Mail download

[lnp]

So, my UA net ID is being yanked from me on Monday. This raises two issues.

1. Mark said he was going to create an alum login for the board. Has there been any progress on that?

2. I'd like to download all my e-mail and save it to a CD in a manner that I could open a file back up and have the Mac Mail program see everything and organize it. Right now I've been using the Mac Mail program on IMAP. Am I right in thinking that my mail has already been downloaded and is sitting on my computer and will be there when my U of A account goes kaput? Any thoughts on this?

[powellm]

Actually it may depend on your IMAP client. Thunderbird only downloads the headers, it leaves the actual messages on the server. Look for a "save a locla copy" option.

[abudhu]

It was always to my knowledge that IMAP Just made a temporary "image" copy to your HD, leaving the actual Email on your web server. In this manner it allowed you to delete it off your 3rd party mail client, without deleteing the file from the server.

However, if you want the true file, you can switch to a POP Account, which will physically remove all the emails from the server and store them in your computer. However, using this method, you run the risk of having everything lost when your comp crashes. There would be no copy anywhere, unlike the IMAP way.

[dparm]

Switch to POP. like Amit said. But be prepared for a huge frickin' download as it yanks everything from the server. Just back up your mail program data file.

[lnp]

Okay. When I switch to pop, do I need to do anything with my U of A server settings or do I just switch the option on my mail client?

[abudhu]

It would look that way from how they set up Eudora as well. Just switch to POP.

[lnp]

Last question on this topic: what exactly can I burn to a CD to create a backup of my e-mail? I guess I'm asking where my e-mails live on my computer once I've switched to pop.

[abudhu]

Not sure which Mail Client you are using, but under both Outlook and Thunderbird, if you check your Server Settings, (should be a tab/submenu under the account settings) it should tell you the local folder path. Mine looks like this:

C:\Documents and Settings\MYUSERACCOUNT\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\SOMESTRING.default\ImapM ail\inbox.email.arizona.edu\

The extensions on the files are. msf. They all have a relatively small size, which make me believe all that is stored is the header information. I *SUPPOSE* if you were to find the equalivent folder under the POP account, there would be similar files of greater size. I would then assume you could burn those, and when you want to read them again, drag the file back over to the path directory. Or perhaps there is some import function in the mail client.

You could also do this the very long way, of selecting each message, and clicking SAVE AS. Then burn out those. To view them at a later time you can then do, File--Open Saved Message. :-\

[nlopez]

Mail.app has an option under Advanced to download "All messages and their attachments", select that and you're good. Or, if you want to get a little more fancy, create another account in Mail.app, it doesn't have to have valid server information, and just drag&drop your messages from your emaildot account to it.

- Nick Lopez