Quick & Easy Ways to Save Gmail Emails to Android

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Learn how to download your Gmail emails on Android

Written by Travis Boylls

Last Updated: January 21, 2026 Fact Checked

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• Downloading an Email
|
• Downloading Your Data
|
• Video

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If you want to save copies of your Gmails to your Android device as a backup, it’s easy to do so. You can download individual emails as a PDF file, or you can download your entire inbox, or specific folders and labels as an mbox file. This wikiHow article teaches you how to download emails from Gmail on your Android device.

Quickly Download Gmails on Android

1. Open the email you want to download in the Gmail app.
2. Tap the icon with three dots (⋮) in the upper-right corner.
3. Tap Print.
4. Select Download as PDF at the top.
5. Tap the yellow download icon in the upper-right corner.
6. Select a download location and tap Done.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Downloading an Email

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1. 
   1
   Open the Gmail app on your Android. The Gmail icon looks like a multicolored "M" letter. You can find it on your Apps menu.
2. 
   2
   Tap the email you want to download. Find the email you want to save, and tap on its sender or subject line to open the email message.
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3. 
   3
   Tap the ⋮ on the top-right. This button is located next to an envelope icon in the upper-right corner of your screen. This will open your email options in a drop-down menu.
4. 
   4
   Tap Print on the menu. This will open a print preview of your email on a new page.
5. 
   5
   Select Save as PDF on the printer drop-down. Tap the drop-down menu at the top of your screen, and select Save as PDF here. This will allow you to download a PDF copy of the selected email to your Android.
6. 
   6
   Tap the PDF download button. This is a yellow circular button near the upper-right corner of your screen.
7. 
   7
   Select a download location. Tap a folder on your phone that you want to download the PDF to.
8. 
   8
   Tap Done. It’s at the bottom of the screen. This downloads the email as a PDF to your device.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Downloading Your Data

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1. 
   1
   Go to the Google Takeout website. To do so, go to takeout.google.com in a web browser. The Google Takeout website allows you to download your data from Google, including your Gmail data. This data will be downloaded as an mbox file. This will include the following data fromm Gmail:

   • Email content
   • Email headers
   • Attachments
   • Gmail labels
   • User settings
2. 
   2
   Uncheck all the data you don’t want to download. If you want to download Gmail, ensure “Mail” is checked. You can uncheck anything else you don’t want to download.
3. 
   3
   Tap All Mail data included (optional). It’s below the Gmail “Mail” option. This allows you to select what data you want to download.
4. 
   4
   Select what data you want to download (optional). By default, all your messages will be including in the download. If you want to select specific labels or folders to download, uncheck “Include all messages in Mail” at the top. Then tap the checkboxes next to the folders and labels you want to download. Then tap Ok at the top.
5. 
   5
   Scroll down and tap Next Step. It’s the blue button at the bottom of the page.
6. 
   6
   Select a download destination. By default, you will receive an email with a link to the download. However, you can use the drop-down menu below “Destination” to select a different location, such as Google Drive (Drive), Dropbox, OneDrive, and Box.
7. 
   7
   Select the frequency of the download. If you are just downloading your data once, leave it at the default settings. If you want to schedule automatic downloads, click the radio option next to “Export every 2 months for a year.”
8. 
   8
   Select the file type. You can download your data as a ZIP file, or a TGZ file. Use the drop-down menu below “File Type” to select what type of file you want to download.
9. 
   9
   Select the file size. Use the drop-down menu below “File size” to select the maximum size of the file download. If your data exceeds the file size, you may receive multiple files in your download.
10. 
    10
    Click Create Export. It’s the blue button at the bottom of the page. This will send your request. Depending on how much data you want to download, you may receive your request within a few minutes to a few days. Most of the time, you will receive your request within a day.
11. 
    11
    Download your data. Once your request is processed, you will receive a download link in your email, or you will receive the zip file in the location you selected. You can also download it at the Google Takeout website when it is ready. The zip file will contain an mbox file. You can use this file to import your email data into Gmail or another email client, such as Thunderbird or Apple Mail (Outlook doesn’t support mbox format).

    • There are a variety of apps that can convert an mbox file to a PDF. You can also use an online converter website, like coolutils.com/online/MBOX-to-PDF.
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