How to export a Gmail thread to Markdown

What Gmail offers

A PDF is fine for an archive nobody edits. An .eml file is meant for mail clients. MBOX is a backup format. None of them gives you text you can paste into a note or a prompt without cleaning it first.

Export a Gmail thread to Markdown with Markforge

Markforge is a free Chrome extension that converts the page you are on to Markdown. It includes a parser written for Gmail threads.

1. Install Markforge from the Chrome Web Store.
2. Open the thread in Gmail. The parser works on a thread, not on the inbox list.
3. Click the Markforge icon, or press Alt+M.
4. Read the preview, then click Copy or Download .md.

Before reading the thread, Markforge expands the messages Gmail had collapsed, so nothing in the middle is skipped. Then it cleans each message:

• Quoted replies are removed. Each message keeps what its sender wrote, not the history underneath.
• Signatures are removed. Gmail signature blocks and anything after a -- separator are dropped.
• Decorative images are removed. Tracking pixels and signature logos do not make it into the file.

If you need the quotes, turn on Include quoted replies at the top of the popup. The choice is remembered.

The conversion happens in your browser. For email, that matters more than anywhere else: no message leaves your machine.

What the Markdown file contains

The file starts with YAML frontmatter:

---
title: "Q4 invoice schedule"
date: 2026-09-12
source: "Gmail"
url: "https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/..."
description: "3 messages in thread"
---

Then two sections.

Participants. A list of everyone who wrote in the thread, with name and email address. Markforge also collects the phone numbers, websites and LinkedIn links it finds in each sender's own text, typically from their signature. Since signatures are stripped from the messages, this list is where the contact details end up, once per person.

Messages. Each message sits under a heading with the sender's name, address and the date, followed by the cleaned text. Messages are separated by a horizontal rule, in the order of the thread.

What it is good for

• Briefing an LLM. Paste the thread and ask for a summary, the open questions, or a draft reply. Without quotes and signatures the thread is shorter, and the token count in the popup tells you by how much.
• Client and project notes. A decision made by email belongs with the project. A Markdown file with the subject as title and the date in the frontmatter slots into a notes folder or a vault.
• Handing over context. A cleaned thread is a document a colleague can read in two minutes.

Limits worth knowing

• Open threads only. Open the conversation first. The parser does not read the inbox list.
• No attachments. Text only in version 1.0.0.
• Clipped messages. When Gmail cuts a very long message and shows a "Message clipped" link, the hidden part is not in the page and is not exported. Open the full message first if you need it.
• Tables are flattened. A table in an email comes out as lines of text.
• Gmail on the web, in Chrome. Other mail services are not covered by this parser.

Related guides

For other pages you paste into a model, see how to copy a web page as Markdown for an LLM. To file exports straight into a vault, the folder setup is described in saving AI conversations to Obsidian.