How to Archive and Backup Gmail to a Computer Using Portable Thunderbird

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What happens if Google shuts down your gmail account? Don't you want a personal backup of all your gmail files. Here is how you can get one. This will show you how to download all of your gmail to your computer using portable thunderbird. Then 7zip to encrypt and compress. Infra Recorder to burn to disc.

• Steps

1. Sign in to Gmail.
2. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page.
3. Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
4. Select Enable POP for all mail.
5. Choose the action (delete Gmail's copy) to take after messeges are accessed with POP.
6. Download and install Thunderbird Portable (2.0.0.19 rev2), from http://portableappz.blogspot.com/search/label/Internet , to a location of your choosing.
7. Run Thunderbird portable. The new account setup should appear.
8. Select Gmail. Click Next.
9. Enter your name and Gmail login name. Click Next.
10. Click Finish.
11. Enter your Gmail password. Select remember password. Click Ok.
12. The first batch of emails will begin downloading.
13. On the menu bar at the top of Thunderbird Portable click Tools
14. Click Account Settings.
15. In the left window pain select server settings.
16. Change the value of Check for new messages on server every: from 10 to 1 minute(s)
17. Click ok.
18. Leave Thunderbird open and running until all of your emails have been removed from Gmail's servers.
19. Close Thunderbird.
20. Zip the entire Thunderbird Portable folder using 7zip and store for safekeeping.

• Tips

1. Gmails servers seem to not download the entire account of emails in one request. We will set Thunderbird to automatically check and download new messages every 1 minute to remedy this problem.
2. optionally you can encrypt your newly created email archive

• Warning

the Emails will no longer be on Gmails server so if your archived copy is lost or destroyed they are permanently lost
Source: www.wikihow.com