Corbett

Yahoo Backup Tool

Corbett Yahoo Backup Software takes a complete copy of a Yahoo Mail account as PST, MBOX, EML, MSG, PDF, HTML, CSV or TXT. The copy lands wherever you point it, including an external drive. Folders, attachments and dates arrive as they left. Multiple accounts in one run, no size cap, Windows only.

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4.6 out of 5 from 683 reviews

Everything happens between your PC and Yahoo. No mail passes through a Corbett server.

Free demo, verified clean by VirusTotal and 30 days to claim your money back.

Lifetime licence from $99 Free trial saves 10 emails per folder

Guide
Screens
Video

Yahoo specifics

What a Yahoo Backup Contains

Yahoo Backup Tool takes mail, attachments and dates out of the account and writes them where you choose. Yahoo uses plain folders rather than labels, so the structure transfers cleanly. The full comparison is below.

Comes across

Folder tree
Attachments
Inline images
Signatures
Message dates
Read status
Full headers

Folders read

Inbox
Sent
Drafts
Archive
Trash
Custom folders

Saves as

PST
MBOX
EML
MSG
PDF
HTML
CSV
TXT
vCard
ICS

Not included

Filters and rules
Account settings
Calendar events
Alias addresses

A PDF holds the message and nothing else

Printing straight from Yahoo Mail includes the surrounding page. A PDF written from the backup includes only the message.

Print Yahoo emails without ads

Core features

What the Yahoo Backup Software Does

Five screens from the Yahoo backup wizard, in the order a Yahoo email backup runs.

Connect

Use a Yahoo App Password

Choose Yahoo from the list and the server host and port fill themselves in. Paste the app password you generated in your Yahoo account and the mailbox loads. The account stays configured, so a second backup next month needs no sign-in at all.

IMAP or POP3 host and port resolved for you
App password accepted where two-step verification is on
Batch mode takes several Yahoo accounts from a CSV list
Pause and resume, so the run survives a weak connection

Yahoo folder tree with selection checkboxes

Folder selection

Select the Yahoo Folders

Every Yahoo folder appears as a branch with a checkbox and a message count. Compact view hides the empty ones, which helps on an old account that carries folders no longer in use.

Every folder and subfolder carries its own checkbox
Each folder shows how many messages it holds
Compact view hides empty folders
Leave Spam and Trash out of the run

Message preview

Preview a Yahoo Message

Nothing is written until you have seen it. The reading view is joined by four analysis views, which is what an old Yahoo account being copied for a legal request needs and a plain archive does not.

Content shows body, sender, recipient and subject
Message header exposes routing and delivery hops
Properties lists size, priority and attachments
Hex and raw message give the full source

Selective backup

Slim a Yahoo Backup to One Sender

Filters run before anything is written. Two search bars narrow the folder list and the message list separately, so one conversation from a large account can be exported by itself.

A start date and an end date
Sender, subject or message content
Messages that carry an attachment
Message size, to leave the large ones out
Skip duplicate messages
Keep the attachments without the mail around them

Output options

Write Yahoo to a File or Mailbox

The destination is picked after the preview. Send the output to any folder you name. The mail can also go straight into another mailbox, which is the usual route when an account is being closed.

Mail formats: PST, MBOX, EML and MSG for any desktop client
Document formats: PDF, HTML, CSV and TXT for reading anywhere
Straight into Gmail, Microsoft 365 or any IMAP host with the Yahoo migration tool
Extract just the attachments, addresses, phone numbers or contact photos, see how to download all attachments in Yahoo Mail

Before you connect

How Yahoo Sign-In Works

Two settings decide whether any mail software can reach a Yahoo account. Both live in Yahoo rather than here. Neither takes more than a minute.

Check first

IMAP has to be turned on

Unlike Gmail, Yahoo still keeps an IMAP switch. Open Yahoo Mail Settings, then More Settings, then Mailboxes. Confirm IMAP access is on. A switched off IMAP is the second most common reason a setup fails.

