5 ms·

Google Takeout is fine for me - it just gives you an .mbox file with literally everything and it can be imported into Thunderbird or Outlook.

willis936 5y ago
Solves a different problem. You can't trivially automate takeout. What if I just want an offline record of my emails for the day that google decides to delete me from the internet?
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  > What if I just want an offline record of my emails for the day that google decides to delete me from the internet? Well this is what just a normal email client does - it downloads latest emails via IMAP.
  - encryptluks2 5y ago
    isync (aka mbsync) works great for this.
  - Kye 5y ago
    I also have my client make a copy in local folders, and then Backblaze scoops both up. It's a little redundant, but it's not that much space use and it gives me something to compare if I ever have reason to worry an email was tampered with on the server and downloaded over the original. More concern toward a hack than government/host meddling.
  - willis936 5y ago
    What if I don't want an email client? I just want a headless program that downloads my emails. They can be kept on a NAS that is backed up offsite and keeps the emails searchable. I want this to happen even if I don't happen to open an email client on a desktop at my home for months. That's why imap-backup is useful.
    - chrisseaton 5y ago
      > I just want a headless program that downloads my emails. Lol that’s an email client! Not all email clients have a manual UI.
- PlugTunin 5y ago
  What if I just want an offline record of my emails for the day that google decides to delete me from the internet? I'm confused -- Mbox files can indeed be viewed offline. (Not to say your point about the ease of automating Takeout is not valid.)
  - nomad225 5y ago
    Maybe OP refers to the situation where you lose all data since the last takeout, but if you had a daily imap backup running you could mitigate this loss for your emails.
    - PlugTunin 5y ago
      Thank you for clarifying.
- wnscooke 5y ago
  Mailpile.is
grandpoobah 5y ago
Whenever I've tried to use Takeout in the past, it's missing a large amount of data. Haven't tried it in a couple of years though.
MilaM 5y ago
I have used Google Takeout in the past and it seemed to work fine. But the crucial question is, can you use it after your account was automatically blocked? That's when I would acutally have an urgent need for it.
- encryptluks2 5y ago
  Possibly not, so it is best to keep a synced backup of your messages and critical date. mbsync for email and rclone for Drive and Photos.
- sbarre 5y ago
  Google now lets you schedule up to 6 automated Takeouts a year, so you get an email every 2 months with links to download all your stuff. If you do this every year (I do it on Jan 1st as part of some other yearly reminders) then at most you lose 2 months of data (certainly not downplaying the gravity of that but it's better than everything).
- diffeomorphism 5y ago
  That is a bit late. You don't make backups after you lost your data.
kuro68k 5y ago
I prefer Thunderbird. It doesn't need the app password for Gmail. With a bit of effort to you can make it auto open and close via scheduled commands to do a daily sync, or just leave it open.

willis936 5y ago

Solves a different problem. You can't trivially automate takeout. What if I just want an offline record of my emails for the day that google decides to delete me from the internet?

chrisseaton 5y ago
> What if I just want an offline record of my emails for the day that google decides to delete me from the internet? Well this is what just a normal email client does - it downloads latest emails via IMAP.
- encryptluks2 5y ago
  isync (aka mbsync) works great for this.
- Kye 5y ago
  I also have my client make a copy in local folders, and then Backblaze scoops both up. It's a little redundant, but it's not that much space use and it gives me something to compare if I ever have reason to worry an email was tampered with on the server and downloaded over the original. More concern toward a hack than government/host meddling.
- willis936 5y ago
  What if I don't want an email client? I just want a headless program that downloads my emails. They can be kept on a NAS that is backed up offsite and keeps the emails searchable. I want this to happen even if I don't happen to open an email client on a desktop at my home for months. That's why imap-backup is useful.
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    > I just want a headless program that downloads my emails. Lol that’s an email client! Not all email clients have a manual UI.
PlugTunin 5y ago
What if I just want an offline record of my emails for the day that google decides to delete me from the internet? I'm confused -- Mbox files can indeed be viewed offline. (Not to say your point about the ease of automating Takeout is not valid.)
- nomad225 5y ago
  Maybe OP refers to the situation where you lose all data since the last takeout, but if you had a daily imap backup running you could mitigate this loss for your emails.
  - PlugTunin 5y ago
    Thank you for clarifying.
wnscooke 5y ago
Mailpile.is

grandpoobah 5y ago

Whenever I've tried to use Takeout in the past, it's missing a large amount of data. Haven't tried it in a couple of years though.

MilaM 5y ago

I have used Google Takeout in the past and it seemed to work fine. But the crucial question is, can you use it after your account was automatically blocked? That's when I would acutally have an urgent need for it.

encryptluks2 5y ago
Possibly not, so it is best to keep a synced backup of your messages and critical date. mbsync for email and rclone for Drive and Photos.
sbarre 5y ago
Google now lets you schedule up to 6 automated Takeouts a year, so you get an email every 2 months with links to download all your stuff. If you do this every year (I do it on Jan 1st as part of some other yearly reminders) then at most you lose 2 months of data (certainly not downplaying the gravity of that but it's better than everything).
diffeomorphism 5y ago
That is a bit late. You don't make backups after you lost your data.

kuro68k 5y ago

I prefer Thunderbird. It doesn't need the app password for Gmail. With a bit of effort to you can make it auto open and close via scheduled commands to do a daily sync, or just leave it open.