How long does Google Takeout take?

Minutes for a single label, and hours or days for a large mailbox. Google emails you when the export is ready rather than making you wait on the page.

Why has my download link stopped working?

Takeout links expire and allow only a limited number of downloads. If yours has lapsed, request the export again from takeout.google.com.

Can I export only one label?

Yes, and you should. Under Mail choose All Mail data included and untick everything except the labels you want, which makes the export far smaller and much faster.

How to export Gmail as an .mbox

Google will give you your mail as a file, but the feature is called Takeout and the file is called an mbox, so it is hard to find if you do not already know both words. You do not need to connect any account to this site.

The steps

Go to takeout.google.com, signed in to the account you want.
Choose Deselect all. Takeout defaults to every Google product you have ever touched.
Scroll to Mail and tick it.
Click All Mail data included and untick everything except the labels you actually want — see below.
Choose Export once, then create the export. Google emails a link when it is ready.
Unzip the download. The .mbox is inside the Mail folder.

Two things worth knowing first

Pick your labels before you export. A whole mailbox can take hours or days to prepare and arrive as many gigabytes. One label is usually minutes and a few megabytes, and it is almost always what you actually wanted.

The download link expires. Takeout links last a limited time and allow only a handful of downloads. If yours has lapsed, nothing is lost — request the export again.

Then make it readable

Upload the .mbox. You will see how many messages it found before paying anything.

Your export

A WhatsApp export (.zip or _chat.txt), an .mbox, or a Slack export .zip.

Choose your export or drop it hereCounted first. You see the message count before you pay.

Your export is read to count the messages, held only until your archive is delivered, then deleted. If you never pay it is deleted within 24 hours and nothing is charged. What the finished archive looks like.