Written by Jennifer Walsh. Reviewed for technical accuracy by Shubham Dixit, Independent Expert in Email Forensics and Data File Conversion.
Shubham is an independent external reviewer and not an employee of PCDOTS.
Quick answer. Yahoo has no one-click download, so you save its emails to your computer over IMAP. Add Yahoo to a desktop mail client with an app-specific password, then export the mail to files, or use a backup tool to save the whole mailbox at once. You choose the format, PDF to read, EML or MBOX to reimport, PST for Outlook.
On this page
There is no download button
The first thing to know saves a lot of hunting, Yahoo Mail has no one-click way to download everything from the website. There is no export-all button like Google’s Takeout. So saving your Yahoo emails to a computer means pulling them down over IMAP, either through a desktop mail client or a backup tool, and writing them to files you keep.
Both approaches connect to Yahoo the same way, and both hit the same requirement, Yahoo will not accept your normal password from an outside app, so you generate an app-specific password in your Yahoo account security first. The Yahoo IMAP server is imap.mail.yahoo.com, port 993, with SSL.
No button to click, so you pull the mail down over IMAP and keep it as files.
“People expect a download button and there simply is not one, Yahoo leaves it to IMAP. Once you accept that, it is straightforward, connect a client or a tool with an app-specific password and the whole mailbox comes down. The choice worth making early is the format, PDF if you want to read and print them, EML or MBOX if you might load them back into a mail app one day. Decide that first and you will not redo the export.” Shubham Dixit, Email Backup reviewer (draft, pending approval)
Which format do you want?
Because you are saving to files, it is worth deciding what those files should be before you start, since it shapes which method you pick.
PDF to read, EML or MBOX to reopen later, PST if you live in Outlook.
The free way, a mail client
This costs nothing and works on any computer. You bring Yahoo into a desktop client, which stores the mail locally, then export it to files.
Add Yahoo to the client. In Thunderbird or Apple Mail, add your Yahoo account as an IMAP account using imap.mail.yahoo.com and the app-specific password. Let it sync, now the mail is on your computer and readable offline.
Export to files. In Thunderbird, the free ImportExportTools NG add-on exports a folder to EML (one file per message) or MBOX (one file for the whole folder), to any location you choose. You can also drag single emails straight to your desktop, where they save as EML.
Just a few emails as PDF
If you only need a handful saved as readable documents, you do not need any of the above. Open the email in Yahoo on the web, choose Print, and in the print dialog pick Save as PDF as the destination. That writes a tidy PDF of that message to your computer. It is one at a time, so it suits a few keepsakes rather than a whole mailbox.
The whole mailbox, a tool
Exporting folder by folder is fine for a little mail, but for years of it, or to save straight to PDF or PST in bulk, a backup tool is quicker. It connects to Yahoo over IMAP and writes the whole mailbox to your computer in one run. The PCDOTS Email Backup Software saves your Yahoo mail as PDF, EML, MBOX or PST, keeping folders, attachments and dates, and it can filter by date or folder so you save only what you want. It runs on Windows and uses the app-specific password. A free version saves the first ten items per folder so you can test it first.
The tool route, for a whole mailbox or a bulk save to PDF or PST.
Here are the steps with the screens.
Step 1. Install and run the software on Windows, then open the menu.
Step 2. Choose Email Account, Add Account, and enter your Yahoo address with the app-specific password.
Step 3. Select the emails or folders you want to save.
Step 4. Open Export, pick your format, choose a folder on your computer, and Save.
To keep just the files, see our guide to download attachments from Yahoo, and for other backups see backup Yahoo Mail emails and export Yahoo emails to PST.
The methods compared
Match the route to how much mail you have and the format you want.
| Method | Best for | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Mail client plus export | Free, most mailboxes | EML or MBOX |
| Print to PDF from webmail | A few emails, free | PDF, one at a time |
| Email Backup tool | A whole mailbox in bulk | PDF, EML, MBOX or PST |
Frequently asked questions
Can I download all my Yahoo emails at once?
Not from the website, Yahoo has no export-all button. You save them over IMAP, either by exporting from a mail client or with a backup tool that saves the whole mailbox in one run.
How do I save Yahoo emails to my computer for free?
Add Yahoo to Thunderbird with an app-specific password, then export a folder to EML or MBOX using the ImportExportTools NG add-on. For a single email, print it to PDF from the website.
Why will Thunderbird not accept my Yahoo password?
Yahoo blocks normal passwords from outside apps. Generate an app-specific password in your Yahoo account security settings and use that instead.
What format should I save them in?
PDF if you mainly want to read or print them, EML or MBOX if you might load them back into a mail app later, and PST if you use Microsoft Outlook.
Do attachments get saved too?
Yes. Saving over IMAP keeps each message with its attachments, whether you export from a client or use a backup tool.
Can I still read the saved emails offline?
Yes, that is the point. Once the files are on your computer, you can open EML and MBOX in a mail app or free viewer, and PDFs in any reader, with no internet.
Your Yahoo mail, safe on your own disk
There is no download button, but that does not leave you stuck, it just means the mail comes down over IMAP instead. Once you have an app-specific password, a free mail client will pull your Yahoo folders onto the computer and let you export them to EML or MBOX, a quick print gives you a PDF of anything you want to keep as a document, and a backup tool saves the whole mailbox in your chosen format when there is a lot of it. Whichever you use, the outcome is the reassuring one, your Yahoo emails sitting safely on your own disk, readable any time, with or without Yahoo.
