How to Clone Gmail Account to Your Computer or Other Email?
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Quick Answer: To clone Gmail account data, you can use Gmail’s built-in Google Account Settings import tool, Google Takeout to export emails as MBOX files, or a dedicated solution. You just need to decide which solution is best for your requirements.
Google Gmail is the world’s most widely used cloud-based email service because it is available free of cost with great features. Gmail comes with a simple graphical user interface (GUI) so anyone can easily use it without facing any problems. Sometimes users have a desire to create clone Gmail account due to various reasons.
If you are an active Gmail user and want to know the best technique to clone your Google account, Then stay tuned with this blog post as this article explains the complete details to clone Gmail app to a local pc or another cloud-based email account.
What Gets Copied When You Clone Gmail Data?
It all depends on your method: what data will be cloned and what not.
- Email messages from Inbox, Sent, Drafts, and other mail folders.
- Attachments associated with the cloned emails.
- Metadata such as sender, recipient, date and subject.
- Labels and folder hierarchy, depending upon the method used.
- Read and unread stats, depending upon the method used.
What Does a Clone Gmail Account Actually Mean?
Cloning simply means replicating your entire existing archive. To clone a Gmail account means copying emails, folders, labels, and attachments from one Gmail account to another account or location. It creates a duplicate mirror of your mailbox data. However, Google does not allow two people to create the same email addresses, so cloning typically refers to one of a few common processes.
- Cloning means transferring all old messages, contacts, calendars, and history from your old Gmail address to a new one.
- Making an offline or secondary copy of your inbox to protect against data loss, accidental deletion, or service outages.
- Creating a closely related or lookalike email address to separate and easily manage personal and professional life.
Benefits of Cloning a Gmail Account
- Cloning helps you to transfer entire data smoothly and completely so that you do not lose your old conversations.
- Keeps an offline and independent copy of your inbox that protects your entire data from unexpected or accidental deletion.
- Cloning makes it easy for you to move the entire mailbox directly into multiple and popular email platforms.
- Organizations frequently clone their mailboxes to preserve important and old conversations in an exact form.
- Users managing multiple accounts clone their data to aggregate historical data into a single hub without losing the structure.
Manual Method for Cloning Gmail Account
- First, login to your specific Gmail account and start Google Takeout service.
- Deselect all Google programs and enable only the Gmail option.
- Now set the Delivery method to ‘Send download link via email,’ as shown in the figure.
- After that, select ZIP as the file type.
- Choose the maximum file size i.e., 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 10 GB, and 50 GB. Click the Create archive button.
- Gmail data archiving is being prepared, please wait; it will take some time depending on the data size.
- Later, you will receive an email subject like “Your Google data archive is ready”, then hit the Download archive button.
Note: Your Gmail account data will be downloaded in a ZIP file. You can extract the ZIP file and get your data in MBOX format. Now you can use FREE Google Takeout Viewer to read archived emails.
Limitations of Takeout Method
- As you have seen above, the manual method can export MBOX from a Gmail account so if you want to clone a Gmail account to another format then this is not possible.
- The manual approach is effective for cloning your Gmail account to your local computer. But if you want to clone your Gmail account to other cloud-based accounts like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook.com, Office 365, etc. then this is not possible.
- This technique may take several minutes to several days for mirroring a Gmail account as it shows a message like your data is being prepared.
Read Similar: Direct Way to Migrate G Suite to Microsoft 365
Using Gmail’s Built-in Import Feature
This is a free method that helps you copy your data from one Gmail account to another using Gmail’s built-in Google Account Settings import tool.
- First open the new Gmail account to which you want to switch.
- Now, click on the Settings and choose see all settings options.
- Now, select the Accounts and Import button.
- After that, click on Import mail and contacts.
- Now, type your source Gmail address and click on Continue.
- Sign in and grant permission to access your old account.
- Lastly, check Important mail, then click on Start Import.
Limitations of Built-in Feature
- Only emails can be imported. Gmail labels, filters, and folder hierarchy are not being cloned.
- This process can consume several days to complete if your Gmail account contains large mailbox
- Risk that some emails may not be transferred correctly, especially starred and categorized emails.
Professional Way to Create Clone Gmail Account
BitRecover Gmail Backup Tool is authorized to create clone Gmail accounts on multiple desktop and cloud-based platforms. You can use this Gmail Email Cloning Tool to clone an existing Gmail email address according to your choice.
This Gmail email cloner software offers approx 30 cloning choices for you. Even it comes with a free trial version. The demo edition of this application permits you to clone 25 emails from each Gmail folder to your preferred platform. Let’s see its working steps.
How to Clone a Gmail Account?
- Start the Gmail cloner tool, enter account credentials and Login.
- Thereafter, the tool will add Gmail folders in the software panel, you can select the required folders.
- Gmail Cloner Tool also provides several filter options for selectively cloning Gmail accounts.
- Now select an option where you want to create a clone Gmail account.
- Choose output file name from File Naming Options list.
- Now software is creating a cloning Gmail account to EML, PDF, HTML, etc. so please wait.
- The process to clone Gmail account has been completed successfully.
Gmail Email Cloning Tool Features
- This software has approx 30 cloning options for your Gmail account including PST, MSG, EML, MBOX, Yahoo, Outlook.com, Office 365, Zoho Mail, etc.
- Gmail Email Cloner Software provides several filter options to create clone Gmail account between date range, by email address, and subject.
- This application is capable to clone multiple Gmail accounts at once by creating a CSV file having account credentials.
- The tool is suitable to create clone Gmail accounts including attachments, to, cc, bcc, subject, signature, inline images, and all.
- You can choose only specific folders according to your preference to clone Google accounts.
Tips Before Cloning Gmail Account
- Audit your entire data, for example: what moves easily, what cannot be transferred, drive data, Google Authenticator, etc.
- Prepare your source account, enable POP/IMAP access, and make sure to clear out your spam and trash folders.
- Update recovery options and establish a strong password immediately if you are moving to a brand-new Gmail account.
- Decide your cloning method whether you want to use native import tool, Google Takeout or any other professional Gmail cloner.
Conclusion
We have explained the top 3 methods to create clone Gmail account effortlessly. If you want to save Gmail data on your computer in MBOX format, use the manual method. If you want to clone a Gmail account anywhere according to your choice then use the Gmail email cloning tool mentioned above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ques 1: Can you clone a Gmail account manually?
Ans: Yes, we have already mentioned the complete steps for creating a clone Gmail account on your computer. However, the manual method has some limitations.
Ques 2: Is Gmail cloning possible on desktop-based email clients?
Ans: Yes, this utility gives freedom to create Gmail cloning on most desktop clients such as Thunderbird, Outlook, Mac Mail, eM Client, etc.
Ques 3: How to clone email in Gmail account?
Ans: The tool provides multiple cloning choices, choose Gmail from the list to clone emails in your Gmail account.
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