How to Transfer Emails Between Gmail Accounts on MacOS Easily
Need to transfer emails between Gmail accounts but unsure where to begin? Whether you need to move emails between Gmail accounts for personal reasons, business inboxes or backup data before closing an account, this article covers everything.
We will cover everything, which will include proven methods that are manual and automatic both. Each method is clearly explained so you can pick what fits your situation best.
Reasons To Transfer Emails Between Gmail Accounts
People search for how to transfer emails between two Gmail accounts for a wide range of personal and professional reasons. Here are some most common reasons which are mentioned below:
- Some users wish to combine their Gmail accounts into a single account so that they can easily read many emails from their Gmail accounts.
- Often, users choose to transfer emails to a new Gmail account to merge their old emails with a new Gmail account.
- Several business users want to switch emails between Gmail accounts to meet business needs. For example, management needs to merge two or more Gmail accounts of employees into a single administrative account.
- To collaborate on a shared inbox or delegating email management to another account.
Steps to Do Before You Transfer Emails Between Gmail Accounts
Before you learn how to transfer emails between two Gmail accounts, go through this checklist quickly to avoid errors and data loss:
- Enable IMAP in Gmail Settings — See all settings — Forwarding and POP/IMAP – Enable IMAP.
- Create an App password if 2-step verification is active on your Gmail Account.
- Label and organize your source Gmail folders so the structure carries over correctly.
- Check available storage in the destination Gmail account.
- Log out of all browser sessions except the source account to avoid permission conflicts.
- Note: emails in old account are not deleted after transfer, only copies are moved.
How to Manually Transfer Emails Between Gmail Accounts?
The simplest way to transfer emails between Gmail accounts is using Gmail’s built-in automatic forwarding. However, this method only forwards new incoming emails, it does not transfer your existing or old emails. Use this if your goals is to access future messages from one account to automatically land in another.
Steps to Set up Automatic Email Forwarding in Gmail
With this method, you will keep getting the new emails from one Gmail account to another account.
- Go to Gmail and log in to the account.
- Click the gear icon and select See all Settings.
- Go to Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
- Under the Forwarding section, click on Add a forwarding address.
- Enter the email address of a Gmail account and click Next.
- Click the Proceed button to confirm the process.
- Google will send a verification code.
- Find the verification email and copy the code.
- Enter the code from the source email account and click verify.
- Choose Forward a copy of incoming mail to [email address] and select what you want to copy.
- Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
Limitation: It does not transfer the existing emails. Transfer emails between Gmail accounts with the Forward option and get the new incoming emails.
Import Emails and Contacts using the Gmail built-in
In this method, we can do a one-time transfer of existing emails and contacts. With this, we move mail between Gmail accounts.
- Go to your Gmail account.
- Click the gear icon and select See all settings.
- Navigate to the Account and Import.
- Click on Import mail and contacts.
- In the pop-up window, enter the Gmail email address and click Continue.
- You might be redirected to the Google sign-in page for the source account. Enter the password and grant all the necessary permissions.
- Ensure the Import Mail is checked.
- Click the Start import button.
The import process will start, and it might take some time, depending on the volume of the emails. This is also a doable method to transfer emails between Gmail accounts.
Export Emails From One Gmail Account to Another Using Google Takeout
If you need to export emails from one Gmail account to another while retaining the full folder structure and all email data, Google takeout is the most complete free option available. It exports your entire mailbox as an MBOX file and you can transfer emails between Gmail Accounts.
Step 1- Export Your Gmail Data Using Google Takeout
- Go to takeout.google.com and log in to the source Gmail account.
- Click Deselect all to start fresh.
- Scroll down and check only Mail.
- Click next step and choose your delivery method, file type (.mbox), and export frequency.
- Click to create export. Google will email you a download link when ready.
- Download the exported .mbox file to your Mac.
Step 2 — Import the MBOX File into the Destination Gmail Account
Once you have the .mbox file, use MacUncle’s MBOX to Gmail Converter to upload it directly into the destination account:
- Download and install the MBOX to Gmail Converter tool on your Mac.
- Open the tool and select your downloaded .mbox file.
- Enter the credentials for the destination Gmail account.
- Click Start Import. The tool will upload all emails while preserving folder structure and attachments.
