Guide · 4 Min Read

How to Download All Photos From Gmail (Without Google Takeout)

Here’s why Google Takeout Is a Pain for Photos

When you want to rescue photos sent over 10 or 20 years of using Gmail, your first thought might be to try Google Takeout. It makes sense, but just about everyone who tries it runs into the same roadblocks:

• No photo filter: Google Takeout can only export your entire email database as a raw .mbox file. It can’t filter out newsletters, receipts, or shipping notifications to give you just your pictures.
• Google Photos vs. Gmail: Google Takeout has a separate “Google Photos” option, but that only exports photos you manually backed up to Google Photos. It doesn’t include photo attachments sent to you in Gmail messages.
• Gigantic downloads: An active Gmail account often produces 30GB to 80GB of compressed archive files that can take hours or days to download.
• No easy viewer: Once you unzip an .mbox archive, you can’t simply browse through your photos in Apple Photos or Windows Explorer. You need special developer software just to parse the files.

Method 1: The Manual Search Filter (Good for a Handful of Photos)

If you only need to find a few specific photos and have some time on your hands, you can use Gmail’s search bar with some advanced filters:

You can also narrow this down by date or sender:

• has:attachment filename:jpg before:2015/01/01 — Finds photos from 2014 and older.
• from:mom has:attachment filename:jpg — Finds photos sent by a specific person.

The Catch: This helps you locate emails with pictures, but Gmail doesn’t have a “Download all photos from all search results” button. You still have to open each email individually, hover over each picture, and save them one by one.

Method 2: Automatic Extraction With Mail Memories (Best for Full Archives)

If you want decades of photos saved to your computer without clicking through thousands of emails or dealing with Google Takeout, a local desktop tool is the best solution.

Mail Memories is a desktop application for Mac and Windows designed specifically for this:

• 100% Local & Private: It runs directly on your computer. Your system connects securely to Google’s server. No third-party servers ever see your emails, passwords, or images.
• Automatic Organization: It scans your inbox in the background, extracts every photo attachment, and neatly organizes them into year-by-year folders (e.g., 2004, 2005, 2006, etc.) on your hard drive.
• Completely Free Trial: You can download the app and rescue your 100 oldest photos for free to see what’s hiding in your archive before purchasing.

Want a deep dive on how the bulk download itself works? Check out my guide on bulk downloading every photo attachment from Gmail at once.

How to Use Mail Memories: 3 Simple Steps

Step 1: Generate a Google App Password

To keep your account secure, you never enter your real Google password. Instead, you create a 16-character Google App Password in your Google Account security settings. This creates a temporary, read-only key that you can revoke with one click at any time.

Step 2: Start the Free Scan

Open Mail Memories, enter your email address and your 16-character passcode, and click Start Scan. The app will immediately begin finding and downloading your oldest photo attachments.

Step 3: Browse Your Restored Memories

Your photos will be saved directly into your system’s Pictures / Mail Memories folder, organized chronologically by year. From there, you can drag them into Apple Photos, Google Photos, or a backup drive.

Once everything is safely backed up, it’s also a good time to deal with a full Gmail inbox. Check out my guide on freeing up Gmail storage without losing your photos.

Frequently Asked Questions