iCloud Backing up entire iCloud mail to store locally

[P4in]

Hello all,

Would anyone kindly point me in any direction that can assist me in downloading a backup of my entire iCloud mail to store locally? I have hit the 5GB limit just using email (I don't use any of the other iCloud features).

I'm trying to do this in the mail app in my Macbook, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything... when I export, the file size of the export is like 20mb and stays at that size (my entire mail is 40k messages / 5GB in size)

I also have a Windows machine, so if anyone knows any good ways to do this, I would greatly appreciate your help.

Many thanks!

 

[waymarker]

I’ve not done this on a mac before, but have with numerous imap accounts using Thunderbird on Windows. After installing Thunderbird and setting it up to connect to your iCloud mail account, install the ImportExportTools NG extension via the add-ons directory, and export your iCloud mail archive to an .mbox file. If you would like to be able to access all your email locally going forward as well using Thunderbird, you could probably just drag and drop your iCloud mail folders into the “Local Folders” directory in TB.

 

[NoBoMac]

Data & Privacy

privacy.apple.com

Option to download you emails. Not sure if will pull attachments as well.

Or something to try, might have to do it in bite-sized chunks:

In Mac Mail, create a mailbox "iCloud Archive" under "On My Mac". Select messages, Move To, select the "iCloud Archive" mailbox. That should/might copy the email from iCloud to the Mac.

Once things look OK in the archive, can delete out the old messages from iCloud.