Takeout: How do I use Google Takeout to export, save, or transfer my Gmail and Calendar?
Answer
If you have a Gmail account that you use for email, calendar, drive, and more, you may want to export, backup, or transfer your contents to another account. Google has a utility called Takeout that helps with this.
Institutional or School-Based Gmail Account
If you have an institutional or school-based Google account, you can actually use a simpler method to transfer your email contents to a personal Gmail account. Instructions for this can be found at https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6386856. This method uses a specific part of Google Takeout directly accessible at http://takeout.google.com/transfer. It says that the transfer can take up to a week. Your Gmail account you are transferring TO must have sufficient space to hold your contents.
Personal Gmail Account
If you have a personal Gmail account, you can use Takeout to export from various Google products.
- Login to your Gmail account, then go to https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout.
- On the list of applications, check the box to the right to select or un-select that app. Use the “Select All” or “Deselect All” link at the top right to turn them all off or on. Some apps provide a button that allows you to choose more specifically what you want to export. For instance, in Google Drive, click the “All Drive data included” button to select only specific folders to download or only specific file formats. Given the time required for each export, it is advisable to do them in smallish chunks. For example, exporting your Calendar can be quick, so do that separately from a large quantity of Google Drive files or Google Photos.
- Once you have selected the options that you want, click the Next Step button at the bottom of the list. In the next step, you determine how you want to save or export the archive, what format, how often, and in how large of chunks. The default will send you the download link via email.
- Once you get the .zip file, you will need to look inside it for the contents you want. For example, if you download a calendar, it will be a .ics file inside of the .zip file. Extract it or copy it to another location, then use the Import Calendar feature in Google Calendar for your personal Gmail to import the events.