How to Open Google Takeout Files for Free – Tried and Tested Solution
Google Takeout is one of the best utilities offered by Google to take backup of Gmail emails and other Google applications. Users can easily download the exported data created by Google Takeout and access it. However, the main issues arise when users don’t know the proper procedure to open Google Takeout files on their system.
So, here in this blog, we will discuss two completely free ways to do the same. After going through the complete article, you will be able to open Google Takeout files on both Windows and Mac-based machines.
“I was deleting some unnecessary and old data from my laptop when I found the Google takeout data from my Google account. I don’t exactly remember what that Google Takeout file contains and don’t know how to open it. So, can someone please guide me on how to open Google Takeout files on my system? I am currently using a Windows laptop with Windows 10 installed on it.”
Note: You can also read the tips if your Google Takeout is not Working.
Steps to Open Google Takeout Files on Windows OS
If you are a Windows user and looking for a free way to access the files created using Google Takeout. Then, one of the best and easy procedures is to go with the Thunderbird email application. As the resultant data is obtained in MBOX format, you can easily import MBOX files into Thunderbird.
Although, there is a pre-requisite involved in this method. Thunderbird should have a configured email account in it in which you will import the file. Moreover, you will need to install an additional ImportExportTools add-on that will help you execute the entire process.
The steps to open files exported using Google Takeout are explained below:
Tip: To open Google Takeout files, first, you have to extract them from the zip file you have downloaded and after extracting you will get .mbox files from it. Now let’s assume that you have extracted the zip files, now you have got the .mbox file, now let’s see how we can open it.
- Firstly, you have to Open your Thunderbird Account and after that, click on the Tools option >> ImportExportTools >> Import mbox file.
- The option “Import directly one or more MBOX files” is selected by default in the pop-up; click OK.
- Browse and locate the Google Takeout file that you want to open.
- You can view all of your mailbox items following the import, as seen below.
Steps to Open Files Created by Google Takeout on Mac OS
For those users, who are using a Mac machine, they can use Apple mail to open the resultant file. It is because Apple mail permits users to open MBOX files in it. Follow the steps mentioned below to get started:
- Open the Apple Mail >> File menu >> Import Mailboxes…
- Import choices will appear in a dialogue window. Hit “Files in mbox format” and then click Continue.
- Navigate to the place where MBOX files are stored in the following window. The Mailbox file is stored on the desktop in this case, and it is added from there. When you’re finished, click Choose.
- The import operation from the selected Mailbox file will begin. The length of time it takes to import an MBOX file is determined by its size.
- A prompt window will appear stating the completion of the process. After that, click Done. The imported mailboxes can be found in the Import folder.
- After completing the import procedure, the emails will show in the Import folder. It will display the same folder name as the MBOX file’s source folder name.
- When you click on the folder, all of the emails in it will display as other emails.
Professional Solution Preferred by Industry Experts
It is always a good practice to backup Gmail emails into hard drive as a secondary copy if any mishappening occurs. However, when it comes to a solution for opening Google Takeout files, no solution can match the easiness of 3Steps Software application.
There are many additional benefits of using this utility as it offers multiple view modes to access emails. Additionally, you won’t need any other application to access the data. You can download this utility without paying any cost and use all the features for free.
Conclusion
In this blog post, we have told you three solutions to open Google Takeout files. These steps include opening your crucial Google data on Windows and Mac OS. These procedures are a little complex to perform if you are not technically sound and have a dependency on applications. If you don’t want to get in this trouble and need a quick and simple solution, then you can also use the automated tool explained here.
