Import Gmail to Thunderbird: Quick Tips

With the changing requirements, users are in frequent search of advanced features that give them an easy and efficient platform to work with. Ever since Gmail has been developed it has always maintained a unique standard which helped it to get positioned among the top email applications. Even then, users often face issues related to data loss when their Gmail account gets hacked or terminated. So it is necessary to keep a backup of the Gmail data regularly.

In this article, we would discuss various methods to import Gmail to Thunderbird. Thunderbird is a free, open source, desktop based email client that allows users to manage and access the entire data without network connectivity and makes it easy for users to configure multiple accounts at a single place.

User Query: “I have been using Gmail for a long time, but I’m curious on how to import Gmail into Thunderbird? Will I be able to acquire all my emails, contacts without any data loss and then stop using Gmail altogether?”

Why Do You Need to Import Gmail to Thunderbird?

As mentioned above the main reason why the users keep a backup of the Gmail data is to protect their stuff from hackers or from other corruption issues. But the question that pops up in the mind is why to export Gmail to Thunderbird? So, the reasons to choose Thunderbird here is because of its useful features like:

• Better searching options.
• The files can be saved easily on the user machine, thus allows the users to access the data whenever required.
• There will be no hindrance in emails from any external sources.

Manual Approach to Add Gmail Account to Thunderbird

Transfer Emails from Gmail to Thunderbird

The steps to be followed are:

• First, download and Install Mozilla Thunderbird.
• Next, open Gmail account.
• In the Gmail account, select Settings.
• Then, Settings options.
• Go to Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
• Under the IMAP section, choose Enable IMAP and Save Changes.
• Click on Username in Thunderbird.
• Then, click Settings.
• A new dialog box will be open.
• Click Account Actions.
• choose Add Mail Account option.
• Next, Mail Account Setup dialog box pops up.
• Enter Username, Email address and password in the given field.
• Click Continue option.
• Select the IMAP (remote folders) and click Done.
• Click on Browse option to change the directory.
• Click OK to finish the set-up.
• The end user would finally import Gmail to Thunderbird successfully.

How to Import Gmail Contacts to Thunderbird

• Sign into Gmail account and selects Contacts.
• From the Menu bar, Click on More and select Export.
• Now, begin to select the contacts that are to be imported.
• Otherwise, mark all contacts by using All option.
• From Menu, go to More option and then, select Export option.
• Now, a new dialog box will be displayed to Export Contacts.
• Click All Contacts.
• To import such contacts and open Thunderbird Account, Choose Address Book.
• Open Mozilla Thunderbird Address Window.
• Click Tools from the top and select Import tab.
• Go to Address Books from the given options.
• Click Next.
• In the new Wizard, choose Text File option and click Next.
• In the new Window Explorer, attach the path directory where the stored Gmail contacts file is located.
• Choose All Files to view the .csv file.
• In the Import Address Book, it will permit users to select as many or all of them and click on OK button.
• Finally, contacts have been imported successfully.
• Now, the process to sync Gmail contacts to Thunderbird will be completed. Users can access all their Gmail data reliably in Thunderbird account.

Download messages with Google Takeout

To import Gmail into Thunderbird, we can take the help of Google Takeout. All the Google email messages can be transferred at a time using Google Takeout. It would download all the messages as a MBOX file. Afterward, use Thunderbird to access MBOX file. The steps to be followed are:

• To download selected messages, start in Google Mail by applying a label.
• Go to www.google.com/settings/takeout
• Click Select None.
• Scroll down to Mail, click on the gray X to the right.
  • If you want to download only certain messages, click All Mail.
  • Check Select Labels.
  • Check the labels that tag the emails you want to download.

• Click Next.
• Do not change the file type, click Create Archive.
• The zip will be sent via your selected delivery method.

Import Gmail to Thunderbird Using Expert Solution

The above mentioned manual method that moves Gmail data into Thunderbird is too lengthy and time-consuming. To overcome the limitations of manual method, a trusted third party solutions can be chosen. SysTools provides a trustworthy backup utility which allows efficient backup of Gmail emails to MBOX file format. You can access the output MBOX file into Mozilla Thunderbird. The .mbox file can be imported into Thunderbird using ImportExportTools extension or any third party utility like SysTools Thunderbird Import Wizard in just a few clicks.

Conclusion

Gmail is known to be the best email application for quite a long time among the common users. But as mentioned in the section, it is prone to attacks and other issues which would lead to data loss. As one among the solution to this issue, we can add Gmail account to Thunderbird. In this article, we have discussed the reasons and various methods available to export Gmail to Thunderbird.