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Thunderbird - saving server space.

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  • Last reply by michael367

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I want to move IMAP folders to Local Folders to save room on server.

I am a small painting contractor and I want to save my emails and have access to them, but I am getting low on server space with my provider.

I was thinking that if I moved them to local folders that would be the answer, but trying drag and drop with folders doesn't always work. I have a few folders that have allowed me to do that, but then after a few folders it doesn't keep adding more.

I use a Tree structure for my projects:

My Company Name

   Projects
       2015
           15-001 Project Name
           15-002 Project Name
       2016
           16-001 Project Name
           16-002 Project Name

I also have a similar structure for estimates, insurance, taxes, etc.

Each project can have a few emails or as many as 100.

Each year I have 100 - 150 projects.

This amounts to 10's of thousands of emails.

I just want to have access to them, but they do not need to be active.

How can I do this?

I want to move IMAP folders to Local Folders to save room on server. I am a small painting contractor and I want to save my emails and have access to them, but I am getting low on server space with my provider. I was thinking that if I moved them to local folders that would be the answer, but trying drag and drop with folders doesn't always work. I have a few folders that have allowed me to do that, but then after a few folders it doesn't keep adding more. I use a Tree structure for my projects: My Company Name Projects 2015 15-001 Project Name 15-002 Project Name 2016 16-001 Project Name 16-002 Project Name I also have a similar structure for estimates, insurance, taxes, etc. Each project can have a few emails or as many as 100. Each year I have 100 - 150 projects. This amounts to 10's of thousands of emails. I just want to have access to them, but they do not need to be active. How can I do this?

Chosen solution

Drag and drop with folders is best done by creating the target folders in Local Folders, then dragging and dropping messages in the source folders to the targets. Alternatively, you could export the folders with ImportExportTools NG, then import them to Local Folders. That might be more convenient if you have many folders with structure, but it requires a bit of learning. A program like MailStore Home is available for archiving mail outside of TB, so it also serves as a backup. Keep in mind that if you're downloading large numbers of messages, your mail provider may have bandwidth limits, e.g. 500MB per day.

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Chosen Solution

Drag and drop with folders is best done by creating the target folders in Local Folders, then dragging and dropping messages in the source folders to the targets. Alternatively, you could export the folders with ImportExportTools NG, then import them to Local Folders. That might be more convenient if you have many folders with structure, but it requires a bit of learning. A program like MailStore Home is available for archiving mail outside of TB, so it also serves as a backup. Keep in mind that if you're downloading large numbers of messages, your mail provider may have bandwidth limits, e.g. 500MB per day.

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Thank you.