Backing up saved e-mails.

[ExSp33db1rd]

I have long wanted to back up to external storage those e-mails that I have decided to keep - but without success.

I was told of a way of saving e-mails, but it involved opening and saving each e-mail individually, definitely a Bridge Too Far so many years down the track.

I use what was Outlook Express, which morphed into Windows Mail and now Windows Live Mail ( definitely the worst example of the genre.) and whilst away from home earlier this year had a problem downloading from our NZ server when in the USA. Eventually I had to make a 'phone call, and also change my password, but now realise that a whole swathe of around 3 months e-mails from when we were away, is missing, and as our local ISP server only keeps stuff Online for 3 months, we can't download again.

I often move what I think might be important at some later date into a "Keep" folder within the mail programme, and it would be nice to just select that folder en masse, as one keystroke, and "send to .... " an external data storage.

I believe Gmail keep forever, up to a maximum data cap, but that doesn't fit the bill. I would like to keep my "Keep" folder of historical e-mails on a CD, or DVD, to use offline on any computer at will.

Is it possible ?

I've tried many tricks from many suggestions, but without success, sometimes I think I've succeeded, then when I go to re-open I get all sorts of varied result, gobbledegook machine print, or a message that "Windows can't open this file" etc.

[obgraham]

I don't of a way other than the Bridge Too Far route.

I print out important emails every few months to PDF's, via PDFCreator. Then I save them in a folder, backed up with everything else.

A bit tedious, but then, I'm old and antisocial, so I don't get a whole lot of "important" ones!

[mixture]

ExSp33db1rd,

confusing message. you don't say what service you're using ? You mention both Windows Live Mail and Gmail ??

As a quick-fix hack, perhaps look into IMAP with offline caching and backup that ? (gmail should support imap, don't know much about Wmail).

The above is only a quick fix, for something more robust you'll need to work a little bit of magic with a tool such as IMAPSync to backup locally, since offline caching is not strictly an acceptably robust backup mechanism.

[OverRun]

MailStore Home is the way to go.
MailStore ? Email Archiving Solutions

I also have the need to backup my emails (plus get protection against crashes).

I store every email received/sent onto an external hard disk using MailStore. This is free email archiving and email backup software for home users. I've been using it for over a year now, and it is great. Currently have 41,028 messages and 10,575 Mb stored, and there is no degradation in speed of search or retrieval.

The really great bit is that I backup my emails to the ExtHD just before a trip, then can take it with me when travelling and can access any e-mail from my laptop.

I normally backup all my emails to Mailstore, and then delete all but the most recent (6 months) of e-mails from my desktop PC email programme, which keeps that running smoothly. I got inspired and so am just running a backup now – it's taking about 10 minutes and processed 6,290 items (730 newly archived). For extra safety, you can even copy the Mailstore directory from the Ext HD to another USB or even to your Desktop HDD.

Their blurb says (and it is true) "This way, you will never lose emails again and can search all of your emails extremely fast. You can still reply to or forward archived emails by opening them with a single mouse click in your standard email program." I also plug my ExtHD into my desktop PC, and search and restore a single email to the desktop email. Great for when I need to reply to/quote an email that was received (or sent) a year or two ago.

It solved my problems.

[bnt]

I know Microsoft Outlook (the full version) lets you create any number of PST mail files where you can dump mail. I have to use it at work, so I "auto-archive" mail to a file to get it off the server, and then I back up that file every day. The file is loaded in Outlook, so the mail is still accessible.

I don't mean to sound like a Microsoft booster - I'm not, really - but their free email accounts now look like a viable alternative to Gmail for archiving your mail, since they've finally enabled IMAP for everyone. (They say "outlook.com" because that's what they're pushing these days, but it works with my live.ie address too.) Plus they have Office Web Apps, so e.g. someone sends you an Excel spreadsheet, you can view and edit it without a copy of Excel on your computer.

[Pelikal]

Interesting thread, I've been wondering how to accomplish this task. Been checking on the options for BT Yahoo! mail. Quite a bit of info out there but experiences posted here would be of benefit. I intend to explore Mozilla Thunderbird, any users? Cheers.

[Capetonian]

I took them individually from Windows Live Mail, which I hate, a real pain, and saved them on Dropbox into a specific file. It works. I'm a Luddite.

[ExSp33db1rd]

Confusing message. you don't say what service you're using ? You mention both Windows Live Mail and Gmail ??

I have an account with a local ISP, and interrogate their webserver, and my e-mails are automatically downloaded from their server to what was Outlook Express and is now Windows Live Mail, which I can keep on my computer for ever, should I wish to, and of course read offline, this is useful when travelling, a quick download from a nearby WiFi outlet ( sometimes piratted I will confess !! ) then back to the hotel or apt. to read offline at leisure - but, I recently had a problem opening Windows Live Mail, and the result was a new computer, on to which most of my data was transferred, documents, contacts, etc. but not my e-mails - that proved impossible.

With the new computer fired up, I intended to again download some e-mails that I assumed were still on the ISP server, but they weren't, and I recall having had spme issue back on June, when I was in the USA, so all those are now permanently lost.