Required

An app password, not your own

With two-step verification switched on, your normal Yahoo password is rejected by every mail client. Open the Yahoo Account Security page, find External connections and click Create app password.

Then clean up

Delete it when you are finished

Changing your Yahoo password does not cancel an app password. It keeps working until you delete it on the same security page, so remove the one you created here once the backup is done.

If mail is missing rather than unreachable, the cause is usually elsewhere. Our notes cover Yahoo Mail not syncing and Yahoo emails disappeared from inbox.

Free demo

Run it on your own Yahoo account first

Install it, paste the app password and pick one folder to try. No file appears until the backup is started.

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Before you buy

Yahoo Backup Tool vs Thunderbird

Yahoo has no export button of its own. A mailbox left unused for 12 months is emptied permanently. The free route is to add the account to Thunderbird over IMAP and let it sync, which costs nothing and works. Here is where each one stops.

Task	Thunderbird	Yahoo Backup Tool
Cost	Free	$99 one time
One account, kept on a PC	Does it well	Also does it, but you are paying for the rest
Choice of output format	MBOX only, stored inside the Thunderbird profile	Ten formats including PST and PDF
Save one sender or one year	Syncs the whole account	Date, sender, size and attachment filters
Read headers and raw source	Source view only	Content, header, properties, hex and raw
Setting it up	Install a mail client, then wait for a full sync	Sign in and start
Several accounts	Added one at a time, all syncing at once	Queued together
Opening the result later	Needs Thunderbird or Apple Mail to open	PST opens in Outlook, PDF opens offline anywhere

Rows tinted green are the ones where Thunderbird wins.

If you only want one Yahoo account sitting on one PC and MBOX suits you, Thunderbird does it at no cost and Yahoo Backup Tool is not needed. Our guide on saving Yahoo emails to a computer covers the free route in full.

Specifications

Yahoo Backup System Specs

Download details

Released: Dec 2020
Download size: 87.4 MB
Trial limit: 10 emails per folder
Delivery: Download link and key by email
Licence: Lifetime, up to 5 machines

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System

Hard disk: 150 MB to install, plus room for output
RAM: 4 GB minimum
Processor: 1 GHz, 2.4 GHz advised
Rights: Run as Administrator
Mail client: Not required

Supported editions

Runs on Windows 11 through 7, either 32 or 64 bit. Server releases spanning 2008 through 2025.

No macOS or Linux build.

Building Windows email utilities since 2020. The people who answer support tickets are the people who write the code.

Working process

Watch a Yahoo Backup Happen

Rather read it? The written guide walks the same run with screenshots.

Common questions

Yahoo Backup, Sorted Out

Signing in, what transfers and where Yahoo Backup Tool stops.

Why back up Yahoo when the account is already online?

Because Yahoo deletes the contents of a mailbox left unused for 12 months, unless the account holds a Yahoo Mail Plus subscription. Messages, folders, contacts and settings all go. Signing back in returns the address but not the mail. A forgotten password or a locked account ends access the same way. A copy on your disk is the one version no outside change can reach.

My Yahoo mailbox is full. Does a backup free up space?

Not by itself. Free Yahoo accounts now carry a storage cap of 15 GB to 20 GB depending on the region. A full mailbox stops receiving mail. Anything sent to you while it is full is never stored and cannot be recovered. Back up first, confirm the copy opens, then delete from the server yourself.

Why is my Yahoo password rejected?

Because two-step verification is switched on, which makes Yahoo reject the normal password in every mail client. Open the Yahoo Account Security page, find External connections, click Create app password and paste that into Yahoo Backup Tool instead.

Do I need to enable IMAP in Yahoo first?

Yes. Yahoo still keeps that switch, which is where it differs from Gmail. Open Yahoo Mail Settings, then More Settings, then Mailboxes. Confirm IMAP access is on before you connect.

Does changing my Yahoo password cancel the app password?

No. An app password keeps working after a password change. Delete it on the same Account Security page once the backup is done.

