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Wo archive tread sia. Meɖekuku bia biabia yeye ne ehia kpeɖeŋu.

Backup local IMAP cache without server synchronization

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  • 1 masɔmasɔ sia le esi
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  • Nuɖoɖo mlɔetɔ christ1

HenryKurz
HenryKurz
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Dear community, I used IMAP and Thunderbird on my PC as well as my Laptop. One day my ISP had reported a complete data loss. All IMAP data on the server was gone. As soon as they repaired the service (data on the server side could not be restored), my Thunderbird on the PC synchronized with the server and of course deleted all emails from my cache. Since this is a catastrophe for me as I have an ongoing legal issue with my ex company, these emails are important evidence. So I went ahead and changed the server password, so my laptop could not synchronize.

Now the interesting part: On my laptop's Thunderbird, all emails are still there including attachments. I tried several things in order to create a backup. The typical thing that is recommended is to create a local archive and synchronize with the local archive, however this does not work without a server connection. It simply stays there not doing anything at all.

Now my questions: Is there any way how I can export all these emails without an active server connection? Or maybe synchronizing these emails back to the server?

If not - how can I make sure that at least this cache is backed up in case something happens to my laptop? Thank you very much! Best regars, Henry

Dear community, I used IMAP and Thunderbird on my PC as well as my Laptop. One day my ISP had reported a complete data loss. All IMAP data on the server was gone. As soon as they repaired the service (data on the server side could not be restored), my Thunderbird on the PC synchronized with the server and of course deleted all emails from my cache. Since this is a catastrophe for me as I have an ongoing legal issue with my ex company, these emails are important evidence. So I went ahead and changed the server password, so my laptop could not synchronize. Now the interesting part: On my laptop's Thunderbird, all emails are still there including attachments. I tried several things in order to create a backup. The typical thing that is recommended is to create a local archive and synchronize with the local archive, however this does not work without a server connection. It simply stays there not doing anything at all. Now my questions: Is there any way how I can export all these emails without an active server connection? Or maybe synchronizing these emails back to the server? If not - how can I make sure that at least this cache is backed up in case something happens to my laptop? Thank you very much! Best regars, Henry

All Replies (1)

christ1
christ1
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As soon as they repaired the service (data on the server side could not be restored), my Thunderbird on the PC synchronized with the server and of course deleted all emails from my cache.

This is exactly the expected behavior, and the way IMAP works. Your email provider losing your messages of course isn't expected. But it's a good reminder to understand that storing your messages on your email provider's server is no replacement for creating backups of your messages yourself.

Now the interesting part: On my laptop's Thunderbird, all emails are still there including attachments.

Are you certain? What you see may just be the headers, but not the actual messages with all the email bodies.

The typical thing that is recommended is to create a local archive and synchronize with the local archive

I'm not exactly sure what you mean with a 'local archive'. What's recommended is to turn on synchronization for the folders on the server. 'Synchronization' is the Thunderbird term for downloading an offline copy of all your messages to your local disk. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/imap-synchronization

With that in place you'll then be able to backup your entire message archive locally by backing up the entire Thunderbird profile folder. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile

Now my questions: Is there any way how I can export all these emails without an active server connection?

With the assumption above (only headers, no message bodies) I think the answer is no.

Or maybe synchronizing these emails back to the server?

Same as above.

If not - how can I make sure that at least this cache is backed up in case something happens to my laptop?

As explained above, turn on synchronization, and backup your profile on a regular basis. And may be find a decent email provider who is not losing your messages.