Very few companies have been able to gain people trust such as Google. As we can see in the past two decades google has only minimal downtime and no big security threat.
No system is fool proof and new methods of breaking into most secure systems are unearthed. Best method is to have Gmail backup in placed, in the event of any mishap.
This guide we will elaborate total 4 easy options available at your discard on how to backup your Gmail.
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5 Reasons to Backup Gmail
Question arises about why do you need to backup your Gmail? As we all know that google already stores your emails on multiple cloud data centres.
When we come to threats there are multiple instances where you would not be able to access your Gmail account as you generally can.
1. Cloud incidents.
Nobody is immune to cloud incident, not even Google, despite taking all the measure on consumer protection and cybersecurity. A hacker could also exploit any weakness found in Google security system which may result in longer downtimes for servers resulting in services being inaccessible.
2. Internet and service outages.
Your connection to the internet might get lost or you may experience service outages. Google being cloud based, requires you to have internet access to access your data, so services might become temporarily unavailable in your region, simply because of the internet outages.
3. Hacks and compromises.
There are other methods which might target you specifically, for instance someone gets your password or the associated account password. Someone could hack into your account if your account gets compromised resulting in deleting all your emails or getting you at least locked out of your account.
4. Accidental deletion.
Sometimes a user accidentally deletes an important email, resulting in you losing some important information. Backup Gmail also immunes you of accidental incidents of losing your important email data.
5. Account shutdown/loss.
Sometimes your account gets shutdown or in some other instances could lose access to your account. Such scenarios where Google intentionally blocks your specific account is rare, your account administrator might block you, unintentionally or intentionally.
Keep taking periodic backups of your Gmail account, saves you from all those unpredictable scenarios and your keep on accessing your account even if it can not be accessed utilizing conventional ways.
Several methods of backup strategies offer different pros and cons. We will try to uncover each backup method in detail.
Option 1: Download Your Gmail Messages
Most easy option is to download all your emails into .zip file so that you are always with a snapshot of your Gmail account which can be accessed at anytime.
.zip files because of being locally stored, can be accessible even if your access to internet is compromised in some instance. You need to employ some other cybersecurity measures to secure these files like a password encryption, so someone with access to your system can not access such important data files.
An easy way to do this:
- Login to your Google account
- Go to Data and Personalization area.
- Scroll and click on “Download, delete, or make a plan for your data.”
- Click on Download your data now.
Now select Mail out of all the categories to download and you can also select specific emails containing specific labels to download.
Now select .zip format to download file, most people prefer .zip file as it is ideal for them.
There is also “offline mode” available in email which you can enable from settings menu and save changes.
Option 2: Synchronize Gmail to a Local Email Client
Other method is to synchronize your Gmail account with other local email clients such as Outlook, Thunderbird or Mailbird. Most important thing is synchronization helps you in automatically creating Gmail backup to your local email client.
Synchronizing your other local email client helps you access recent version of your Gmail email in case of any type of outages.
Option 3: Forward Your Emails to Another Email Address
Other method is setting up another email account as a backup or mirror of your Gmail account, you will need to setup automatic forwarding to this email address. In a setting menu of Gmail head over to Forwarding and POP/IMP, here you can add a forwarding email address. Email in forwarding enabled will automatically receive a copy of emails which hit your inbox afterwards.
You can go more sophisticated by only forwarding selected emails through automatic filters. For instance, you can forward emails only from a specific sender or email matching certain other criteria to this forwarding email address. Most useful case of such filtering is when you only need to backup specific emails and not all emails in general.
Option 4: Use a Third-Party Gmail Archiver
There are also third-party solutions which help you automatically archive your Gmail. GMvault is one good solution which is free as well and helps you backup and restore all your Gmails to the new account. Other popular paid tools include Mail Archiver X and Backupify.
Key Tips for Success When Backing Up Gmail
Here are some tips to help you follow and execute successful Gmail backup strategy,
Above mentioned tips are highly effective for people following one-time backup strategies but the better option is to take regular backups with some intervals. Individuals or organizations more prone to security threats and breaches should take backup more frequently. You can pick either strategy to automatically take backups or manually.
You should adapt to multiple approaches while taking backup. Having backup on cloud and taking it locally helps you ensure maximum safety against any mishap or different types of failures.
Best strategy is to automate things as much as you can because it is troublesome to keep remembering and taking backups. Even people who have never faced any failure or mishap should also be on safe side and try solutions which offer automatic Gmail backups to keep disruptions at bay. You can also use Google sheets to automatically update your backup entries there in cloud easily.
When creating Gmail backups, you need to be very cautious about tool you will use. Do your thorough research on which tools to pick as not all tools offer same reliability, features and security when we talk about backups.
It is always a good option to be secure and add two factor authentication to your Gmail account so that even if your password gets compromised, no new device can enter your account. Other tip is to encrypt Gmail account with strong password. All backup solutions must also be encrypted especially when you about to send emails containing sensitive information.
You should take Gmail backup on daily basis as you know now what are the methods which can aid you in taking Gmail backups more efficiently.
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