Convenient way to download attachments from multiple emails in Gmail?

Question

Is it possible to select multiple email messages, and then download the files in their attachments in one archive file?

The native way to click to open the emails one by one, and click to download their attachments individually is tedious.

Answer 1

Select all emails containing the attachments you wish to download.

Click the three dots at the top menu and go down to "Forward as attachment" then forward all emails to yourself.

You can then download all attachments from that one email to a folder on your hard drive. The attachments will be interspersed with the email files, but you can quickly delete the email files by sorting by type of file, highlighting and deleting. All attachments will be left in the folder and you can combine them into a PDF file or easily print them all using the program of your choosing.

Answer 2

I tried @EthanStrickler's answer, but it did not apply to my use case as all emails are in a single thread (imagine using scan-to-email for 50 pages, resulting in 50 emails all with the same subject). However, that makes it easier, actually. Here's my solution:

1. Open the thread in Gmail
2. Click the three dots at the top (the ones that apply to the whole thread)
3. Select Forward all
4. Enter yourself as recipient

Now, you do not even have to send this email!

5. Click the arrow next to Send
6. Select Schedule Send
7. Choose any time in the future
8. Go to https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#scheduled
9. Select the thread
10. Scroll to the bottom
11. Click Download all attachments

Don't forget to cancel sending this message to save storage space:

12. Scroll up
13. Select Cancel send
14. Scroll down
15. Select Discard draft

Answer 3

It does not really answer your question for existing mail, but going forward it is really convenient to setup a "receipe" on IFTTT. You can create a rule (e.g. based on sender) and have attachments saved to Google Drive automatically.

Answer 4

I wrote an app called Unattach, which allows you to easily download Gmail attachments in bulk, and optionally remove them.

Answer 5

I was also questioning same to myself and then I developed https://github.com/munir131/attachment-downloader small utility to solve this problem.

It allow me to download all attachment in bulk. If you have little knowledge about how to run node application then it will be solve your problem.

Answer 6

You might try "Mail Attachment Downloader" http://gearmage.com/maildownloader.html

It doesn't work on selected mails, but you can filter by subject, sender, etc.

There are options to select certain labels, but I couldn't get it working.

It did the job for getting emailed snapshots from a security camera into one folder.

Answer 7

Works a treat, processes like a beast, with options too https://gearmage.com/maildownloader.html

This works but is limited to 61 messages at a time under a free version: https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/save_emails_and_attachments/513239564707

Answer 8

It may not be as simple as selecting multiple thread then right-click "Download All attachments" but it does work.

I did this using Outlook but you could do this with any POP/IMAP software. You download all emails without deleting them on Gmail. You can make sure the client does not delete when you setup the account in Gmail.

Then, you have to figure out a way to save all attachments from that application. In Outlook, it's quite simple. You can create a small function or Subroutine in VBA to save all attachments. In other software, you will have to figure it out yourself. Search mAttachmentSaver.bas on Google and you should have all that you need. Here's the copy of DataSolveProblems Gist

Sub Download_Attachments()
    
    Dim ns As NameSpace
    Dim olFolder_Inbox As Folder
    Dim olMail As MailItem
    Dim olAttachment As Attachment
    
    Dim fso As Object
    Dim Files_Saved_Folder_Path As String
    
    Files_Saved_Folder_Path = "<Your folder path>"
    
    Set ns = GetNamespace("MAPI")
    Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    Set olFolder_Inbox = ns.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)
    
    For Each olMail In olFolder_Inbox.Items
        
        If TypeName(olMail) = "MailItem" And olMail.Attachments.Count > 0 Then
            
           fso.CreateFolder (fso.BuildPath(Files_Saved_Folder_Path, Trim(olMail.Subject)))
        
           For Each olAttachment In olMail.Attachments
           
                Select Case UCase(fso.GetExtensionName(olAttachment.FileName))
                    
                    Case "XLSX", "XLSM"
                        olAttachment.SaveAsFile fso.BuildPath(Files_Saved_Folder_Path, Trim(olMail.Subject)) & "\" & olAttachment.FileName
                    
                    Case "JPEG", "PNG", "JPG"
                        'olAttachment.SaveAsFile fso.BuildPath(Files_Saved_Folder_Path, Trim(olMail.Subject)) & "\" & olAttachment.FileName
                        
                    Case Else
                        'skip
                        
                End Select

           Next olAttachment
            
        End If
        
    Next olMail
    
    Set olFolder_Inbox = Nothing
    Set fso = Nothing
    Set ns = Nothing
End Sub

If you don't want to use Outlook, you can use Thunderbird