27 ms·

Somewhat related. What do people use to keep an offline backup of Gmail, and other mail accounts? Do you need to keep a full download of your mailbox, or is the

Somewhat related. What do people use to keep an offline backup of Gmail, and other mail accounts? Do you need to keep a full download of your mailbox, or is there some way to get an incremental dump (i.e. just things that changed since X)

rendx 1y ago
I use imapsync. Yes you can limit it to mails sent or received in a certain timespan. https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Archiving.txt https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Archiving.txt
- mijoharas 1y ago
  Hey, first off, thanks. How do you go about that? The documentation says: Q. Can imapsync be used to maintain and restore a local offline copy of a mailbox, eg for backup purposes, using Mbox or Maildir format, so that if the server fails, then the mailbox could be reinstated? R1. No. Imapsync plays with IMAP servers only.
  - rendx 1y ago
    Ah yes, I run a local IMAP server (Dovecot).
- password4321 1y ago
  I'm guessing imapsync could be used to transfer email into Gmail to replace this POP client feature that is being removed, as long as it can sync into a folder.
  - tracker1 1y ago
    Maybe... but at that point you're self-hosting a service/app instead of relying on google to pull your other account into gmail. At such point it may be best just to use your vanity email first, and yoink out your gmail into that account.
krageon 1y ago
https://isync.sourceforge.io/mbsync.html https://isync.sourceforge.io/mbsync.html It's the most performant solution that's also mature. I've used it for years to retrieve all of my email accounts (of which gmail is one) to a folder that I also backup.
- mijoharas 1y ago
  Is there any way to only get a subset of the mail (i.e. only changes in last week). I don't think I want all my email on my local machine, but I do think I want it all in the backups. I couldn't see anything digging in.
  - krageon 1y ago
    I have not tried to do this, but I think you can set MaxMessages in your config to achieve something like this. If I'm understanding correctly, it essentially does a tail on your mailbox. The latest X messages will be kept, where X is the number after MaxMessages: https://manpages.debian.org/bullseye/isync/mbsync.1.en.html#MaxMessages https://manpages.debian.org/bullseye/isync/mbsync.1.en.html#...
jamespo 1y ago
Docker image of gmvault which still works for me even though the project is basically abandoned: https://hub.docker.com/r/aubertg/gmvault-docker/ https://hub.docker.com/r/aubertg/gmvault-docker/
paffdragon 1y ago
On one machine I have offlineimap.py[1] (with mutt), on the other laptop Evolution[2] that archives my mail locally that I can also export and back up regularly. [1]: https://www.offlineimap.org/ https://www.offlineimap.org/ [2]: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution/-/wikis/home https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution/-/wikis/home
- mijoharas 1y ago
  Ok, interesting. I checked the docs of offlineimap (thanks, I hadn't found that one when googling!) and it looks like I could use the `maxage` option for the incremental option (I think I want to create a folder for each week, back it up , and delete it after a while). Do you have anything set up with evolution to handle things automatically?
  - paffdragon 1y ago
    Sorry, my laptop where I had evolution got a new OS installed and I haven't configured it yet and just started mutt, but my original setup had a local archive folder, with sub-folders per year (I think, I even had a higher level grouping of 5 or 10 years). Unfortunately, I don't have setup right now to check, but I think it was semi-manual, like Evolution was archiving to a local folder automatically, then every new year I just moved the mails from the previous year into a folder). Re offlineimap, just looked into isync/mbsync suggested here by others, it seems better from the description, I'm probably going to try it when I have some time: https://people.kernel.org/mcgrof/replacing-offlineimap-with-mbsync https://people.kernel.org/mcgrof/replacing-offlineimap-with-...
carlosjobim 1y ago
An e-mail client? At least that's how I do it, and it's been working well for decades.
- mijoharas 1y ago
  My problem is I don't want to keep my entire email downloaded, but to periodically back things up. Do you use your email client to periodically backup? (I would like it automated). Do you use thunderbird or something else if so?
  - carlosjobim 1y ago
    E-Mails don't take up that much space for it to be any issue to me. Every five years or so I clean out some of the old ones and leave them only in backups.
    - mijoharas 1y ago
      I don't use a local mail client. Is there one you'd recommend?
      - carlosjobim 1y ago
        The stock Mac Mail app has been excellent for me. For Windows, I remember that Postbox ( https://www.postbox-inc.com/download https://www.postbox-inc.com/download ) worked very well. eM Client might also be worth a look: https://www.emclient.com https://www.emclient.com

