Email and calendar
Find and export
your Gmail data.
Google Workspace reports Gmail storage separately from Drive and Photos. Summing the mailbox figures gives a starting measure of the email and attachments retained across your company.
- Report in
- GB
- Category
- Email and calendar
- Last checked
Find your Gmail data size
- Sign in to admin.google.com with the Reports privilege; a super administrator can also access the storage overview.
- Open Reporting → User Reports → Accounts.
- Export the report with the Gmail storage and account-status columns included.
- Sum Gmail storage used (MB) for the accounts in scope. Divide by 1,024 to express that reported figure in GB.
- Review suspended and archived accounts so retained former-employee mail is represented where applicable.
What to include in your data inventory
Report the combined mailbox storage in GB, identifying the accounts included. Mention archived or suspended users and any shared-mailbox arrangement.
Give the year of the oldest retained mail, including imported history where relevant. State the number of mailboxes and current staff using email.
Export your Gmail history
- Ask a super administrator to check the Workspace Data Export requirements, including account age and 2-Step Verification.
- In Google Admin, open Data → Data import & export → Data export and set up an export for the agreed organizational scope.
- Download the Gmail archives from the resulting Cloud Storage location, preserving the service and user folder structure.
- For selected accounts, date ranges or PST output, use an appropriately licensed Google Vault matter to search Gmail and export the results.
Workspace Data Export can take several days. Follow the completion email and download before the expiry shown for the archive.
Vault can produce mbox or PST message files with accompanying metadata. A user's Google Takeout export is another route when the administrator allows it.
Why Gmail data has value for AI training
Email threads can show how a request develops through questions, approvals and follow-up. The timing and attachment references help connect a conversation to the work it produced.
Mailboxes from different business roles can preserve the handoffs involved in customer and supplier relationships.
What stays private
Choose the mailboxes and dates in scope. Your company can exclude legal, HR or other confidential correspondence.
Telegraph Lab reviews the proposed material with you and agrees how sensitive information will be handled. Preparation can include excluding material, redacting details and replacing personal identifiers. Your company keeps ownership; the licensing agreement defines the material, permitted uses and authorized recipients.
Common questions about Gmail data
Should we include Drive in the Gmail figure?
Use the Gmail storage column for this line. Report Drive storage separately.
Can we include mail from former employees?
Include retained accounts or archives that your administrator can access and is authorized to export. Confirm their status first.
Do we need Vault for an organization export?
Workspace also provides a super-administrator Data Export tool. Vault offers search and export features according to your licensing.
Which file formats can we receive?
Vault supports mbox or PST for Gmail, accompanied by metadata. Check the service archives produced by the export route you choose.