While direct .txt downloads aren't a native one-click feature for the whole inbox, users often discuss the utility of having searchable text backups.

: Complete data integrity, secure, and includes all metadata (headers, timestamps).

I used Google Takeout to grab my archive from 2015. It gives you an MBOX file, but I found a simple Python script to strip the HTML and save everything as clean .txt files. It’s the only way to feel like I actually "own" my data.