Backup Thunderbird Emails

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PotterLily
Posts: 8
Joined: November 10th, 2017, 3:19 am

Backup Thunderbird Emails

Post by PotterLily »

Hi you all,

I am using several email accounts on the internet, mainly from Fastmail and gmail.

I would like to avoid loosing mails from these accounts. So I setup Thunderbird on my PC to download all mails.

But I realized that this is not really a backup, Thunderbird is synchronizing with the imap server (even not sure if it downloaded all attachments). So if I accidentally delete my mails, Thunderbird will synchronize and also delete everything.

So this is my problem: I would like to backup everything from the imap server. How do I do that ?

Can I setup Thunderbird, not to delete things.
Should I use another tool to backup all IMAP servers.
I would prefer the backup to maybe store the mails in eml format, seems more incremental than 1 big x Gb file.

I am open for suggestions. Of course it needs to work in an automated way.

kind regards,

Lily
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LIMPET235
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Joined: October 19th, 2007, 1:53 am
Location: The South Coast of N.S.W. Oz.

Re: Backup Thunderbird Emails

Post by LIMPET235 »

Moving to Thunderbird Support...
[Ancient Amateur Astronomer.]
Win-10-H/64 bit/500G SSD/16 Gig Ram/450Watt PSU/350WattUPS/Firefox-115.0.2/T-bird-115.3.2./SnagIt-v10.0.1/MWP-7.12.125.

(Always choose the "Custom" Install.)
Rayleigh458
Posts: 15
Joined: December 11th, 2017, 12:29 am

Re: Backup Thunderbird Emails

Post by Rayleigh458 »

It s not that just Thunderbird does it. Outlook and Apple mail are often found culprits too. You realised that correctly. What these email programs show us are the emails from our server, rather than the local files. I realised this when I tried accessing my Thunderbird without internet. What i found was a bunch of half filled contents. The expected attachments were missing. I don't use Mail programs to backup my IMAP accounts any more.
I am currently using Mail Backup X to backup the IMAP accounts. This application decently backs up all my emails.
Brummelchen
Posts: 4480
Joined: March 19th, 2005, 10:51 am

Re: Backup Thunderbird Emails

Post by Brummelchen »

I would like to backup everything from the imap server. How do I do that ?
you dont have access to the imap server structure - so you cant backup it.
the only solution is to download all emails to your locale computer (which is like POP) and archive them. but not with thunderbird. (edit: see Rayleigh458)
So if I accidentally delete my mails, Thunderbird will synchronize and also delete everything.
have you investigated into a waste basket in your account? you probably missed it. deleting on imap should move mails there.
if not then imap is not the right media for you and you should switch to POP.

there is no real solution it seems. imap was designed to let mails stored online and have access from anywhere. the imap structure should contain a waste basket for deleted mails (according provider it can contain more or less big mails).
but POP grew powerful. i use several POP clients and only my "master" client here is allowed to delete mails. this client holds >1gig mails. without the backups after 10 years. i dont think that thunderbird is enough reliable to do this.
unbob
Posts: 143
Joined: December 13th, 2007, 9:43 am
Location: Merica

Re: Backup Thunderbird Emails

Post by unbob »

Email Archiving with MailStore Home
https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-home/
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DanRaisch
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Posts: 127188
Joined: September 23rd, 2004, 8:57 pm
Location: Somewhere on the right coast

Re: Backup Thunderbird Emails

Post by DanRaisch »

Thunderbird is synchronizing with the imap server
So one question to be asked is...Do you really need to use IMAP for your purposes? For instance, do you access the account (or accounts) from more than one device?
mgagnonlv
Posts: 848
Joined: February 12th, 2005, 8:33 pm

Re: Backup Thunderbird Emails

Post by mgagnonlv »

If you use IMAP, you can get a complete copy on Thunderbird by making sure you have the following settings:

– Right click on the account name and select "Account Properties"

– For your account, select "Synchronization and Disk Space"

– Click on the following items:
– Save messages of all folders of this account on this computer (you may double-check on advanced to make sure ALL folders are selected)
– In Disk Space, select "Sync all messages locally without considering their age (1st option)
– Do not erase any message (1st option of the last block)

Once you do that, let Thunderbird run unattended overnight (for example) to make sure all messages are downloaded, including their attachments. Once the process is over, I would suggest you copy your Profile folder on an other disk to get a background of Thunderbird.
Michel Gagnon
Montréal (Québec, Canada)
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tanstaafl
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Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Backup Thunderbird Emails

Post by tanstaafl »

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/IMAP_backup . Most people seem to prefer using a backup program like Mozbackup or MailStore Home but don't overlook the ability to have the ImportExportTools add-on automate backing up your profile. Don't confuse that with its normal import and export features.
PotterLily
Posts: 8
Joined: November 10th, 2017, 3:19 am

Re: Backup Thunderbird Emails

Post by PotterLily »

unbob wrote:Email Archiving with MailStore Home
https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-home/
Thanks. I tried this application. It was free.
But I needed something that could archive the emails in an automated way. Mail Store asked me for manually archiving the emails. I got Mail Backup X. Thanks Rayleigh for that. it archives my emails the sooner, they arrive in my Thunderbird.
That solves my problem.
PotterLily
Posts: 8
Joined: November 10th, 2017, 3:19 am

Re: Backup Thunderbird Emails

Post by PotterLily »

I got the WIndows version from here: http://www.mailbackupx.com/download.html
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