Mail Archives

[chris_brec]

hey everyone,
I'm using Mail for several years now, to free up server space, I move eMails to a local folder once a year. This folder has grown over time and I would like to keep those eMails in an archive.

Mail let's you export to archive, which creates one "mbox" file.

Has anyone experience if I could do the following:

-have the eMails in a searchable way on an external drive? If not, is there a workaround, like temporarily import the archive?
-how to add to that archive? Example: once a year, move older eMails to that folder / archive?

If the export to archive is the wrong approach, can you have a local folder for eMails on an external drive?

Thanks for your help!
Christian

 

[BrianBaughn]

How much space is this archive using?

 

[chris_brec]

4,5 GB

 

[BrianBaughn]

4,5 GB

My first thought is that 4.5GB isn't really a large amount of email. Is there a reason (other than your provider's storage limits) you don't wan't these emails online?

 

[chris_brec]

My first thought is that 4.5GB isn't really a large amount of email. Is there a reason (other than your provider's storage limits) you don't wan't these emails online?

mainly building a workflow for the future where I want to be able to have access (doesn't need to be all time and immediate) to my old eMails (searchable).

 

[BrianBaughn]

One solution that wouldn't involve any new apps would be to create an email account somewhere for the archive, copy the emails to the new account, and turn the account off until you want to add to it or search it.

 

[chris_brec]

One solution that wouldn't involve any new apps would be to create an email account somewhere for the archive, copy the emails to the new account, and turn the account off until you want to add to it or search it.

I haven't tried this, but does turning off an account delete all messages (free up disc space) and by turning on re-download 4-5 GB of data. Might also lead to some hick ups to transfer emails from one account to another.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I haven't tried this, but does turning off an account delete all messages (free up disc space) and by turning on re-download 4-5 GB of data. Might also lead to some hick ups to transfer emails from one account to another.

No, it doesn't delete them. They're still in your User's Library folder so it's just a quick switch off and on.

Hiccups can happen (but rarely) and they're usually caused by a corrupt email. If you decide to do this transfer messages in groups.

 

[Eliott69]

Freeing up 4 to 5 GB of mails does not make sense to me somehow. If you're so close to have a full main drive I'd do one of the following:

Move photos, movies, or music files to an external drive.

Replace the main drive with a larger SSD (in case you have an older Mac) or buy a new Mac.

Buy a mail archiving app, but this will probably be more expensive than a new SSD (again in case you have an older Mac).

 

[ssmed]

Freeing up 4 to 5 GB of mails does not make sense to me somehow. If you're so close to have a full main drive I'd do one of the following:

Move photos, movies, or music files to an external drive.

Replace the main drive with a larger SSD (in case you have an older Mac) or buy a new Mac.

Buy a mail archiving app, but this will probably be more expensive than a new SSD (again in case you have an older Mac).

Are there any reliable email archiving Apps? A solution (from the PC) is to PDF the mails with attachments, giving a searchable and relatively future proof option, but I have never seen this for the Mac.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Freeing up 4 to 5 GB of mails does not make sense to me somehow. If you're so close to have a full main drive I'd do one of the following:

Move photos, movies, or music files to an external drive.

Replace the main drive with a larger SSD (in case you have an older Mac) or buy a new Mac.

Buy a mail archiving app, but this will probably be more expensive than a new SSD (again in case you have an older Mac).

I don't think HD space is the issue…the OP says "server space".

 

[BrianBaughn]

Are there any reliable email archiving Apps? A solution (from the PC) is to PDF the mails with attachments, giving a searchable and relatively future proof option, but I have never seen this for the Mac.

I haven't seen one, either…hence my suggestion. Nothing displays and searches actual email files better than an email client app.

 

[Eliott69]

I don't think HD space is the issue…the OP says "server space".

Then I misunderstood the OP – but wouldn't it make more sense then for him to upgrade for more email space at the hosting company?

 

[BrianBaughn]

Then I misunderstood the OP – but wouldn't it make more sense then for him to upgrade for more email space at the hosting company?

I couldn't say. In my case, I have done that with Google but not really for email space.

In one situation, I do have a low-capacity web hosting account that includes email for the domain…and email is included in the capacity total. I use the email account but "archive" the emails into folders on another account. Otherwise, I'd be filling it up quickly.