My dear old Dad had a good question that pops up from time to time: How do I back up Google Gmail messages?
While backing up your Gmail account email isn’t neccisarily intuitive, it is quite simple to accomplish.
In order to backup your Gmail email messages, you will want to download your Google Gmail messages to your preferred email software. The directions for backing up your email is quite easy, just configure Gmail to download & archive your messages.
How to backup Google Gmail:
1. In Gmail, access the SETTINGS link.
2. Select FORWARDING AND POP.
3. Select Enable POP for all mail (even mail that’s already been downloaded). (POP Download step #1)
4. Select ARCHIVE GMAIL’S COPY for POP Download Step #2: 2. When messages are accessed with POP.
5. Configure your email client to download Gmail messages.
That’s all it takes. Now, when you want to backup your Google Gmail messages, simply open your email client (Outlook, Eudora, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mail.app, Outlook Express, etc).