Does it keep my folder structure?

Yes. Yahoo stores mail in plain folders, so the tree is rebuilt exactly as it stands, subfolders included. There is also an option to flatten it if one folder suits you better.

Can I back up more than one Yahoo account?

Yes. Batch mode reads a CSV list of accounts and works through them in bulk, so a household or a small office comes out in one run. Each account still needs its own app password.

Are Yahoo attachments and contacts saved?

Attachments and inline pictures are kept with each message. Contacts come across where the account holds them and can be written as vCard. Under Extract you can pull out only the attachments, only the addresses, only the phone numbers or only the contact photos.

Can I save Yahoo mail as PDF without the ads?

Yes. Printing from the Yahoo website includes the surrounding page. A PDF written from the backup includes the message, the headers and the attachments. Nothing else from the screen appears in it.

Can it run again later and download only the new mail?

No. There is no incremental backup mode, so a second run reads whatever you select rather than only what arrived since. Skipping duplicates stops the same message being written twice. Narrowing the date range keeps a repeat run short.

Is there a Yahoo mailbox size limit?

No. Neither the account size nor the message count is capped in the licensed edition. Yahoo limits how fast any client may read, so a large mailbox takes longer. The run does not stop partway. It resumes after a dropped connection.

Can I move Yahoo mail into Gmail or Outlook instead of a file?

Yes. Pick a live mailbox as the destination and the mail is written straight into Gmail, Microsoft 365, Outlook.com or any IMAP host. Saving to PST first and importing that into Outlook works too.

Does Yahoo mail travel through your servers?

No. Yahoo Backup Tool opens the connection from your own PC and writes to the disk you point it at. Corbett stores nothing and relays nothing.

Will it run on a Mac or on Linux?

No. Windows only, from Windows 7 up to Windows 11, plus Server editions from 2008 to 2025. There is no macOS build and no Linux build.

What is in the free Yahoo backup demo?

Every folder loads, every filter works and every preview view is unlocked. Only the writing is capped, at 10 emails per folder, which is enough to open the output and confirm it reads correctly.

Step by step

Yahoo Tasks, Step by Step

Yahoo Backup Tool is covered above. Each guide below covers a single task end to end.

Saving the mail

When something is wrong

Using the backup

Other providers are covered on the email backup software page. Moving a Yahoo account into another account is the Yahoo migration tool, part of the email migration software. Recasting a saved file into another format is the email converter software. Putting a saved file back into an account is the email restore tool. Reading a file without writing anything is the free email viewer. Apple mail is covered by the iCloud backup tool. Google Workspace on a company domain is the Google Workspace backup tool. Roundcube and Horde mail use the Webmail backup tool. Sibling pages: Gmail backup tool, Outlook.com backup tool, Hotmail backup tool and Office 365 backup tool.

User testimonials

Yahoo Backup, Reviewed by Users

Across 683 reviews of the backup and restore wizard.

4.6 out of 5

Collected across 683 reviews from software directories and direct customer feedback. The three quoted here are unaltered.

Moved Yahoo to a personal account

A really wonderful software. I wanted to take the backup of multiple Yahoo emails to my personal account. This application helped me in getting the work done seamlessly, with no data loss.

Maria Gomez

Found it after a search, it worked

I wanted to backup my Yahoo mailbox. However, I wasn't sure how to get this task done. A Google search led me to this Yahoo Email backup tool and so far this solution has worked well.

Phillip Bates

Wanted the addresses only

What I really liked about this Yahoo Mail Backup tool is its ability to archive the particular files that I needed. Actually, I had to save email addresses from my Yahoo mails. For that, this application worked pretty great.

Melissa Stegner

Get started

Keep a Copy of Your Yahoo Mail

Download the demo, paste an app password and try it on a folder of your own at no cost. Personal licence $99 one time, with 30 day money back.

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87.4 MB · Windows 11 to 7 and Windows Server 2025 to 2008 · 30 day money back