You can download all kinds of data from your Google account with Google Takeout.
Google offers a lot of services through a Google account, from sending emails, to watching YouTube videos, to searching the internet. As such, nearly everyone who has an online presence probably has a Google account for one of these reasons. For many, a Google account is used for many things, as the company also happens to offer one of the best cloud storage solutions available. But with the expansive collage of services Google offers also comes a large collection of data the company collects. Luckily, you can view and download your data at any time using an online portal called Google Takeout.
What is Google Takeout, and what data can you download?
If you want to download any data related to your Google account, you’ll need to go to Google Takeout to do so. You can access Google Takeout by following this link, or by navigating through your account settings. There are a slew of data points that you can download, but the exact number will vary based on the Google services you use. This includes things like Google Photos or your Gmail emails. The following are some of the data points that Google may store on its servers, and that you can download:
- Google Access Log Activity
- Android Device Configuration Service
- Arts & Culture
- Calendar
- Chrome
- Classic Sites
- Classroom
- Contacts
- Crisis User Reports
- Data Shared for Research
- Drive
- Fit
- Google Account
- Google Business Profile
- Google Chat
- Google Cloud Search
- Google Help Communities
- Google Pay
- Google Photos
- Google Play Books
- Google Play Games Services
- Google Play Movies & TV
- Google Play Store
- Google Shopping
- Google Translator Toolkit
- Google Workspace Marketplace
- Groups
- Hangouts
- Home app
- Keep
- Location History
- Maps
- My Activity
- News
- Phone Audio
- Pinpoint
- Profile
- Purchases & Reservations
- Recorder
- Reminders
- Saved
- Search Contributions
- Shopping Lists
- Street View
- Tasks
- Voice
- YouTube and YouTube Music
Selecting which data points to include
There are a lot of data points that can be included in a Google Takeout export, but you can choose as many or as few as you’d like. At the top of the Create a new export section of Google Takeout, there will be a block called Select data to include. Beside this heading, you’ll find the number of data points selected. By default, all data points will be selected except for Access Log Activity. According to Google, this is because the large size of this data point will cause exports to take longer to process.
If you want to download all of your Google data, all you need to do is click the checkbox beside Access Log Activity. If you’d like to only download specific data points, follow the steps below.
- Start by opening the Download your data page in Google Takeout. Click this link to access the page.
- Sign in to your Google account in Google Takeout. (You may already be signed in.)
- Click the Deselect all button under the Select data to include section.
- Scroll down to the data points you want to download and select the checkbox.
- Click the Next step button when finished.
Choosing the file type, frequency, and destination of your download
After you’ve selected what data points to include, you’ll have three more selections to make: file type, frequency, and destination. The file type is the way that your data will be exported, and you can choose between a ZIP or TGZ file. We recommend using ZIP files, as they can be opened on most computers and mobile devices. However, you may want to use a TGZ file if you are exporting your Google Takeout data for backup purposes, as the file type is designed for large archives of different files.
You’ll also need to choose the file size, which is the maximum size of each file before a new one will be created. The default is 2GB, but you’ll want to choose a larger size in order to limit the number of separate files downloaded. We recommend the maximum of 50GB, but you can also choose sizes of 1GB, 4GB, and 10GB.
Next, you need to select the transfer destination. You can choose between getting an emailed download link, or adding to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box. We recommend choosing the emailed download link if you want to save your data to your computer because this bypasses the need to upload it to a cloud storage solution first. It’s also the preferred method if you have limited Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box space available. However, if you intend to keep your Google data in the cloud, you should choose the cloud storage provider you prefer as the transfer destination.
Finally, you need to select the frequency of your Google Takeout export. For most people, this is a one-off download, so you can leave the default option of Export once as-is. However, if you want to create a recurring export, you can select Export every 2 months for 1 year.
What’s next for your download
Unfortunately, Google Takeout exports will not process immediately. Google says that it can take “a long time,” per its support pages, and adds that it could take hours or days. However, in our testing, downloads processed much quicker than that, so timing could vary.
When the export is complete, you will receive an email with either a download link or a confirmation that the export has finished. If you’ve selected a recurring export, the download will occur every two months, and you’ll receive an email each time an export is ready. Download links will remain available for one week, but after that, you’ll need to repeat the Google Takeout download process.