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Getting the Gmail Folders into Thunderbird

j.hjorleifur.stefansson
j.hjorleifur.stefansson
more options

I have a Gmail account but I want to download all the emails into Thunderbird (so not just show them there, but actually download them). But I would like them to be organized in Thunderbird in the same folders as I have in Gmail.

Attempt 1: Watched a YouTube tutorial which was explaining how to do this. The author showed how you could download all your Gmail emails as mbox file. But when he showed how to import them he jumped some steps: He opened his Thunderbird which showed an empty inbox of a non-Gmail email address, and then imported the mbox file and all his Gmail was there in folders. When I, however, opened Thunderbird it asked me to connect it to an email account. I could choose between IMAP and POP3 and when I did the second it started downloading all the emails. I wanted to follow the Tutorial, so I removed my Gmail account from Thunderbird and imported the mbox file under Local Folders. But it appeared as one folder there with the same name as the mbox file (All Mail Including Spam and Trash-002.mbox). Well, maybe this happened because I put it under Local Folders. I deleted that new folder.

Attempt 2: I decided to ignore the mbox files I had made and just use the POP3 option. In this attempt, it only downloaded the 524 oldest Gmail emails into Inbox under my Gmail address in Thunderbird. So it didn't download all of them, and didn't do it into folders.

Attempt 3: I deleted these 524 emails and tried to import the mbox file. This worked and all the emails were imported but they're all in a folder with the same title as the mbox file, nested under the Inbox. I removed the account from Thunderbird and again just have the folders Local Folders and Outgoing Server (SMTP).

I'm not really a computer person, just a person who wants to leave Google behind and have some more privacy, but I'm dumb in these matter, please help :)

I have a Gmail account but I want to download all the emails into Thunderbird (so not just show them there, but actually download them). But I would like them to be organized in Thunderbird in the same folders as I have in Gmail. Attempt 1: Watched a YouTube tutorial which was explaining how to do this. The author showed how you could download all your Gmail emails as mbox file. But when he showed how to import them he jumped some steps: He opened his Thunderbird which showed an empty inbox of a non-Gmail email address, and then imported the mbox file and all his Gmail was there in folders. When I, however, opened Thunderbird it asked me to connect it to an email account. I could choose between IMAP and POP3 and when I did the second it started downloading all the emails. I wanted to follow the Tutorial, so I removed my Gmail account from Thunderbird and imported the mbox file under Local Folders. But it appeared as one folder there with the same name as the mbox file (All Mail Including Spam and Trash-002.mbox). Well, maybe this happened because I put it under Local Folders. I deleted that new folder. Attempt 2: I decided to ignore the mbox files I had made and just use the POP3 option. In this attempt, it only downloaded the 524 oldest Gmail emails into Inbox under my Gmail address in Thunderbird. So it didn't download all of them, and didn't do it into folders. Attempt 3: I deleted these 524 emails and tried to import the mbox file. This worked and all the emails were imported but they're all in a folder with the same title as the mbox file, nested under the Inbox. I removed the account from Thunderbird and again just have the folders Local Folders and Outgoing Server (SMTP). I'm not really a computer person, just a person who wants to leave Google behind and have some more privacy, but I'm dumb in these matter, please help :)

All Replies (1)

Mark Filipak
Mark Filipak
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Hello,

I have many gmail accounts that automatically populate TBird accounts. You need to go to gmail and configure it as a POP server. Then, when TBird fetches the mail, it downloads the actual mail.

If you have existing gmail, after configuring gmail as a POP server, mark all the archived gmail to be put back into the gmail inbox and then go to TBird and fetch it. The marked emails will disappear from gmail and appear in TBird.

Hope that works for you. Search for how to configure a gmail account as a POP server. - Mark.