So I’m trying to move away from Google altogether. I currently use DuckDuckGo for my search engine. I don’t use Google Drive for anything. My next step is to move away from Gmail but I have saved email within folders/labels. Is it possible to download the emails I have saved or would I be better off going through them all and just forward the ones I need/want?
Btw what are some services you folks use for email?
I use E-mail Archiver Pro to download and archive my Gmail messages. It’s simple and works great.
Fastmail will import your entire Gmail archive.
I second the Fastmail recommendation. Along with the easy importing they have some really powerful options for building rules (I was able to get rid of my 2 year sanebox subscription in part because of the rules), more granular control of spam filtering controls, and some really useful email alias controls for your domains. I’ve loved it since I made the switch.
I don’t use email for a filing system. One of the reasons is what you have encountered. Any email I want to preserve I export as a PDF and file away.
I did the gmail to Fastmail import several years ago and it took awhile but went off without a hitch. The web UI and search in Fastmail is great. Haven’t missed gmail at all. (You can forward gmail to Fastmail so you can keep the gmail address if you’d like.) Fastmail has a 30 day trial so just sign up, import and see how it goes.
If you use DEVONthink on macOS, you could download your gmail archive into it. AFAIK you’d need to have Apple Mail setup with your gmail account for this to work. Not sure if there’s an option to preserve gmail labels (folders).