How to Back Up Yahoo Mail
If you've never backed up your Yahoo email account, you may be wondering where to start. And you probably need the answers to the following questions:
"How do I back up my Yahoo mailbox?"
"Can I back up my Yahoo emails automatically?"
"Should I back my Yahoo mail to the computer or another email account?"
We will address all of those questions in this article. You will learn how you can create a secure backup of your Yahoo email account and make it usable.
Choosing the backup method for Yahoo mail
The first thing you should know is that Yahoo does not offer an export feature. This means that you cannot download your emails in bulk from Yahoo in a browser.
As a workaround, Yahoo suggests the following alternatives for backing up the emails:
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Print hard copies of the emails.
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Forward your emails to another email address.
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Copy and paste each email message into a text editor.
Unfortunately, none of these options are realistic if you have quite a few emails in your account. To take a backup of the complete Yahoo account, you'll need to automate the process, at least to a certain extent.
You may consider downloading your email from Yahoo Mail into a third-party app, but this option has a number of disadvantages, including the following:
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If you choose to back up your Yahoo mail to a hard drive, your emails will be stored within your desktop email app. If you delete the app from your computer, your Yahoo email backup will be gone, too.
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Any damage to the hard drive or your system will put the safety of the email backup at risk.
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Your backup will not be available online or from your phone, which will limit your ability to browse old emails and quickly find the messages that you need.
Considering the above, we recommend saving a backup of your Yahoo mail to another email account.
You can do that either automatically using third-party migration software (we recommend VaultMe) or manually. Below, we'll explain why the automatic option is preferable.
Backing up Yahoo to another online account
Option 1: Copy your Yahoo emails into another account automatically using VaultMe
VaultMe can automagically copy your Yahoo emails into almost any email provider's mailbox. You may choose to back up Yahoo Mail to Gmail, Outlook, AOL, or nearly any other email provider.
VaultMe is a fast and secure way to create a permanent backup of your Yahoo mail in another email account. The VaultMe app:
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Provides precise results (the formatting, the read/unread status, and all attachments are preserved)
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Saves the folder structure of your Yahoo email account, so your old messages will stay organized
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Works online (no software to download, and you can power off your computer once your migration begins)
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Takes only a minute to set up
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Has great reviews!
Here's how you can use VaultMe as your Yahoo backup tool:
- Go to https://app.vaultme.com.
- Connect your Yahoo account as a source account.
- Connect any other email account (such as Gmail, Outlook, AOL, another Yahoo account, etc.) as a destination account.
- Click "Start."
Option 2: Copy your emails manually using a third-party desktop email app
This method has important limitations, which will be described below. Please consider them carefully before you begin.
To copy Yahoo emails manually:
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Install a desktop email app (such as Thunderbird, Outlook, or any other third-party email software) on your computer.
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Connect your Yahoo account to the app.
To do that, use the following settings:
Settings for connecting Yahoo to a desktop email app If you're using Yahoo Account Key, generate an app password and use it as your account password.
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Connect the other email account to the email app.
You may need to enable IMAP in that account first.
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Drag and drop your Yahoo emails from one account into the other.
There are things you should consider before copying your Yahoo mail using a desktop email app:
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The email app will use your hard drive storage. You should have enough free storage space for a temporary copy of your Yahoo email account on your computer.
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Depending on the number of emails and folders in your Yahoo account, the process may take several days.
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You will need to keep your computer turned on during the copying process.
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Some of the emails and/or folders may fail to copy, especially if the power supply or broadband connection is interrupted.
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Moving Yahoo emails from one account to the other may slow down the work of your computer.
Conclusion
Having a backup of Yahoo emails is important, regardless of how large or small your account is. But to have real value, your backup should be usable.
The only way to make a Yahoo backup easily accessible is to save it to another email account. This can be done automatically using VaultMe or manually using a third-party email app such as Thunderbird or Outlook.
We recommend the automatic option because it's quicker, easier, safer, and provides accurate results. While you may be looking for a free Yahoo mail backup tool, "free" and "efficient" rarely go hand in hand.
To try VaultMe, you will only need to connect your two accounts to the secure online app and click "Start."