MBOX to PDF: your Gmail Takeout, one PDF per email
Drop the .mbox file from Google Takeout. Every email becomes its own searchable PDF with its attachments, and the Excel index lists each email’s Gmail labels. Thunderbird and Apple Mail mailboxes work too. Nothing is uploaded; free for up to 20 emails per run.Each email in a Gmail Takeout .mbox becomes a PDF with its attachments, with an index of its labels. Free for 20 emails per run. Nothing is uploaded.
- Never leaves your device
- Gmail labels kept
- Attachments included
Converter
Drop your .mbox file hereConvert an .mbox fileDrop more emails or folders hereAdd more email files
or
Single emails (.msg, .eml, .emlx) or whole mailboxes (.pst, .ost, .mbox). Folders are searched, subfolders too. No emails at hand? See a sample PDF. Only want to read one? Open it in the email viewer.
Choosing a folder: your browser asks whether to “upload” it. That is its standard wording for letting this page read the files; they stay in this tab. Dragging the folder here asks nothing.
Your emails never leave your device. They are read and turned into PDFs inside this browser tab, and remote images and tracking pixels are never loaded. How to check
Enter your licence key
This browser holds a licence key, but Polar hasn’t confirmed it for over 30 days (it couldn’t be reached), so the free limit applies for now.
No limit on emails per run in this browser.
Frees this browser’s activation at Polar (a key works in 3 browsers at a time) and removes the key from this browser.
Reading your emails…
PDF options
Use YYYY MM DD HHMM From FromEmail To Subject Original Index; anything else is kept as typed.
Single PDFs: use the PDF buttons in the list. Files stay in this tab until you close or reload it.
Emails
| Convert | Date | From | Subject | Attachments | Status |
|---|
From Gmail to PDFs in three steps
Export with Google Takeout
At takeout.google.com choose Mail and an archive size. Google says the archive expires in about 7 days and can be downloaded 5 times, and that a bigger export comes as several archives.
Unzip it
Takeout gives you .zip or .tgz files. Unzip them and open the Mail folder: the .mbox file there holds your emails, usually as
All mail Including Spam and Trash.mbox.Drop the .mbox here
Every email is listed with the folder its labels give (the Excel index has all its labels). Pick a label in the Folder list to show its emails first: Select all and Select none then act on that label alone. Press Convert: one PDF per email with its attachments, a ZIP sorted into folders by label, and an Excel index. The free version converts the first 20 ticked emails in the list, oldest first (a label you pick comes first).
What’s in each PDF
The email, as text you can search
- The header: From, Sent (with its UTC offset), To, Cc, Bcc and a table of the attachments saying where each one is in the PDF.
- The message: HTML or plain text, laid out as real text. Remote images and tracking pixels are never loaded.
- Meeting invitations: what, when, where and who, in a box under the header.
- The labels are in the Excel index (every label of every email) and decide the PDF’s folder in the ZIP.
The attachments
- PDFs and pictures become pages after the email.
- Emails attached to emails are shown as messages with their own attachments, and saved in the ZIP as .eml files.
- Everything else (Word, Excel, ZIP…) is embedded in the PDF and saved next to it in the ZIP.
Your labels, kept
Gmail labels are not folders, and mail programs ignore them. Google’s Takeout help says each message’s labels are kept in a special X-Gmail-Labels header, and that “no mail client recognizes this header now”. This page reads it:
- The Excel index has a Gmail labels column with every label of every email, and a Folder column.
- In the ZIP, each PDF goes in a folder named after the email’s first label of your own (nested labels such as Work/Clients keep their levels). An email without one goes in Spam, Trash, Drafts, Chat, Sent or Inbox, in that order, or in Archived.
- Spam and Trash are in the export too. An email with no label of your own is filed under Spam or Trash when it has one of those; to leave them out, pick Spam in the Folder list and press Select none, then do the same for Trash. Your other ticks stay as they are.
Other .mbox files
Thunderbird keeps each folder as an mbox file without an extension (Inbox, Sent…): drop the file, or the whole Local Folders folder, and its subfolders are kept. Apple Mail’s Export Mailbox makes a Name.mbox folder: drop it as it is. Mailing-list archives work too. These were tested with files made in each program’s documented layout and with public list archives, not yet with real Thunderbird or Apple Mail exports.
Who uses this
Students before a school account closes (Northwestern, for example, deletes its 2026 graduates’ Google accounts on March 31, 2027), people closing or leaving a Gmail account, anyone keeping records of a project, and people on a Mac, where many mbox converters, made for Windows, don’t run.
