout is a practical choice when you want one export covering email and other Google products. mailmd focuses on email: it copies messages from a mailbox into a folder of Markdown files on your computer, with one file per message. It works with IMAP mailboxes and connects to Gmail through the Gmail API and to Outlook.com and other Microsoft mailboxes through Microsoft Graph.

When you run mailmd again, it syncs new mail and updates each message’s read and starred status. It leaves messages in the mailbox unchanged, and it never deletes files from the local archive. mailmd excludes spam and trash unless you choose to include them. When syncing over IMAP, it includes Gmail’s All Mail folder. Message attachments are saved beside their files, and index.jsonl lists the messages for scripts. You can search the files with tools such as rg or grep, or open them in an editor or note app.

Choose mailmd when you want an ongoing, email-only copy in files you can inspect and search with your own tools. It is not a mail client, does not import messages back into a mailbox, and does not free mailbox storage. The tool is free and open source under the MIT license. mailmd stores logins outside the archive, where only your user can read them. It sends no telemetry and runs no mailmd server.

To try it, follow the setup steps in the mailmd repository. You can also ask a coding agent to set it up with this prompt:

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.

You enter your password directly into mailmd, so the coding agent does not see it.

$ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vincentsch/mailmd/main/install.sh | sh

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.