Google Takeout is a feature of your Google account that allows you to upload your data. You can export your photos, emails, calendar data, contacts, files, and more.
Another way to save information from Google is to selectively open the service from which you want to download data, such as Gmail or Google Photos, and choose what to save to your computer.
Besides a simple offline backup, you can download your Google data if you plan to delete your Google account but want to keep a copy of everything stored on Google’s servers. Or maybe you want to save a second copy of your Google data on another cloud provider, such as Dropbox or OneDrive.
Export all of your Google information
Follow these steps to access the Google Output page, which allows you to choose what to download from Google and then decide how you want to get the archive:
Step 1. Sign in to your Google account and sign in when asked.
Step 2. Select “Data and Personalization” on the left.
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Step 3. Scroll to the Load, Delete, or Schedule Data Usage section and select Load Data.
Step 4. Choose what to add to Google Archive.
Use the Deselect All link at the top of the list to clear all check boxes and manually add specific items. Or you can leave each item selected to download absolutely everything that is in stock.
Note. Some items in the list have an additional button that you can select to select which data from that particular section should be backed up. For example, if you click the button next to Mail, you can choose which Gmail labels to include and exclude from downloads; save only what is in your Inbox, for example, or everything except spam .
Step 5. Scroll down to select Next Step.
Step 6. Select “Email Download Link” to receive an email notification when the download is complete. Or choose from the other options in this menu if you want your data to be backed up to the cloud first so you can easily copy it to your account there.
These options include Add to Drive, Add to Dropbox, Add to OneDrive, and Add to Box.
Step 7. Choose .zip or .tgz from the Save as type menu. ZIP is more common for Windows users, so if you are using this operating system it is best to leave this format selected.
Step 8: Select an option from the Archive Size menu to specify at what file size Google will split the archive into separate files. The options are 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 10 GB, and 50 GB.
For example, if you select 2 GB and the total download size is 3 GB, you get two files. However, if this size is selected and the file upload size is less than 2 GB, you will only have one file.
Step 9: Select “Create Archive” to start the Google backup process based on all the information you provided in the previous steps. You will immediately receive an email informing you that we have started to request your data.
Step 10. Wait for the archiving to complete and then open the email from Google containing the link (s) to download your Google information.
Note. It may take some time to receive this email – even several days – so don’t wait right away. If you leave the last page showing the archiving progress, just go back to step 3 above to make sure it is still working. The same page can be used to cancel the archive.
Other ways to download your Google data
Several individual Google services provide export / backup functionality. If you do not want to wait for the archiving to complete, it may be preferable to choose a different path than the one described above. However, Google Takeout is the best way to download all your data.
For example, using Google Calendar, you can access the export page to back up your calendars to iCal format. This allows you to import the same calendar events into another application while providing the ability to easily back up your Google Calendar to your computer.
To bulk save your Google Photos data, open an album and select “Download All†from the top menu. Google Photos will package the contents of this album into a ZIP file with the same name as the album.
You can also select multiple photos in your Google Photos account and use the Upload option in the menu to save only those photos.
You can save Gmail messages to your computer by downloading them through a standalone email client such as Thunderbird Set up your email client with your Gmail login details, and then when the emails are downloaded to your computer, right-click the group of emails to back up and select Save As. Select a folder and your Gmail emails will be copied as EML files!
If you’ve created your own maps in Google Maps, you can export them as KML or KMZ files for use as backups or for uploading to other programs such as Google Earth.
To do this, select the menu in the upper left corner of Google Maps, go to “Your Places”, then “Maps”, select a map from the list and select “Open in My Maps”. Use the three dots menu at the top to find the export button.
Likewise, if you use the timeline feature in Google Maps to keep track of where you’ve been, you can find the export feature there. It works on the day you are currently viewing, so select a date and click “Export this day to KML”.
Google Contacts is one of the easiest ways to sync contacts between all of your devices. However, if you need a backup of your contacts, you can also do so by selecting “More” and then “Export” on the left side of the Google contacts page. You can make a backup of all your contacts or just those in a specific group.
Downloading files from Google Drive is as easy as saving any of your information from Google. Right-click one or more folders or files and select Download, or install the Backup & Sync application and select the folders to save to your computer.
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