Move Emails Between Gmail Accounts Through Automated Tools
#1 Method: Directly backup Emails to Another Gmail Account
It’s a difficult task to move your email data between accounts. Then you might consider directly backing up your data to another account. The Gmail Backup Software For Mac is recommended for this reason. Transfer email folders from one Gmail account to another account directly without the need for any conversion.
Download the tool from the link and follow the step-by-step procedure-
How to Transfer emails Between Two Gmail Accounts?
Note: Ensure to create a third-party password to get access to the Gmail folders. Follow the steps in Gmail Settings.
- Step 1: Start the software to migrate emails between Gmail accounts.
- Step 2: Enter the Gmail account credentials into the software panel.
- Step 3: Choose the desired folder via the check box on the software panel.
- Step 4: Advanced Filter Option to transfer specific emails with attributes like date, To, From, etc.
- Step 5: Now, choose the IMAP and enter the Gmail account and IMAP details. Further, click on the Start Backup option.
- Step 6: As a result, the backup starts and some notifications are displayed on the screen.
- Step 7: Using this method, you can easily Transfer Emails Between Gmail Accounts on Mac within the tool itself.
Also, find out how to Save Gmail emails to Hard drive using the same software
#2 Method to Transfer Emails between Gmail Accounts
This method is a bit longer compared to the above-mentioned method. If you have Gmail account data saved in Mailbox format locally, then go this way.
You can effortlessly transfer mailboxes to a Google account on a Mac using the perfect software MBOX to Gmail Converter. The application executes the migration of mailboxes to Gmail or G Suite accounts from different email client applications, such as Apple Mail, Mail, Thunderbird, Netscape Mail, Eudora Mail, etc.
Get the tool from the link below:
Also, learn how to Migrate Personal Gmail to Google Workspace.
Benefits of the Software to Transfer Email from One Gmail Account to Another
Below are a few common features of both tools to forward one Gmail account to another:
- Move Batches of Emails: The utilities to forward emails from one Gmail account to another on Mac allow multiple file conversions. You can select any number of Gmail emails and convert them in a single click.
- Batch Migration: One of the vital aspects of the backup tool is the option to select the desired folder via the check box. You can simply select the required folder to move from one Gmail account to another account.
- Stand-alone Utility: No requirement for external applications to migrate one account to another. Both instruments are fully independent.
- Advance Filter Option: The filter option permits backup emails from specific factors such as Data, To, From, etc. Another feature is to export a selective email folder, such as the Send Folder and allows you to exclude email body & attachments.
- Move Gmail Files with Attachments: Also, the apps export the whole Gmail file along with all the attachments. It is also important to format the attachment files.
- Maintains Original Formatting: The original formatting and structure of all files are preserved during the process. Move emails from one Gmail account to another while keeping the originality of the emails.
Final Outline
Carry out the suitable method to forward emails between Gmail Accounts on Mac OS. Both software have a user-friendly and convenient GUI, which makes this software easy to use for everyone. Even a non-technical and naive user can get high-quality results by using this software. You can check the software’s efficiency by downloading and using the trial version of this software.
FAQs: Transfer Emails Between Gmail Accounts
Q) How to transfer emails between two Gmail accounts without losing data?
A) To directly forward emails between Gmail accounts, just follow the steps mentioned in the above section (Method 4) or Google Takeout (Method 4). Both methods create complete copies of all emails, including attachments and folder structure ensuring zero data loss.
Q) How to move all emails from one personal account to another within the same service?
A) To move all emails from one personal Gmail account to another, you have three reliable options depending on whether you want a free or tool-assisted approach:
Option 1 — Gmail’s Built-in Import Tool (Free, One-Time)
- Log in to your destination Gmail account.
- Go to Settings → See all settings → Accounts and Import.
- Click Import mail and contacts.
- Enter your source Gmail address and follow the on-screen prompts.
- Grant access permissions and select Import Mail.
- Click Start Import. The process may take several hours for large inboxes.
Note: This method may not transfer all labels or custom folders. It works best for Inbox emails.
Q) Are there any apps that simplify Gmail email transfer between accounts?
A) Mailmeteor (Google Workspace Add-on) Primarily an email sending tool, but it also lets you download Gmail data as a spreadsheet — useful for backups, CRM imports, or offline access to email history. This software can help you to forward emails between Gmail accounts.
Q) Is there a limitation to the number of emails I can move?
A) Currently, there isn’t a specific limit to the number of emails you can transfer. When transferring a large number takes more time and encounters occasional issues.





