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How to retrieve old message from Gmail for local storage?

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by wvthor

wvthor
wvthor
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Hi all,

I had problems with a corrupted (very large) Inbox, which would frequently cause blue screens of death. I tried several things (e.g., compressing and repairing the Inbox), but things just got worse and eventually every launch of Thunderbird would cause a BSOD and a subsequent restart of the PC.

I tried to backup the profile folder, but the copy process crashed each time. So I decided to completely delete the profile folder and to perform a new install of Thunderbird. I then imported a 7 month old backup with Mozbackup.

Now I have a working installation. However, the most recent email messages in the Inbox are from 7 months ago. I had expected that Thunderbird would automatically retrieve the old messages from my Gmail account (using POP), which are still in the Gmail Inbox. However, it does not. Only new messages, which were/are sent today, are being retrieved.

How can I retrieve all the Gmail messages from the past 7 months, so they are displayed in the Thunderbird Inbox?

Any help is appreciated!

Hi all, I had problems with a corrupted (very large) Inbox, which would frequently cause blue screens of death. I tried several things (e.g., compressing and repairing the Inbox), but things just got worse and eventually every launch of Thunderbird would cause a BSOD and a subsequent restart of the PC. I tried to backup the profile folder, but the copy process crashed each time. So I decided to completely delete the profile folder and to perform a new install of Thunderbird. I then imported a 7 month old backup with Mozbackup. Now I have a working installation. However, the most recent email messages in the Inbox are from 7 months ago. I had expected that Thunderbird would automatically retrieve the old messages from my Gmail account (using POP), which are still in the Gmail Inbox. However, it does not. Only new messages, which were/are sent today, are being retrieved. How can I retrieve all the Gmail messages from the past 7 months, so they are displayed in the Thunderbird Inbox? Any help is appreciated!

Modified by wvthor

Chosen solution

Add the account as IMAP (you can't switch from POP to IMAP just by changing the settings), which should download the entire Inbox (subject to gmail bandwidth daily limits), then copy the messages to Local Folders for permanent storage. Or, you could use Google Takeout service to download mail in mbox files and copy them into the Mail/Local Folders location of the profile (after removing the .mbox extension).

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All Replies (3)

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

Add the account as IMAP (you can't switch from POP to IMAP just by changing the settings), which should download the entire Inbox (subject to gmail bandwidth daily limits), then copy the messages to Local Folders for permanent storage. Or, you could use Google Takeout service to download mail in mbox files and copy them into the Mail/Local Folders location of the profile (after removing the .mbox extension).

wvthor
wvthor Question owner
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Thanks so much for your detailed reply! I will try the Takeout service, as I also need the sent messages. I will let you know if it was successful!

wvthor
wvthor Question owner
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It worked with Google Takeout! Thanks!

(I exported the Inbox as well as the Sent messages. However, it appeared that Inbox contained quite a few messages that I sent (and expected to be in Sent), and vice versa. So I had to do quite a bit of manual sorting before I got it all correctly filed. I guess this has something to do with the way Gmail sorts messages in threads...)