Archiving emails

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failedmathematicianfailedmathematician
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hi,



I've got a couple IMAP accounts set up. They have accumulated a fair amount of garbage which I can't bear to get rid of, but don't really need. So I would like to just archive all these old emails onto a CD and get them off the server. What is the best way to do this so that I will be able to (pretty) easily access the emails in the future (just in case)? I use the Apple Mail by they way. Thanks for any advice.



fm

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    durandaldurandal Posts: 277member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by failedmathematician

    Hi,



    I've got a couple IMAP accounts set up. They have accumulated a fair amount of garbage which I can't bear to get rid of, but don't really need. So I would like to just archive all these old emails onto a CD and get them off the server. What is the best way to do this so that I will be able to (pretty) easily access the emails in the future (just in case)? I use the Apple Mail by they way. Thanks for any advice.



    fm



    Hmm... perhaps with an AppleScript that...



    a) fetches the mail from the IMAP accounts



    b_1) creates a FileMaker or other Database to store the E-Mails



    ...or...



    b_2) stores each e-mail individually and sorts the e-mail files into an appropriate folder hierarchy



    c) burns the result of b onto a CD-R



    If you have further questions, post 'em here, I'll be around.



    And BTW, (sorry for the following ad, couldn't resist ): I am a professional AppleScripter (i.e. I'm making a part of my money w/ AppleScript) - if you're interested in having the script written for you, see my homepage for details.
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  • Reply 2 of 4
    costiquecostique Posts: 1,084member
    First, you need to have them on your HD (as opposed to your IMAP server). Second, go to ~/Library/Mail, archive it all, burn a CD, open Mail and delete the stuff you've had enough of.



    A restore procedure is more tricky, perhaps, than just copying the messages from the archive to the Mail folder. However, this is the way I transferred all my mailboxes to a new HD.
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  • Reply 3 of 4
    failedmathematicianfailedmathematician Posts: 95member
    Thanks durandal. That would definitely be the right way to do it, but it looks a little too involved for me.



    I used costique's suggestion. Only annoying thing is that I couldn't figure out how to change existing accounts from IMAP to POP and just setting up a new POP account only brought in the inbox. You can import POP mbox's back into Mail no problem, but not IMAP mbox's, even though I have the preferences set to store all the stuff on my computer as well. Kinda stinks-- I can burrow into the imapmbox package and view the messages as plain text, but I just can't get em to open up in Mail. Anyway's, that's good enough for me.



    Thanks.
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  • Reply 4 of 4
    durandaldurandal Posts: 277member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by failedmathematician

    Thanks durandal. That would definitely be the right way to do it, but it looks a little too involved for me.

    (...)

    Thanks.



    Okay, no prob at all. And if you ever need an AppleScript written, now you know who to ask...



    Greetings!

    durandal
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