Can I archive my email, or must I keep it all on the server?

You can archive email with IMAP just the same as with POP3. Most email clients make a distinction between ``local'' files and ``IMAP'' files. Archiving is just a matter of copying, or moving, files from the IMAP portion to the local portion.

Once files are on in the local folders they are no longer available to other email clients. The usual practice is to identify the archiving client, and use that to keep a copy of all archived email. Ideally this client should be choosen for maximum portability of stored files, and it would be backed up on a regular basis. The IMAP client used for archiving does not need to be the same as the client used for reading email.

Some clients, such as Outlook 2003 and 2007, have an auto-archive facility that can, for example, archive all email older than 60 days to a local pst file. Also available for Windows clients is the free IMAPSize utility, which can archive email to local folders.

Last modified: April 13, 2007