Google Takeout for Exporting

The intent of this article to to show the steps needed to perform a Google Takeout backup. There are several applications that can be backed up using this tool so we won't be going over each of them. Just showing how to navigate to the site and how to ensure that the backup files are being saved to your Google Drive.

First thing first, we'll need to navigate to takeout.google.com. If you're already signed into your Google account in your browser, you'll be taken straight to the page where you can start your export. If not, you'll need to login to you account first.
Once here, I recommend clicking the "Deselect All" button so that you can make sure you're only exporting from the applications that you're wanting data from.

Scroll down and click on the boxes to the right of the applications that you're wanting to create an export for. In this example, we'll only be performing an export of the Hangouts.

Once you have selected the applications that you would like to export, scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page and click on the "Next Step" button to proceed.

This will bring you to a page where you can choose the location of where you would like for this export to be saved from the drop down. We recommend choosing "ADD TO DRIVE" this way once the export finishes, it will be saved into the root of your Google Drive in a folder named Takeout. Also the bottom drop down has you select the file size, we recommend 10GB as most exports won't exceed this file size. If the export does exceed the size that you've selected it will create multiple files. All of the other settings should be fine with their defaults, click Create Export to start the process!

You'll be brought to a page where it will show you that you export is currently in progress, and once complete the page will change to allow you to manage your exports. Because we chose "SAVE TO DRIVE" you can click the "Open in Drive" button to be taken directly to where the files were exported.

This completes the steps needed to perform an export from any Google Applications in your Google Account!