Limits, honestly
What it reads
- 3,486 emails in 16 test archives (public list archives, two real Takeout files from 2015 and 2016, and files we made in each program’s layout) were split into emails exactly right (checked with Python’s mailbox module).
- Google Chat messages in the export are converted like emails, in a Chat folder.
- Thunderbird: messages you deleted that are still in the folder file (until Thunderbird compacts it) are not listed; the page counts them.
- Size: a 2.7 GB .mbox with 38,346 emails, listed in about 20 seconds in Chrome and 15 in WebKit (the engine Safari uses) on a MacBook; the tab used about 0.55 to 0.75 GB in Chrome and 0.9 to 1.2 GB in WebKit while listing and converting the free 20. An email with a 120 MB attachment was listed and converted in both. Bigger files are read the same way, in 8 MB pieces, but were not tested.
- Phones and tablets were not tested. Because WebKit needed about 1 GB for that file and phones close tabs that use too much, keep to small exports on an iPhone or iPad.
What it doesn’t do
- .zip and .tgz archives are not opened: unzip them first and drop the .mbox.
- A recent Takeout export has not been tried: the two real ones we had are from 2015 and 2016 (5 emails, no attachments, labels in plain A–Z letters). Attachments and labels with accents or in other alphabets were checked with files we made.
- Encrypted emails can’t be read: S/MIME ones show only their header (the encrypted part is embedded); PGP ones show their header and the encrypted text or file as it is.
- One email larger than 256 MB is listed but not converted.
- It makes PDFs and never changes your file. Free: 20 emails per run; the full licence ($39 once) has no limit.
MBOX to PDF questions
How do I open an MBOX file from Google Takeout?
Unzip the Takeout download, open the Mail folder and drop the .mbox file on this page. It lists every email with the folder its labels give (the Excel index has all its labels); untick what you don't need and press Convert to get one PDF per email, a ZIP and an Excel index.
Can I convert Gmail to PDF in bulk?
Yes. Export your mail with Google Takeout, then drop the .mbox file here: every email becomes its own PDF, with its attachments, in one ZIP. The free version converts 20 emails per run; the $39 full licence has no limit.
Are attachments included?
Yes. PDF attachments become pages after the email, pictures get their own pages, an attached email is shown as a message, and every other file is embedded in the PDF and, by default, saved next to it in the ZIP.
Are my Gmail labels kept?
Yes. Google keeps each email's labels in an X-Gmail-Labels header that, in Google's words, no mail client recognizes. This page reads it: the Excel index lists every label of every email, and the ZIP puts each PDF in a folder named after its first label of your own, otherwise Spam, Trash, Drafts, Chat, Sent or Inbox, or else Archived.
Is my mailbox uploaded?
No. The .mbox file is read in small pieces inside this browser tab and never leaves your device. The page's security policy lets it connect to one outside address only, Polar's licence-key check, used only when a licence key is involved (when you open the page with a key stored, or enter, re-check or free one); it sends the key, never your emails. Once the page says the converter is loaded, you can turn off Wi-Fi.
My Takeout came as several .zip files. What do I drop?
Unzip every part and drop all the .mbox files you find; you can drop them together. Google makes several archives when the export is bigger than the archive size you chose.
How big can the .mbox be?
It was tested with a 2.7 GB .mbox holding 38,346 emails: Chrome on a MacBook listed them in about 20 seconds and converted 20 in 2 seconds. Bigger files are read the same way, in 8 MB pieces, but were not tested. An email larger than 256 MB is listed but not converted.
Does it work on a Mac, a Chromebook or an iPhone?
It runs in the browser, with no install. It was tested in Chrome and in WebKit, the engine Safari uses, on a Mac; Windows, Chromebooks and Linux use the same browsers but were not tried with mailbox files yet. Phones were not tested; WebKit needed about 1 GB of memory for a 2.7 GB export, so keep to small exports on an iPhone or iPad.
Can it read Thunderbird and Apple Mail .mbox files?
Yes, the same way: drop Thunderbird's mailbox file (it has no extension, for example Inbox) or the whole Local Folders folder, or Apple Mail's exported Name.mbox folder. They were tested with files made in each program's documented layout, not yet with real exports.
Can I put the MBOX back into Gmail or Outlook?
Not with this page: it makes PDFs and leaves your file as it is. Putting an .mbox back into a mailbox needs a mail program or your provider's import tools.
Is it free? What does the licence cover?
Free for 20 emails per run, with all their attachments, the ZIP and the index. The full licence costs $39 once, has no limit and covers every format the tool reads: .msg, .eml, .emlx, .mbox, .pst and .ost.