eMail Backups
Here at DCT we constantly harp on making backups to protect yourself against dire events. It’s good advice. But many people seem to think that if their data is in the “cloud”, it is safe. This is far from the truth, however. If you read the small print in the terms of service, all of these cloud services offer the same lament; they are not responsible for data loss. Plain and simple– if they lose your stuff, there’s nothing you can do about it. The only exceptions I might think of would be dedicated backup services which charge you money. Free eMail services such as Google’s Gmail, or Yahoo, or Microsoft’s Outlook offer no such guarantees. Once again, you are on your own. That’s where MailStore enters the stage.
MailStore
MailStore is free software that will download all your Gmail, for example, to your local computer. It can be set up to do the same thing with many other services as well.
Backups
Not only will MailStore back up online services, you have the option of backing up local clients like Mozilla Thunderbird, too. As shown in the next image, you can create backups to another hard drive or to a USB stick if you like.
Help
The Start Screen contains convenient links to check for new updates and change logs, and provides a link to download and install the program. If you should have questions, there are also many links to various help resources right in the program. Very nice.
Password Protection is also a much appreciated feature. Without it, anyone who has access to your computer will have access to all your eMail, too. Something to think about if you are using a laptop and constantly on the go.
Search
The search options are flexible and since everything is on your computer, the results are lightning fast. I much prefer it to the options provided by any online client and you can fine-tune your searches to a much greater degree.
Portable
MailStore can be installed or can be used as a portable program, meaning you can take it with you anywhere. I really like portable software. That in combination with “free” makes my day. Free in this case means “free for non-commercial use”.
Conclusions
I have been using MailStore for several years now and have no reason to complain. It does exactly what it is supposed to. The interface is intuitive and easy to learn.
Some of you may have thousands, or tens of thousands, of eMail sitting on a server somewhere. How would you feel if that service lost them all and you had no way to get them back? Use MailStore and you won’t have that problem (as long as you back up your computer, that is). I’m going to steal a line from Dave here: “You can’t have too many backups!”
If you would like to give MailStore a whirl, you can pick it up at their website. Here’s the MailStore Home Page. I can’t recommend a program more highly.
If you try it out, please let us know what you think,
Richard
—
Oh my!
I might have to consider donating to this site….no matter what my Scottish ancestors may do in their graves.
Thanks, Richard for this valuable info. You should have been given an Amiga instead of that C-64 ! 🙂
Seriously though..great post and something I have always wondered about. Gmail and the ability to view and store via third-party stuff.
Many thanks,
Colin.
.
Hi Colin,
Thanks for the kind words and I’m glad the article was helpful.
Back in the day, a small computer shop in my area had an Amiga for sale. I used to go in there and drool over it, but at $2,000 it was out of my league.
And, yes, we do accept donations via a PayPal link right on the DCT Home Page. I won’t tell your ancestors… promise 😉
Richard
Hi – Mailstore could be a great product but try as I have I just cannot get it to work with my Thunderbird local folders. I’ve run the archive, Mailstore tells me it has completed successfully but no emails – stored as individual EML files – have been archived. Cannot find an answer for this on the Mailstore website.
Hi Bramble,
This has nothing to do with your question, but I am puzzled. Why would anyone need to backup eMail from an eMail client that is already installed on one’s computer? I’m probably missing something obvious. :-/
In any case, on the MailStore Start Page you will see a button labeled Export E-Mail. This will bring you to another screen where you choose your eMail client and set up a profile. Once you’ve done this, your eMail will be stored as individual eml files in a directory of your choice.
This differs from an Archive. An archive is stored as a MailStore database. You can still read individual eMail from within MailStore.
I’ve used this feature only once, and it’s been a while, so I hope I am telling you right. Let me know how it goes for you,
Richard
I have not been able to get MailStore to backup my Yahoo mail. I’ve read that the free version of yahoo mail can not be backed up. Is this true? I’d like to know so that I stop looking for a work around.
Hi MB,
I don’t use Yahoo now, but what I used to do is have all its mail forwarded to Gmail. Once it is at Gmail, MailStore will easily pick it up.
Hope this helps and Happy New Year!
Richard