Guide · 4 Min Read

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

Why Google Takeout Is Painful for Photos

When most people want to rescue photos sent to them over 10 or 20 years of using Gmail, their first instinct is to visit Google Takeout. But almost everyone who tries it hits the exact same roadblocks:

• No photo filter: Google Takeout can only export your entire email database as a raw .mbox file. It cannot 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 does not 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 cannot simply browse through your photos in Apple Photos or Windows Explorer. You need specialized developer or forensics 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 built-in search bar with 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: While this helps you locate emails with pictures, Gmail has no “Download all photos from all search results” button. You still have to click open each email individually, hover over each picture, and save it one by one.

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

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

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

• 100% Local & Private: It runs directly on your computer. Your computer connects straight to Google over secure IMAP. 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., Pictures / Mail Memories / 2007) on your hard drive.
• Completely Free Trial: You can download the app and rescue your 50 oldest photos for free to see what’s hiding in your archive before purchasing.

How to Use Mail Memories: 3 Simple Steps

Step 1: Generate a Google App Password

To keep your account secure, you never enter your primary 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 locating and retrieving 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 directly into Apple Photos, Google Photos, or your external backup drive.