Backing up Gmail for archiving, emergency or reduce space

4 ways and I’m ’em doing all:

  1. Mozilla Thunderbird for Offline Use (syncs your main gmail account)
  2. Gmail Backup
  3. Trueswitch/hotmail – you need to create a live.com or hotmail.com email account first
  4. Create a separate backup Gmail account (enable POP and get email from the main account)

After everything, I will delete a custom tag/folder Archive from my main gmail account.

Useful links for detailed instructions and other options but I will stick with the above for simplicity’s sake: