Convert a Gmail Takeout export to PDF
Google Takeout is the only official way to bulk-export Gmail, and it hands you a format most people have never seen: one .mbox file per label, each containing every message under that label concatenated together. Opening it in a text editor shows a wall of MIME — base64 blocks, boundary markers, encoded headers. Not something you can hand to an HR department or attach to a court filing.
This converter takes the .mbox straight from your Takeout ZIP and produces readable PDFs with each message's full headers, body and attachment list. Gmail-specific quirks are handled: messages with both plain-text and HTML parts render from the best available part, and labels' duplicate copies of the same thread are simply converted in order so nothing silently disappears.
Takeout archives are often large — gigabytes for an old account. Because conversion runs in your browser, there's no upload time, no server cap, and your entire mail history doesn't take a detour through someone else's infrastructure.
Open the converter — free, no upload
Getting the .mbox from Google Takeout
- Go to takeout.google.com and deselect everything except Mail.
- Choose "All Mail data included" or pick specific labels — per-label exports keep files smaller.
- Export, download the ZIP, and unzip it. Inside: one .mbox per label.
- Drop the .mbox into the converter above.
Questions
My Takeout file is 3 GB. Will it work?
Large files work but need device memory. If conversion is slow, re-export from Takeout selecting just the relevant label or date range — smaller mbox, same result.
Do Gmail labels survive?
Each PDF records the source mbox filename, which corresponds to the label. Within one mbox, messages convert in the order Gmail exported them and can be merged chronologically.
Can I convert just one conversation?
Yes — in Gmail, open the message, three-dot menu, "Download message" gives you a single .eml. This tool converts those too.