How to Save Emails When Leaving a Job? | Best Guide (2026)
Published: August 4th, 2026 • 6 Min Read
You can save emails when leaving a job by easily exporting them as an archive file or manually copying non-proprietary personal items. However, you must check the company’s policy first and verify your employer’s data and IT rules. As bulk exporting confidential or company-owned data may violate agreements.
You can save HR documents, performance reviews, legally permitted communications, payslips and many more as per the organization’s retention policy before your account is disabled by the company.
Reasons You Should Save Emails When Leaving a Job
Your work mailbox contains more than daily conversations. It may include records that are useful for your future career references and help you get opportunities. Below are some common good reasons:
- Keeping copies of offer letters and employment contracts.
- Preserving salary slips and important HR communication mails.
- Retaining all training certificates and completion records.
- Saving approved leave requests and appraisal documents.
- Keeping legally permitted projects references.
- Preserving personal emails accidentally sent to the work account.
- Maintaining documentation for tax or legal purposes.
Important: Only retain emails that your employer allows you to keep. Company-owned or confidential information should never be copied without any authorization.
Before Saving Emails: Know Company’s Policy
Before exporting any mailbox, make sure to review your organization’s policy. Most of the companies consider work emails to be company property and you cannot have the access once you are not associated with the organization. Depending on your employment agreement, you may also be restricted by:
- Some Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)
- Multiple Data Protection policies
- Intellectual property agreements
- Client confidentiality obligations and documents
- Industry compliance regulations
- Information security policies of the company
Ignoring these rules may violate company policy or applicable laws.
Which Emails You Should Save?
Below table will help you understand what data you can save and what you cannot from your company provided email before leaving your organization:
| Save | Don’t Save |
|---|---|
| Payslips | Company Financial Records |
| HR Communications | Internal Business Strategies |
| Performance Reviews | Sensitive Employee Information |
| Training Certificates | Proprietary Documents |
| Personal Emails | Protected Customer Data |
Method 1: Exporting Emails from Outlook
- Firstly, open Outlook on your system.
- Now, go to File then select Open & Export
- Now, choose Import/Export option.
- After this, select Export to a File option.
- Now, choose Outlook Data File that is .pst.
- Select your mailbox or required folders to save.
- Lastly, save the PST file to your system.
Note: This method requires you to install Outlook desktop application. Also, PST files cannot be opened directly without Outlook-compatible software.
Method 2: Save Individual Emails as PDF
For important documents such as offer letters or HR approvals, PDF works very well. Multiple email clients and platforms offer direct options to save individual emails as PDF.
- Open Email that you want to save.
- Click on the Print option.
- Choose Save as PDF.
- Lastly save your email as PDF format.
Note: This method is good for saving individual emails, legal records or HR documents.
Method 3: Using Thunderbird to Save Emails When Leaving a Job
- Firstly, open Thunderbird on your system.
- Now, go to the three-dot icon from the menu and select Add-ons option.
- Then, go to the search box and type ImportExportTools plugin and further select the Add to Thunderbird option.
- Now, click on the Email Account option if you need to export all email folders, or click on the Email folder you need to save.
- Further, choose ImportExportTools NG option.
- Select the Folder Export (mbox) to save all emails from Thunderbird.
- Lastly, choose the desired location to save all Thunderbird emails.
Method 4: Backup Entire Mailbox Using Professional Solution
Still thinking how to save emails when leaving a job? You can use a solution that can export emails and other associated data from multiple email platforms such as Microsoft 365, Exchange Server, Gmail Workspace, IMAP accounts, Thunderbird, Outlook.com, Yahoo, etc. Using Email Backup Tool can help you a lot with this process as it offers multiple advanced options to save data in bulk as per your choice and convenience.
Quick Steps to Use this Solution
- First, install the software on your system and select your email provider.
- Now, select your email provider from the option panel and enter your email address.
- Preview all the existing files and folders of your work email mailbox.
- Choose any format from Select Saving Option of your choice.
- Click on the Backup button to start the process.
Comparison Table of Manual and Professional Method
Before you save emails when leaving a job, you must understand all the functions and features of all the methods and choose the best one.
| Method | Best For | Bulk Backup | Preserves Attachments | Keeps Folder Structure | Difficulty | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Export Outlook Emails to PST | Outlook desktop users who want to backup an entire mailbox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Medium | Requires Microsoft Outlook desktop. PST files need Outlook-compatible software to access these files. |
| Save Individual Emails as PDF | Saving HR documents, offer letters, or legal records | No | Limited | No | Easy | Suitable only for individual emails. Original email metadata and folder organization are not fully preserved. |
| Export Emails Using Thunderbird | Thunderbird users who need to save complete email folders | Yes | Yes | Yes | Medium | Requires Thunderbird installation and the ImportExportTools NG add-on. Works only with Thunderbird mailboxes. |
| Professional Backup Solution | Backing up multiple email client and platform mailboxes in bulk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Very easy | Offers advanced filtering options, supports bulk backup with multiple export and saving options. |
What Happens If You Don’t Save Your Emails?
Failing backup or saving emails before leaving your organization can result in permanent loss of valuable information. Below are the potential consequences:
- Company account becomes inaccessible
- Permanent deletion of mailbox
- Loss of important attachments
- Missing HR records
- Missing salary documentation
- Lost project references
- May not be able to retrieve employment document later
Conclusion
We discussed the best ways to solve how to save emails when leaving a job question. Make sure you follow company rules and policies before doing any action as you may face consequences if you ignore any policy of the organization. Make sure you verify that your backup is complete before your work email account is deactivated. If you need any guidance and assistance for this process you can connect to our Technical Support Team via live chat. Our experts are available 24*7 to help you.
