Download your data

We'll email you a link to download your archive.

1. For "Delivery method," select Send download link via email.
2. Choose Create archive.
3. In the email that arrives, click Download archive.
4. To download your data, follow the onscreen instructions.

We'll add your archive to Google Drive and email you a link to its location. Your data will count toward your storage.

1. For "Delivery method," select Add to Drive.
2. Choose Create archive.
3. In the email that arrives, click View in Drive. You'll see a folder with your data organized by product.
4. To download your data, at the top of the screen, select Download .

We'll upload your archive to Dropbox and email you a link to its location.

1. For "Delivery method," select Add to Dropbox.
2. Choose Link account and create archive.
3. You'll be directed to Dropbox. Sign in to your Dropbox account if prompted.
4. In the Dropbox window that asks if Google Download Your Data can access its own "Apps" folder in your Dropbox, select Allow.
5. To keep your data private, make sure you're not sharing this Dropbox folder with anyone else.
6. In the email that arrives, click View in Dropbox. You'll be taken to the Dropbox folder with your archive.
7. To download your data, follow Dropbox's process to download files.

Notes

• After you follow these steps, Google Download Your Data will show up in your Dropbox security settings as a linked app. You can remove Google as a linked app at any time. (If you export data to Dropbox in the future, you'll need to give Google access again.)
• When your archive reaches Dropbox, Google is no longer responsible for it. Your archive will be covered by the Dropbox Terms of Service.

We'll upload your archive to Microsoft OneDrive and email you a link to its location.

1. For "Delivery method," select Add to OneDrive.
2. Choose Link account and create archive.
3. You'll be directed to Microsoft. Sign in to your Microsoft account if prompted.
4. In the Microsoft window that asks if Google Download Your Data can access your info, select Yes.
5. To keep your data private, make sure you're not sharing this OneDrive folder with anyone else.
6. In the email that arrives, click View in OneDrive. You'll be taken to the OneDrive folder with your archive.
7. To download your data, follow OneDrive's process to download files.

Notes

• After you follow these steps, Google Download Your Data will show up in your Microsoft OneDrive security and privacy settings as an app that can access some of your info. You can remove Google's access at any time. (If you export data to OneDrive in the future, you'll need to give Google access again.)
• When your archive reaches Microsoft OneDrive, Google is no longer responsible for it. Your archive will be covered by the Microsoft Services Agreement.

Deciding what format you should choose depends on the service, type of data, and your intended use of it. We have chosen types that we believe are the most useful and portable. For example, we export contacts as vCard, which is a very common format for email providers. We often will also provide additional options to fit your specific needs.

You can store your data anywhere that is safe and has enough room for it. In most cases, it is easiest to download it directly to your computer.

If you use a public computer, store it in Google Drive or an alternate storage space where you are the only user.

Note: If you use Google Drive and plan to delete your Google Account, you'll have to move your archive to a different storage space before deleting your account.

In order to make sure your data will be downloaded, we limit these zip files to 2GB. Archives that are larger than 2GB are split into multiple zip files. Selecting the tgz or tbz format for your archive will increase the size limit to 50GB, so it is much less likely that your archive will be split.

Note: Special software may be required to unpack a tgz or tbz archive. Keep in mind that these types of files can't have unicode characters in the file names.

Your archive expires in about 7 days. After that time, you'll want to create a new archive with your most up-to-date information.

An expired archive doesn't mean your data has expired, and you won't experience any change in Google services as a result.

Note: We only allow each archive to be downloaded 5 times; after that, please request another archive.

The security of your data is very important, so when you create an archive, we want to make sure that you're the only person downloading your data.

To do that, we ask you to re-enter your Google Account password if you haven't recently. We understand that this may be inconvenient, but it's important to take extra steps to keep your data safe.

Note: If your account has 2-Step Verification turned on, you may also be asked for an additional verification code that will be sent to your phone.

If something goes wrong with your archive or you're not able to make one, try creating another one. This approach often fixes the problem.

When you export your mail from Gmail, each message's labels are preserved in a special X-Gmail-Labels header in your download file. While no mail client recognizes this header now, most mail clients allow for extensions to be written that could make use of the labels.

See Migrate data away from Google Apps for options on how to migrate your organization's email, calendars, documents, and sites.