I have my email set on Mail. The inbox isn't set up on some mail server on the ISP, all files are downloaded on my iMac. If something goes wrong, due to the fact that my files are on my iMac domestically i will loose them... correct? If im right, i want to ask if there is some way to make backups of my inbox, and most importantly, does Time Machine backup my mail inbox?
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Mail backup ability
- Thread starter zoran
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Unless your mail is saved on the respective server, once you delete it on your computer, it is gone.
Time Machine will backup your email unless you specifically exclude it in Time Machine preferences.
With Apple Mail, Mailbox Menu>Export Mailbox, if you wish to do it manually and store the mail in a separate place, which would be a good idea in case there was a problem with your Time Machine backup.
Time Machine will backup your email unless you specifically exclude it in Time Machine preferences.
With Apple Mail, Mailbox Menu>Export Mailbox, if you wish to do it manually and store the mail in a separate place, which would be a good idea in case there was a problem with your Time Machine backup.
1. By making exports etc. this whole thing gets to be manual which is not how it should be like, i cannot be doing this daily!
2. As far as TM is concerned, how can i restore my inbox if someday my hard drive goes bad?
3. Is there any other way to have my email files available, anytime something goes wrong?
2. As far as TM is concerned, how can i restore my inbox if someday my hard drive goes bad?
3. Is there any other way to have my email files available, anytime something goes wrong?
If you can't be bothered to make sure your email is backed up properly, instead of relying on Time Machine not to fail, what was the point of asking in the first place?
The time it took you to respond, your mail could have been in the process of being backed up, if not completed.
You complained that you didn't have time to back up your important emails manually, in case something happened with a Time Machine backup etc. If you rely solely on Time Machine or some other software program, you could be in trouble one day when your software backup fails.
I answered your initial question about Time Machine. And yes, you can enter Time Machine backups and extract individual files or folders to restore as needed.
I also told you how to back up your mail manually, which shouldn't take much time at all, unless you have thousands of large emails in several folders.
I tried to be of help. What you do with the information is up to you.
Of course you could also start to use your ISPs IMAP service where the emails are stored on the server too, obviating the immediate worry. I don't know an ISP that doesn't provide this, if your doesn't then you could start to use one of the many email providers that do (say gMail), and forward your ISP email to there.
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1. You will have to do something, you are creating the problem in the first place by not keeping a copy on the server - keeping a copy on the server is how <most> users worldwide keep their email, it also allows email to be available on multiple devices.
2. Yes you can - you would need to know which files make up your mailbox(s) but you could extract those from TM and restore them.
3. Yes - see my suggestion above.
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1. You will have to do something, you are creating the problem in the first place by not keeping a copy on the server - keeping a copy on the server is how <most> users worldwide keep their email, it also allows email to be available on multiple devices.
2. Yes you can - you would need to know which files make up your mailbox(s) but you could extract those from TM and restore them.
3. Yes - see my suggestion above.
Look in "System Preferences -> iCloud", then select "Mail" and you are done.
Your emails and settings and everything else selected will be automatically backed up to apples cloud.
For which email accounts would you consider that a backup?
The iCloud email associated with your AppleID yes but for instance when I had an Exchange account setup on Mail with 12GB of data, that most certainly wasn't in iCloud at all so I think you would need to clarify what you are suggesting.
any mail account that is active and storing emails in your Apple Mail App.
In my case 3 separate sources, my .mac account, my ISP (shaw) account and my Google mail account are all being synced through apple Mail to the cloud.
It sure sounds as if the OP needs to avail himself of Apples free iMap and .me email service, as mentioned earlier in regards to Google mail, just forward everything to the .me iMap address and rest in peace with all your mail stored in the cloud and on Apples servers.
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Is that documented anywhere you have seen? - I'd like to look further to understand if all account types are supposed to be included in that syncing - for instance as I said there is no way it had uploaded 12GB of Exchange data but it would be useful to know which it syncs and which each Mail.app instances deals with directly vi the IMAP protocol where syncing isn't required via iCloud....
Not that I'm aware of, but it works for me and that's all that matters.
Tell you what, if you ever find yourself in my area, drop in and I'll attempt to draw you a picture.
Found this:
"iCloud doesn't "sync" your mail in the same way as it does for contacts and calendars; your mail isn't "uploaded" from Mail.app to the iCloud servers and then synced down to your devices. This would largely be redundant as unlike your own contacts and calendar appointments, which you create yourself, most of your e-mail came "from the cloud" in the first place, so Mail.app on your Mac and the iOS Mail application simply fetch your mail and sync changes via IMAP in the same way as they would with any IMAP-based e-mail account."
So I think setting iCloud sync for Mail is NOT the equivalent of backing it up as per what the OP was trying to achieve.
If you have a lot of important emails in Apple Mail then MailSteward is your ticket to safety.
A true set it and forget it solution...
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In Mail?
Setup your new account then
In old inbox
Select All
then
Drag n drop to new inbox or
Right click and "Move to" or "Copy to" new inbox
You don't need to save the inbox....
Setup your new account in Mail, you will see both new and old inboxes in the Mail folder panel on the left, simply drag emails from the old to the new inbox. To confirm it works I'd suggest you start with a test email to your old account and drag that to the new.
There may be save options, look for under the File menu for Save or Export/Import options.
I have done the backup this way and i get a file called INBOX.mbox that contains 3 files, "info.plist", "mbox" and "table_of_contents". What do i do with them if something goes wrong?