It is the ability to transfer to external storage from my Windows Live Mail those e-mails that I think I will need in 50 years time, just like I can save Word or Excel or .pdf documents - when all present computers and systems have morphed into something totally outside my grasp on new inventions - that I seek. ( well, maybe not 50 years perhaps, but you get the point. ) If we are to operate a true 'paperless office' then it is essential that we can go to an electronic filing cabinet ( like a CD, or memory stick ) and produce age old documents. I have, for instance just handled my original birth certificate that was issued in 1934. What if my father had merely stored it on his computer, he is now dead, and any computer that he might have owned would be buried in some landfill rubbish dump now.

I can save Word docs. in this manner - why not e-mails ?

Mixture - the mention of Gmail wasn't intended to confuse, and yes, I also have a Gmail account but don't download it to my Win.Live Mail, I only take my ISP mail - my primary e-mail address - there, but some say that Gmail saves everything for ever and has so much storage available that nobody will ever need more, I believe they are telling me that I am currently only using 1.2% of my available storage on my Gmail account, but a) it's on the public Cloud ( pls. don't tell me otherwise) and b) never say never.

OverRun. Thank you, I'll investigate MailStore.

Capetonian. Doesn't Dropbox need an Internet connection ? I'm trying to find a way to store e-mails on my computer offline.

[PowerDragTrim]

I find KLS Mail Backup very good for Win7/Live Mail combo:
KLS Mail Backup - Freeware Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird, Firefox backup

[OFSO]

A slight digression:

My LaCie external drive, used for storage of Really Important Things Which In Practice I Will Never Look At Again, died this week - power on, light glows, drive doesn't turn.

I bought a Toshiba 32Gb USB thumb drive (€15.95), unplugged the dead LaCie, plugged in the USB drive, PC demanded a restart (don't know why but it did) after booting up again I looked at LaCie software which now says "save to Toshiba USB drive" - hit "backup" and away we went.

There appears to be a file on there with all e-mails saved......

[Pelikal]

OFSO, I would suggest you've had a stroke of luck. Enjoy.

[BOAC]

ExSP33 - I cannot see why you cannot just do a rolling back-up (daily?) of the relevant email store folder to either another internal or an external drive? I did that with OE for years, over-writing weekly each email store folder and am now doing it daily with Outlook.

To 'select' which emails you want to back-up will, of course, entail selection of each email one by one unless you copy them en block to a 'hold' folder and back that up.

[ExSp33db1rd]

BOAC - that's what I'd like to do, i.e. just send my already existing "Keep" folder to external storage, but so far I've been unsuccessful. Now that I've got Win 8 and Win Live Mail things might have changed, will keep at it.

Thanks.

[Keef]

I've been using Thunderbird for many years. With that, I copy e-mails I want to keep to separate "mailboxes" and delete most. I can back those mailboxes up to anywhere I choose and remove them from the main setup (although I don't need to remove them).

I can read the backed-up e-mails as a block, or I can copy them back into the Thunderbird directory with a suitable name ("Aviation Jan - Aug 2013" for example) and then read them individually in Thunderbird.

I used Outlook for a while, but the .PST file got corrupted and all my e-mails, address book, and diary became inaccessible. The same glitch corrupted the backup file. Never again!

[ExSp33db1rd]

BOAC - thanks for the PM, I'll try that, but in answer to your last .......

......you copy them en block to a 'hold' folder and back that up.

that's what I have consistently failed to do. I can "highlight" a folder - one which I've called "Keep" (!!) but have no option to "send to" or "copy" , but I can open the folder, highlight all the e-mails as one block, then "send as an attachment" .......the whole block, currently around 20 e-mails, which I've done to my Gmail account.

That came in as an option to open each one individually, or send them all to a Gmail folder, i.e. another "keep" folder that I created.

So at least I can back them up on another e-mail system, but again this is a "cloud" i.e. public system that requires Internet access, what I'm looking for is an external storage system that is only between me and my computer, i.e. no Internet involved, as in a cave in Bangalore (should I need to ! ) - to a CD for instance.

Meanwhile I'll try your Google trick - when the grass has been cut, the car washed, the cat flossed etc. etc. ( I wish I had a job, I'd at least get one day off a week ! )

[Cornish Jack]

Reasonably on topic - SWMBO uses OE and is even less pooter literate than me!
I have taken the advice offered by Andu back in 2006 and changed the OE storage folder. So far, so good. If I select the (e.g.) Inbox.dbx file, I get a dialogue box asking which program to read it, however the offered list does not include OE. If I use the 'browse' function and select OE and open, I am then offered the five program files, none of which work!! OE does not appear in the original list as a result.
Soooooo ... can anyone suggest how one can read these .dbx files. please?

[BOAC]

Not clear why you want to read the inbox.dbx folder with a 'selected' programme when you can 'read' it in OE?

If the inbox.dbx folder is in fact a backup, create another 'identity' in OE (say 'BACKUP'??) and import that folder to the new identity.

[defizr]

Mailstore +1

[Cornish Jack]

Thank you BOAC - need to read it to satisfy myself that it is a useable backup! Will get a bad attack of 'thegrumps' if I have to resort to it and find that it's garbage
"Create a new identity" ... ?? Any pointers, please?

[BOAC]

The cavalry arrives riding Google
OLEXP: How to create and use identities in Outlook Express 5.x and 6.0