Backing up Gmail locally?

September 24, 2005 9:22 AM

How can I backup my existing Gmail inbox locally, so I can search and access my messages offline?

I predominantly use Gmail via it's web interface, because it's handy being able to check it from my different work/school computers. However, I also carry a powerbook in my bag pretty much everywhere.
What is frustrating is that sometimes on my powerbook I require some information stored in my Gmail archive when I am away from any internet connection source. Previously, I just used to use a POP email client to sync Gmail with my local mail folder every week or so. Yet now for some reason, Gmail no longer seems to let POP clients download any mail that has already been checked via it's web interface. So, no longer can I download a backlog of messages to my hdd and keep up to date for those times when intarweb doesn't avail itself. What gives here, and perhaps more importantly, is there any way to get around it?

If possible, I would rather not go back to using a POP client exclusively.

posted by Thoth to computers & internet (6 answers total)

There are a bunch of Gmail utilities on this page including one that maps Gmail to a drive letter on your local machine (so you could presumably copy things off of it, too).
posted by Dipsomaniac at 9:29 AM on September 24, 2005

Perhaps this might help.

Yes, I wrote it.
posted by zerolives at 9:48 AM on September 24, 2005

In your gmail settings, (under forwarding and POP) do you not have a checkbox option that says "Enable POP for all mail (even mail that's already been downloaded)" ?

Or is it misbehaving despite that box being checked? In that case, that is whack, yo.
posted by misterbrandt at 2:09 PM on September 24, 2005

With gmail's pop settings you can leave the messages either in your gmail's inbox or archive folder when your mail reader grabs your messages making them available on line at gmail and offline in your mail reader.
posted by Mitheral at 4:34 PM on September 24, 2005

Enable POP in gmail and then use fetchmail (or a normal mail client) to download all the messages.
posted by polyglot at 11:13 PM on September 24, 2005

oops, ignore previous (that'll teach me to read the whole question!). Gmail did this to me too, it makes up some random date (in the future!) and only gives you messages AFTER that date. Pissed me off no end.

You can go into the POP settings to enable it for "all" messages or everything "from now" (which will miss the ones between gmail stuffing up and you setting it, of course). If you do it for all and have lots of email, well, that's a lot of downloading but your mail client should be able to delete duplicate messages.
posted by polyglot at 11:15 PM on September 24, 2005