# Export agent mail and deactivate a project
URL: https://emailforagents.ai/docs/data-controls
Summary: Download a scoped NDJSON export of agent mail, learn exactly what it excludes, and understand why deactivating a project is not the same as erasing it.

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## Export mail and manage project access

Two separate operations, often confused: taking a copy of your mail, and switching a project off. Only one of them is reversible, and neither one erases anything.

Last reviewed September 21, 2026 against the
implementation in this repository.

### Where these controls live

Open **Settings & usage → Data and project access** and select a project.
Owners, administrators and developers can prepare their own exports. Project deactivation is
available to owners and administrators only.

### Prepare an export

1.
Under **Your exports**, choose message metadata only, or metadata plus the
available safe message bodies.

2.
Select **Prepare export**. The list updates while preparation is queued or in
progress.

3.
When it is ready, select **Download NDJSON**. Each line is one JSON record; the
first is a manifest describing the selection, the limits applied, the exclusions and
integrity information.

The request captures the IDs of messages committed in inboxes you can access, and their
normalized content is read during preparation. Messages deleted before their batch is reached
are omitted and counted in the manifest. This is not an atomic snapshot of a mailbox
that is still changing.

Only the requesting person can list or download an export, and only while their current
permissions still cover every selected inbox. A completed download is a separate copy under
your control: revoking application access afterwards cannot reach copies you already have.

### Limits and exclusions

Each export is capped at 5,000 messages, 500 inboxes, 64 MiB of message records and 2 MiB per
record, and each member may request two exports per hour. Exceeding a bound fails the export
rather than silently truncating it, so a file that downloads is a complete file. A prepared
download expires after 24 hours; expiry removes download access and is not a claim that every
stored export object has been physically erased.

The file contains normalized message fields and attachment metadata. The message-content option
adds stored text and sanitized HTML for messages whose safety status permits it. It
**excludes** original MIME, Bcc, envelope recipients, attachment file contents,
drafts, credentials, webhook secrets and audit logs. Download permitted clean attachments
individually from the thread viewer when you need the bytes.

Treat every exported message body as untrusted input. It is mail that arrived from strangers,
and reading it into another tool is the same exposure as reading it into an agent. See
[prompt injection by email](https://emailforagents.ai/blog/prompt-injection-email-agents).

### Deactivate a project

Select **Deactivate this project**, read the listed consequences, and type the
exact project name to confirm. Deactivation stops routing and sending for that project's
inboxes and revokes its credentials. Wait for the status to report the project as deactivated —
a queued request is not a completed one. There is no self-service undo in this build.

### Deactivation is not erasure

Deactivating a project does not permanently erase data and does not cancel a subscription.
Stored mail, attachments, provider copies and backups may remain. Early access follows the
retention criteria set out in the privacy notice. Permanent erasure requires a manual request
and review; an automatic end-to-end purge is not a verified feature of this build, and we will
not describe it as one.

Export anything you need before you deactivate.

[Read the privacy notice](https://emailforagents.ai/legal/privacy) ·
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