Users Can Now Download Google Calendar, Gmail Data

Google is no stranger to service disruptions. And while it may feel like the end of the world when you're without email access for an hour, things could be worse — your entire six-year Gmail history could be lost forever.

As a preventative measure, the search giant today began rolling out the ability to export a copy of your Gmail and Google Calendar data.

Back up your data by downloading your every saved message and calendar event, or pick a specific subset of labels and agendas you want to move over to another service.

The process is easy: Visit your personal Google account page, then click the "Download your data" option in the left-hand menu bar. The Calendar will appear, with the choice to include all calendars or select certain ones. If you don't see Gmail listed yet, don't worry — the ability to download emails is slowly rolling out to all customers over the next month.

Tap "Create Archive" to generate a .zip file; depending on how many years' worth of events you've saved, the process shouldn't take more than a few seconds. You can create an archive from any computer without concern of making your data public. Google automatically saves your downloadable file to your account, and also emails a copy to the address on file.

Once you have access to a personal computer, download the data and store it on your favorite cloud program or a hard drive, or import it directly into another email service. Or simply leave the file for another time; revisit the "Download your data" option in Google to find saved archives, and to create new ones.

Google currently supports downloadable archives in 15 products, including Google+, YouTube, Contact, Blogger, Drive, Hangouts, and Location History.

For more, see An Unofficial User's Guide to Gmail,