rendx 1y ago

I use imapsync. Yes you can limit it to mails sent or received in a certain timespan. https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Archiving.txt https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Archiving.txt

mijoharas 1y ago
Hey, first off, thanks. How do you go about that? The documentation says: Q. Can imapsync be used to maintain and restore a local offline copy of a mailbox, eg for backup purposes, using Mbox or Maildir format, so that if the server fails, then the mailbox could be reinstated? R1. No. Imapsync plays with IMAP servers only.
- rendx 1y ago
  Ah yes, I run a local IMAP server (Dovecot).
password4321 1y ago
I'm guessing imapsync could be used to transfer email into Gmail to replace this POP client feature that is being removed, as long as it can sync into a folder.
- tracker1 1y ago
  Maybe... but at that point you're self-hosting a service/app instead of relying on google to pull your other account into gmail. At such point it may be best just to use your vanity email first, and yoink out your gmail into that account.

krageon 1y ago

https://isync.sourceforge.io/mbsync.html https://isync.sourceforge.io/mbsync.html It's the most performant solution that's also mature. I've used it for years to retrieve all of my email accounts (of which gmail is one) to a folder that I also backup.

mijoharas 1y ago
Is there any way to only get a subset of the mail (i.e. only changes in last week). I don't think I want all my email on my local machine, but I do think I want it all in the backups. I couldn't see anything digging in.
- krageon 1y ago
  I have not tried to do this, but I think you can set MaxMessages in your config to achieve something like this. If I'm understanding correctly, it essentially does a tail on your mailbox. The latest X messages will be kept, where X is the number after MaxMessages: https://manpages.debian.org/bullseye/isync/mbsync.1.en.html#MaxMessages https://manpages.debian.org/bullseye/isync/mbsync.1.en.html#...

jamespo 1y ago

Docker image of gmvault which still works for me even though the project is basically abandoned: https://hub.docker.com/r/aubertg/gmvault-docker/ https://hub.docker.com/r/aubertg/gmvault-docker/

paffdragon 1y ago

On one machine I have offlineimap.py[1] (with mutt), on the other laptop Evolution[2] that archives my mail locally that I can also export and back up regularly. [1]: https://www.offlineimap.org/ https://www.offlineimap.org/ [2]: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution/-/wikis/home https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution/-/wikis/home

mijoharas 1y ago
Ok, interesting. I checked the docs of offlineimap (thanks, I hadn't found that one when googling!) and it looks like I could use the `maxage` option for the incremental option (I think I want to create a folder for each week, back it up , and delete it after a while). Do you have anything set up with evolution to handle things automatically?
- paffdragon 1y ago
  Sorry, my laptop where I had evolution got a new OS installed and I haven't configured it yet and just started mutt, but my original setup had a local archive folder, with sub-folders per year (I think, I even had a higher level grouping of 5 or 10 years). Unfortunately, I don't have setup right now to check, but I think it was semi-manual, like Evolution was archiving to a local folder automatically, then every new year I just moved the mails from the previous year into a folder). Re offlineimap, just looked into isync/mbsync suggested here by others, it seems better from the description, I'm probably going to try it when I have some time: https://people.kernel.org/mcgrof/replacing-offlineimap-with-mbsync https://people.kernel.org/mcgrof/replacing-offlineimap-with-...

carlosjobim 1y ago

An e-mail client? At least that's how I do it, and it's been working well for decades.

mijoharas 1y ago
My problem is I don't want to keep my entire email downloaded, but to periodically back things up. Do you use your email client to periodically backup? (I would like it automated). Do you use thunderbird or something else if so?
- carlosjobim 1y ago
  E-Mails don't take up that much space for it to be any issue to me. Every five years or so I clean out some of the old ones and leave them only in backups.
  - mijoharas 1y ago
    I don't use a local mail client. Is there one you'd recommend?
    - carlosjobim 1y ago
      The stock Mac Mail app has been excellent for me. For Windows, I remember that Postbox ( https://www.postbox-inc.com/download https://www.postbox-inc.com/download ) worked very well. eM Client might also be worth a look: https://www.emclient.com https://www.emclient.com