A quick Google suggests there are lots of ways to archive IMAP accounts so I thought I'd see if anyone here has any recommendations.
Specifically: I have a handful of Gmail accounts which I'd like to archive (by which I mean keep permanent accessible backups offline).
I'd like the archive to be viewable with a GUI mail client like Thunderbird. I'd like support for OAuth2 authentication if possible.
I'd also like anecdotes from anyone who's tried this. I can see conflicts between me deleting spam or other rubbish at the "live" end that I would also want deleted from the archive, for example, but also accidental deletions (or deletions of old emails to save space) at the live end that I would not want removed from the archive.
Specifically: I have a handful of Gmail accounts which I'd like to archive (by which I mean keep permanent accessible backups offline).
I'd like the archive to be viewable with a GUI mail client like Thunderbird. I'd like support for OAuth2 authentication if possible.
Sorry, but I have to ask, why not just leave them where they are and have Google take care of them?
On 27 July 2016 at 10:57, Ewan Slater ewan.slater@gmail.com wrote:
Specifically: I have a handful of Gmail accounts which I'd like to archive (by which I mean keep permanent accessible backups offline).
Have you tried the export function ( https://gmail.googleblog.com/2013/12/download-copy-of-your-gmail-and-google.... )?
On 27/07/16 11:05, Ewan Slater wrote:
Have you tried the export function ( https://gmail.googleblog.com/2013/12/download-copy-of-your-gmail-and-google.... )?
I think that's a bit of a blunt instrument that's not really suited to regular use (or automating), but I'm open to corrections.
I have also discovered gmvault (specifically a tool for archiving GMail accounts, and for restoring them should the need arise). It probably doesn't tick all my boxes but it's simple enough to play with.
On 27/07/16 10:57, Ewan Slater wrote:
Sorry, but I have to ask, why not just leave them where they are and have Google take care of them?
I don't see it as "either/or". However: - If I delete it from GMail it's gone. I can't ring them up and ask them to restore from a backup. - I don't hate Google the way a lot of people do, but that doesn't mean I won't fall out with them in future, and having an offline backup is a "Good Thing". - I have limited quota on my GMail account, and far more available disk space to archive stuff to offline - Internet connections don't always work. GMail doesn't always work. - Subject to a suitable storage format, I can "grep" my mail archive or otherwise process it in ways that GMail won't let me
Etc!
It's not been a sufficiently pressing concern for me to have dealt with this ages ago, but one mailbox is approaching the 5GB limit which has pushed this up the priority list.
On 27 Jul 10:48, Mark Rogers wrote:
A quick Google suggests there are lots of ways to archive IMAP accounts so I thought I'd see if anyone here has any recommendations.
Specifically: I have a handful of Gmail accounts which I'd like to archive (by which I mean keep permanent accessible backups offline).
I'd like the archive to be viewable with a GUI mail client like Thunderbird. I'd like support for OAuth2 authentication if possible.
I'd also like anecdotes from anyone who's tried this. I can see conflicts between me deleting spam or other rubbish at the "live" end that I would also want deleted from the archive, for example, but also accidental deletions (or deletions of old emails to save space) at the live end that I would not want removed from the archive.
Just use offlineimap to sync to a local set of Maildirs, then whatever you like to front them, dovecot perhaps, as an IMAP server. Job done.
Thanks,
On 27/07/16 11:07, Brett Parker wrote:
Just use offlineimap to sync to a local set of Maildirs, then whatever you like to front them, dovecot perhaps, as an IMAP server. Job done.
The problem with offlineimap, as I understand it, is that it is designed for a 2-way sync between offline and online. So deleting online would be reflected offline too.
That's fine as a first step towards backups (ie backup before next sync so anything that gets accidentally deleted can still be recovered from backups) but doesn't really help with the idea of keeping old archives of emails on my desktop (accessible) and removing them from Gmail.
I suppose that once I have an offline IMAP server to play with, I can then create a separate archive account and move from one to the other (having the effect of removing it from Gmail and only storing it locally), is that what you had in mind?
I haven't set up and managed an IMAP server in a long time. You mention dovecote, is that a good candidate for low overhead occasional single "user" usage? As close to trivial to configure as I'm going to get?
Mark
Mark Rogers wrote:
That's fine as a first step towards backups (ie backup before next sync so anything that gets accidentally deleted can still be recovered from backups) but doesn't really help with the idea of keeping old archives of emails on my desktop (accessible) and removing them from Gmail.
Indeed. You'd also need to use rsnapshot or duplicity or any one of many other possibilities to keep a history of the Maildirs that you could extract from at whatever future time you wish.
Hope that helps,
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Brett Parker -
Ewan Slater -
Mark Rogers -
MJ Ray