Do you archive your email?

[ahhaa]

I'm still trying to find a 'file cabinet' program for the longterm keeping of email.

I'd kinda like some way to just offload IE itself on an annual basis, so I know I've got the software to view the mail too...

any ideas guys?

[disturbed1]

Before gmail came about, I just exported all my email to zip disk, and latter CDs, then as the archive grew, on to DVD-RAM. I still sync gmail through imap once every six months for archiving.

What mail program are you using? Most windows email programs store messages as .eml. These files can be read by any text reader (notepad, wordpad) Outlook and Thunderbird.

What does IE have to do with email

[JohnnyMalaria]

I use Outlook and just keep the emails in the Outlook account file. These get archived when I perform a backup of the entire PC.

[lordsmurf]

I also use Outlook. I backup the PST from time to time. Using it since 1999. It hovers at about 1GB on average.

However, no, I do not archive all e-mails, only ones that have some degree of value. Once that message's usefulness is gone, it's deleted. I purge the Deleted folder once every month or two.

Saving all your e-mails seems silly to me. Pack rat issues.

[Poppa_Meth]

I have an archive folder in Thunderbird. Once a month I'll go though my inbox and delete anything that is no longer needed. Then I run my custom filter than sends anything left that is older than 30 days to my archive folder. It keeps my inbox uncluttered. I don't burn anything off to disc since a weekly Acronis backup takes care of a full scale archiving of my mail.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

Outlook archiving has screwed me in the past, so I turned it off and just keep all the emails in various folders within Outlook.
My PST at home isn't really out of hand, but my PST at work is several gigs...

[ahhaa]

Its so gotcha that Outlook Express only exports to Outlook, forcing you to have a quasi-current Office suite onboard just to back up old emails.

There is a effort threshhold that is quickly reached in searching out an old email, which is why I don't trust .pst files.
But now the gummint is interested in email as records, you gotta keep your eBay buys for 10 years? and the software/hardware to read it?

Can Thunderbird suck emails out of OE?

[TBoneit]

I have seen and used in the past OE backup software that also allowed viewing the messages from the backup media.

Sorry I do not recall the name of the program however a internet search should find it.

By the .eml as suggested by someone is only one message. It would be a real pain to backup by opening and saving each message one at a time.

[handyguy]

I use Agent & it can keep anything I sent & got forever. Easy to search those files & save too.

[RickA]

Another option, at least with Outlook Express is if you go to Tools / Options / Maintenance, the button marked Store Folder.. tells you right where it stores all your emails.

You can then use windows file Explorer and copy them to whatever storage location you wish. The folder is hidden by default and marked as system files as well (I think). So you would need to unhide them in the folder options to see them to do this.

Just do the reverse to swap them back after a fresh OS install. Doing this may be the long way around, but it has saved me a few times. Your mileage may vary.

This can also be a handy way in case something bad has gone wrong with your OS and it will no longer load. Boot to DOS or another OS on a different drive or partition. Can still get to the folder via DOS screen if you have to and save your emails.

Cheers,
Rick

[ahhaa]

OT... & how many of you believe today's story that the White House accidentally erased all those emails again? 8) What! there's no Sent folder?

[stiltman]

I use Agent & it can keep anything I sent & got forever. Easy to search those files & save too.

HaHa....what newsgroups do you hang out in. Did you mod your version?
Dang, I thought I was the only person left in the world that still used Agent.

[handyguy]

'HaHa....what newsgroups do you hang out in.'

That's a secret

Agent if great, just copy it's folder to a cd & you have a backup of everything.