How to Backup Yahoo Emails to PC?

Read time 10 minutes

There are several compelling motivations for backing up your Yahoo emails. Perhaps you’re considering moving your email correspondence to a different platform or email client, or you find the features of an alternative email client more appealing than those of Yahoo Mail. Additionally, events like September 2016, when Yahoo disclosed a security breach that compromised nearly 500 million Yahoo Mail users and another incident later affecting nearly 1 billion accounts, raise questions and fear among users.

In circumstances like these, it becomes imperative to migrate to a more secure email client or archive Yahoo Mail to hard drive to safeguard emails. Regardless of your specific reason, what you require is a backup of your Yahoo Mail correspondence. If this describes your situation, then you’re in luck!

Why you should Archive Yahoo Mail to Hard Drive?

Similar to any email platform, Yahoo Mail stores your valuable emails, making it essential to routinely back them up. There are several other factors that can develop the need to download Yahoo Mail to hard drive:

1. To protect your data from online threats.
2. To overcome the problems of accidental deletion.
3. To recreate the account if it is blocked for any reason.
4. To protect from phishing and other cyber-attacks.

Ways to Archive Yahoo Mail to Hard Drive

Now, let’s explore the simplest methods to backup Yahoo Mail to hard drive. Currently, only two reliable methods are available to export Yahoo mail to hard drive. Let’s discuss the methods now:

Method #1: Archive Yahoo Mail to Hard Drive with an Email Client

To achieve this, you can use an email client like Outlook and save Yahoo emails to PST format. However, to add Yahoo Mail to Outlook, IMAP must be enabled, and you must generate a Yahoo Mail application password. Then, follow the steps given below to save Yahoo Mail to a hard drive:

Step 1: Prepare your Yahoo Account: Generate App Password for a Third-Party App

In Yahoo Mail, click on your account picture and click on Account info.

Select Account Security from the left pane. Select Manage app passwords.

This should open up a popup window. Next, select Outlook desktop and click Generate.

This will generate an App password, which will be later used when adding a Yahoo mail account to the Outlook desktop client. Copy the password and hit Done.

Step 2: Configure Yahoo Mail in Outlook 2019/2016/Office 365

In Outlook, go to the File. Click on the Add Account button.

Enter your Yahoo email account and click on the Connect button.

Enter the earlier generated App password in the Password section and click on Connect.

Click Done.

Open the Outlook desktop client; then, you should see Yahoo Mail in Outlook configured successfully.

Step 3: Export the Yahoo Mail data to your PC

Go to File > Open & Export > Import & Export.

Select the second option Export to a file, and hit Next.

Here, select Outlook Data File(.pst) option and hit Next.

Select the folders to export from and hit Next.

Browse for the location to save the exported file or use the default location (copy the file path for later use), then enter Finish to backup Yahoo Mail to hard drive.

Paste the earlier copied file path in the file explorer. You can see the newly exported Yahoo mail data file in .pst format.

Note: Like Outlook, you can use any other IMAP-supported email client, like Thunderbird to save Yahoo Mail to a hard drive.

Instantly Archive a Single Yahoo Email to Hard Drive

If you only want to export a few emails and a change in text formatting is not an issue, then you can also use the Yahoo Mail print email functionality to save email to PDF format or save the message to a text editor.

Print any Yahoo Mail

Steps to save any Yahoo email as PDF to hard disk are:

Step 1: Go to your Yahoo Mail account on desktop or browser.

Step 2: Open the email you want to print.

Step 3: Click on the print icon.

Step 4: A new window will open with the selected email.

Step 5: Choose your saving preferences and save the email as PDF.

Copy & Paste Email to Word

If due to any plugin issue or server issue, the print option does not work, you can copy & paste the email to a Word file with the following steps:

Step 1: Open the Yahoo email and select the complete email with the shortcut key, Ctrl + A.

Step 2: Press Ctrl + C to copy the entire email. Then open a new blank Word file.

Step 3: Finally, press Ctrl + V to paste the email and save the Word file.

The saved messages will contain the original information, but the text style & formatting may differ from the original.

Drawbacks of the manual method

The manual method to archive Yahoo Mail to hard drive has a few limitations that you must know:

• Need to configure Yahoo account in Outlook
• Involves multiple and is time-consuming
• Only a single mailbox can be backed up at a time
• Not good for non-technical users
• Chances of manual errors are there
• Possibility of incomplete data backup or loss of data integrity
• Limited number of saving formats

Method #2: Archive Emails with Kernel IMAP Backup and Restore Tool

While the previous method of backing up Yahoo Mail to your PC is free, it is lengthy, not user-friendly, and time-consuming. To quickly and accurately download Yahoo Mail to hard drive, you must use a professional tool and save you valuable time. One highly capable option is Kernel for IMAP Backup. This tool can efficiently back up single or multiple server mailboxes, allowing you to save your IMAP data in various formats such as PST, EML, MSG, MHT, HTML, DOC, DOCX, and PDF. It offers support for Novell Groupwise, Lotus Notes, Exchange, Office 365, and Zoho Mail backups. Additionally, the tool provides multiple features like folder selection, date range filtering, and the ability to exclude specific folders, enabling you to perform selective backups of your mailbox data. Rest assured, Kernel for IMAP Backup is a secure solution that maintains the integrity of your data throughout the process.

Let us now look at the tool process in detail-

1. Open the tool and select the Backup option. Then, click the Add button to add your Yahoo Mail account.
2. Enter the Yahoo Mail account credentials and click Add.
3. Click the Set Filter and Migrate button.
4. Select all the desired filters. Next, click on, I am Ok, Start Migration.
5. Choose the file output type as PST or any other format according to your preference.
6. Now, provide the file path to save the backed-up IMAP mailbox.
7. When the process ends successfully, a popup window will appear.

When the backup process is completed, you can save a detailed report in CSV format for mailbox backup validation.

Conclusion

In this blog, we have explored different ways to archive Yahoo Mail to hard drive. However, the manual method is undeniably time-consuming and demands precise execution of numerous steps. For faster results, you must utilize a professional IMAP backup tool like Kernel IMAP Backup and Restore. We strongly recommend this tool for all your IMAP backup requirements.

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