Guide · 4 Min Read

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

Here’s why Google Takeout is a pain for photos.

Ask Google to export twenty years of Gmail and it gives you absolutely everything, not your photos. Here’s where that falls apart if pictures are all you actually want:

• No photo filter. Takeout can only export your whole mailbox as a raw .mbox file. It can’t pull out just your photos and leave the newsletters and receipts behind.
• Google Photos isn’t Gmail. Takeout has a separate “Google Photos” export, but that only includes pictures you manually saved to Google Photos, not photo attachments sent to you in email.
• Huge downloads. An active Gmail account can produce a 30GB to 80GB archive that takes hours, sometimes days, to generate and download.
• Nothing you can browse. Once you unzip an .mbox archive, you can’t open it in Apple Photos or Windows Explorer. You need developer tools just to read it.

Method 1: Gmail’s search filters work, if you only need a few photos.

If you’re only after a handful of specific photos, Gmail’s own search bar gets you there with the right filters:

Narrow it down by date or sender:

• has:attachment filename:jpg before:2015/01/01 — finds photos from 2014 and earlier.
• from:mom has:attachment filename:jpg — finds photos from one sender.

The catch: This finds the emails, but Gmail has no “download all” button for search results. You still have to open each one, save the photo, and repeat—by hand, one at a time.

Method 2: Mail Memories downloads everything at once.

For decades of photos without opening a single email or touching Google Takeout, a local desktop tool gets the job done.

Mail Memories is built for exactly this, for Mac and Windows:

• 100% local and private. It runs on your computer and talks directly to Google’s servers. No third-party server ever sees your emails, passwords, or images.
• Sorted automatically. It scans your inbox, pulls every photo attachment, and drops them into year-by-year folders (like 2004, 2005, 2006) on your hard drive.
• Free to try. Download the app and rescue your 100 oldest photos for free, so you can see what’s in there before paying for anything.

Curious how the bulk download itself works? Read the full breakdown in my guide on bulk downloading every photo attachment from Gmail at once.

How to use Mail Memories.

Step 1: Generate a Google App Password

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

Step 2: Start the Free Scan

Open Mail Memories, enter your email address and the 16-character passcode, and click Start Scan. The app starts finding and downloading your oldest images immediately.

Step 3: Browse Your Restored Memories

Your photos land in your system’s Pictures / Mail Memories folder, sorted by year. From there, drag them into Apple Photos, Google Photos, or a backup drive.

Once your images are safely backed up, tackling a full Gmail inbox is next. See my guide on freeing up Gmail storage without losing your photos.

Frequently asked questions