Expedite way to copy Gmail archive without Pop3

[Stilicho]

Hi all

My first post

I badly need to copy the archives of several Gmail accounts to be sure that I will not loose anything. (don't ask, long story...)

However I do not have personal access to the Internet, so I use libraries and Internet cafes so POP3 is not an option. It would be easy to download everything leaving a copy in the account.
However all my access is done via web only without Pop3.

- How can I copy all the emails I have in several Gmail accounts without going in a "one by one, copy paste process..."

- Is there any expedite way of doing it in bulk ?

Could not find anything about it.

All the best
Stilicho

[mvip]

If I interpret your question properly, you want to 'archive' your email accounts locally?

If so, I would recommend looking into something like an IMAP to Mbox software. Mbox is a standardized format for storing emails in one file used by some older IMAP servers.

If you google for "IMAP to mbox" you'll find a bunch of scripts that will do that. However, I would imagine that most of them requres some manuall tweaking.

[Stilicho]

Hi MVIP

Thanks for your reply.

In fact I was not very clear, reason being I am always in a rush in the library to getv things done before my one hour a day of internet runs out.

What I need to do is to archive in a flash drive (cannot use library computers for that) all the emails that I have in several Gmail accounts to be sure that I do not loose anything in case my account for some reason is either lost or closed or something else...
(I am not talking about Google but for someone that only uses public computers, security IS a concern and I have several security concerns of different nature)...

The problem is that without POP3 I could not figure out a way of doing that in bulk and fast, hence my question.

I am going to try what you suggested

Any additional ideas ?

All the best
Stilicho

[mvip]

Originally Posted by Stilicho

Hi MVIP

Thanks for your reply.

In fact I was not very clear, reason being I am always in a rush in the library to getv things done before my one hour a day of internet runs out.

What I need to do is to archive in a flash drive (cannot use library computers for that) all the emails that I have in several Gmail accounts to be sure that I do not loose anything in case my account for some reason is either lost or closed or something else...
(I am not talking about Google but for someone that only uses public computers, security IS a concern and I have several security concerns of different nature)...

The problem is that without POP3 I could not figure out a way of doing that in bulk and fast, hence my question.

I am going to try what you suggested

Any additional ideas ?

All the best
Stilicho

Stilicho,

Frankly, unless your mailboxes are really small, I doubt that you will be able to do that in an hour. In theory -- yes, but in reality, no.

Ok, here's a though. Depending on you level of skills, this may or may not be for you. Get a VPS (Virtual Private Server) and download all your mailboxes to it using on of the IMAP to Mbox scripts offered online. Since the server can do this in the background, you don't need to worry about the 1 hour limit. Then, next time you check in, you can simply download the entire mbox from the VPS as a file. You will then probably get much better speed and be able to download it to a thumbdrive w/in an hour.

Also, since these ar mbox files, you can open them up in pretty much any email reader (Thunderbird, Outlook etc.) for offline use.

[Stilicho]

Hi MVIP

Thanks again for your input.

In fact my email boxes are not very big. I only use them for email, never with attachments, and I get always more SPAM then I get legitimate email. However certain things are really important for me and I HAVE to preserve those emails, some to be used as "evidence" or to prove other things.

Without personal Internet access, everything is very difficult because the limitations of these public computers are hard to believe. No mouse right click, no software apart from Office, IE and Firefox, and a video displayer of some sort that I never use.

But since the "community" always has some knowlegeable guys willing to give a hand, I tried.

What you said is above my means but I have someone that reading your suggestion might give me a hand and I am going to try it, on another set of public computers.
Thanks very much. I will let you know the results.

All the best
Stilicho