If you’re using Gmail from your web browser, and for some reason, you come across an error that says Too many messages to download, Mail cannot be retrieved from this account at this time then this post is sure to help you. There are ways to get around the issue, but for some, some of the workarounds we’re going to talk about might not be ideal.
Too many messages to download error in Gmail
This error tends to pop up when users have thousands of emails saved in their accounts. Whenever someone attempts to import thousands of emails from Gmail to another account, such as Outlook, it’s possible for the error to occur.
Most folks who just receive emails from family, friends, and social networks, will likely not have over 30,000 emails in their accounts. However, for us folks who use Gmail for work and other activities, it’s easy to surpass the mentioned number.
You need to delete some of your emails!
Log into your Gmail account, then navigate to the search box. Here you’ll need to use search commands such as before:, after:, older:, newer:, etc. For example, type one of the following into the search box:
After:2020/10/17, or before:2021/07/01
Hit the Enter key on the keyboard, or click on the search icon that sits beside the search box. The next step, then, is to tick the option that says “Select All” then click on Select all conversations that match this search.
After that, just click on the Delete button, which is the trash icon and watch as all emails from the date you’ve select just magically disappear. Bear in mind that you should isolate important emails before going in for the kill.
Once emails are deleted, they are gone for good and never to be seen again.
If everything we’ve talked about above fails, then we’d like to recommend the use of an alternative webmail.
Microsoft’s Outlook is quite popular these days, and even Yahoo Mail is still worth using if nothing else. For those who live in the East, then Yandex Mail is one of the best options to take advantage of right now.
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