Download Google App email not using POP or IMAP

Question

I just recently graduated from a college and want to download my emails. The college uses Google apps however they do not allow IMAP or POP. I have emailed the school about this but they are not helpful at all.

I was wondering if there was a way to download emails using either some API or perhaps some un-mentioned export function that is not widely known. I have searched for tools that might automatically do this but they all require IMAP or POP which is my problem.

Answer 1

If you are up to the challenge you could try forwarding each and every message to a new email address, but this would require some tricky filtering as well as header rewriting on the backend.

Here's what I would suggest:

1. Create a filter in Gmail. In the Has these words: textbox type "is:read". The action should be to forward to your new email address (which must first be verified). You'll notice Gmail warns you that searches with is:, label:, or other related operatores are not applied to incoming mail, but you will be fine. You might want to create the corresponding search for new email first where you could wildcard the To/From.

2. At this point you would have all your emails forwarded one by one to the new email address, along with future incoming email also forwarded. The tough part is that its a forward and not a mail redirect which would be much nicer, keeping headers intact, etc. At this point you'd have to use some text processing or third party programs to perhaps attempt to get rid of the Forward fluff and potentially rewrite headers if it interested you.