Is There an App to Analyze Gmail Emails for Abuse or Harassment?
Reviewed by Jacob Reed, founder of Verity ·
Short answer
Gmail has no button that exports the emails with one person, but Google Takeout downloads your mail as an .mbox file. At takeout.google.com, choose only Mail, pick the labels you need, and download the zip from Google's email. Verity opens the mailbox in your browser without uploading it, lists the people you have emailed with so you can pick one, keeps only each person's own words, and flags patterns such as threats, gaslighting and blame-shifting.
Printing a long email thread repeats every earlier message under each reply. Reading the mailbox itself gives each email once, with its sender and time.
Step 1: download your mail with Google Takeout
- Go to takeout.google.com and sign in with the Gmail account.
- Click Deselect all, then tick only Mail.
- Choose the labels to include if you don't need the whole mailbox, then click Next step.
- Create the export and download it from the email Google sends. A large mailbox can take hours.
More detail on each screen is in exporting Gmail emails.
Step 2: read the emails with one person
Drop the zip, or the .mbox file inside it, into Verity. It splits the mailbox by the person on the other side, lists first the people you have both written to and heard from, and works out which address is yours from the mail you sent. Pick the person, and it:
- Keeps only each sender's own words. Quoted replies, forwarded text and signatures are taken out, so nothing is counted twice.
- Flags patterns, such as threats, gaslighting, blame-shifting, contempt and demands for replies, each shown with the messages around it.
- Numbers every email in date order, to read on screen for free or print as one PDF.
An email that sits under two labels is counted once. Emails you sent to several people at once are left out, so group mail doesn't mix into one person's record, and attachments are never opened.
What to check before you upload a mailbox
- Where it goes. A mailbox holds years of mail with everyone, not just the person you care about. Prefer a tool that reads it on your own device; you can test that by turning the internet off after the page loads (how).
- Whether dates and senders survive, so every flagged email can be found again in Gmail.
- Your safety. Takeout emails the download link to the same account. If someone else can read that inbox or your downloads folder, delete the email and the zip when you are done.
What a pattern check can't do
It reads words and timing. It can flag a joke as an insult, miss cruelty that is politely worded, and it can't say what anyone meant or whether a court will rely on it. Attachments and images are not read. Our methodology page sets out what Verity measured and where it falls short.
Where does Verity fit?
The free preview shows the patterns found and one flagged message in full, and lets you read every email on screen, numbered in date order. Paid options are one-time: every message numbered in date order ($19), or a report quoting the flagged messages with their dates, grouped by pattern ($99 Standard, $149 Detailed). If most of the contact is by text, see iPhone texts, Android texts or proving harassment with texts.
This is general information, not legal advice. We make Verity, so weigh what we say about it accordingly. Google and Gmail are not affiliated with Verity. If you are in danger, call 911; the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233.
Check the emails with one person free
Try the sample first, or drop in your Takeout zip. It is read in your browser and is not uploaded.