Email, Messaging, & Video Calls > Email How to Download Gmail Chat Logs via IMAP Export them as messages to view later By Heinz Tschabitscher Heinz Tschabitscher Writer University of Vienna A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on November 29, 2021 Email Gmail Yahoo! Mail Trending Videos Close this video player What to Know In Gmail, go to Settings > See all settings > Labels and check Show in IMAP.Save your changes, then set up Gmail via IMAP in your email program.Use your email program's export tools to download a local copy of the Chats folder. Google stores transcripts of your chat sessions in Gmail, accessible using the Chats label. They aren't locked in a proprietary chat format; Google stores them in Gmail as any other message. And because chat transcripts look like emails, you can export them as messages if you've configured Gmail to allow IMAP connections. Download Gmail Chat Logs via IMAP To access and export Google chat logs using an email program: Make sure IMAP access is enabled for your Gmail account. In your Gmail inbox screen, select Settings (gear icon). Select See all settings. Click the Labels tab. Under System Labels > Chats, check Show in IMAP. Go back to the General tab and select Save Changes. Set up Gmail via IMAP in your email program. Look for chat logs in the [Gmail]/Chats folder. Downloading Your Chats Use your email program's export tools to download a local copy of the Chats folder. For example, in Outlook 2016, print all the chats to PDF or visit File > Open & Export > Import/Export | Export to a File to export the Chats folder to an Outlook personal archive folder or a comma-separated value (CSV) data file. Although you can copy the chat transcripts from the [Gmail]/Chats folder, you cannot import them to a different Gmail account by copying to that account's [Gmail]/Chats folder. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit