[Solved] How to back-up emails

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bernieb123
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[Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by bernieb123 »

Solved:| How do I back-up an email archive to a writer file? The email archive is from whc in Canada. (I use roundcube). Thanks.
Last edited by MrProgrammer on Sat Dec 12, 2020 6:32 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Reason: Tagged ✓ [Solved]
Bernadette Buddington
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Hagar Delest
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Re: how to back-up emails.

Post by Hagar Delest »

Roundcube is a webmail so there is no way to backup email or archives directly AFAIK.
You could use a mail client like Thunderbird to retrieve the emails. But then you need something to convert them into text file. And if there are attachments, they have to be handled.
Personally, I compile some mail in Writer but it's a manual copy and paste. Macros can automate some parts of the process.
It may depend on the volume of mail, if you need to keep the formatting and the attachments.
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RoryOF
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Re: How to back-up emails

Post by RoryOF »

I use a separate mail application (Sylpheed) which keeps all mail in user defined folders under ~/Mail folder.
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Re: How to back-up emails

Post by Villeroy »

RoryOF wrote:I use a separate mail application (Sylpheed) which keeps all mail in user defined folders under ~/Mail folder.
There are plenty of email clients which do NOT run in a web browser. A browser app shows the content of your remote mail box on someone else's computer. A local mail client downloads all the mail to your hard disk, so you can read and write mail even while being offline.
Any decent desktop system (anything but Windows) comes with a backup utility to back up ALL your personal data, documents, pictures, media, mail, application settings, all the data you produce while using your computer undiscriminatingly.
My backup program copies all my files when I plug in a distinct USB disk into my computer. This includes the mails downloaded by my mail client and thousands of other files. Most of the time it copies only files that have been modified since the last backup session (quick incremental backup). From time to time it does a full backup of everything.

If my computer falls into water, I can buy a new one, install the same desktop system, same applications and from the backup disk I can restore all my stuff exactly like it was when I plugged in the backup disk for the last time into the old computer.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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bernieb123
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Re: How to back-up emails

Post by bernieb123 »

Thanks to everyone who reponded. I guess the short answer is there is no way to back-up a roundcube email archive on a windows machine. I guess my choice is to lose the emails or continue paying the yearly cost. ($80) Thanks.
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Re: How to back-up emails

Post by Villeroy »

There is no such thing as "roundcube email". There is only email. You can watch, edit and send mail through an internet browser (with roundcube and others running on a remote computer) or through a dedicated email application installed on your computer. Install one of the mentioned mail clients or setup the one which is shipped with MS Windows. This will download all your mail to your computer and keep it in sync with the mail on the server. In addition you can install a backup tool which will back up all of your work, not just the mails.
If you download and install Mozilla Thunderbird (my mail client since >20 years), it will prompt you for your email address and password, and then it will negotiate the technical details with the mail server (the thing you used to manage through roundcube). Thunderbird has an archive function which stores a copy of the already synchronized mails to a local folder so it will stay forever, even when the mail is deleted on the server side.
You will be able to continue using roundcube in your web browser. This is just about two different ways to access the same email account.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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Re: How to back-up emails

Post by bernieb123 »

Villeroy - I am a beginner. I have no idea what you have said. What do you mean watch, edit and send mail.... etc. etc.? I am totally lost.What exactly are you telling me to do so I don't lose the archive? Copy, cut and paste emails manually seems like the only option for me. Else I have to pay another $80. I'd rather get a different email from another provider after I copy, cut and paste the archive into writer.

Ciao,
Bernie
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Re: [Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by Hagar Delest »

Install Thunderbird.
Launch it and the wizard will ask you for your email address. Give it, then your password and all your mail will appear in Thunderbird. Make sure you use the (default) setting, that is IMAP.
After that, chose whatever mail provider you want, even a free one. Do the same, a new account will appear. Then move all your mail from the roundcube account to that new account and you'll have all your mail available in your new mail provider mailbox.
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Re: [Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by bernieb123 »

Hagar - it asked to make an exception to the "legitimate businesses and websites will not ask for ..." I said no. Now it's DOA. So much for that.
Thanks for trying.
Ciao, Bernie
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Re: [Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by bernieb123 »

I'm still trying to download thunderbird. It says try mailbird since thunderbird has been abandoned by Mozilla. I want something easy and free and supported. Any suggestions?
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Re: [Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by Villeroy »

Your internet browser seems to be compromised. Some malware displays search results pointing to more malware. At least this is the only theory I can think of.

Top search results for mozilla thunderbird on an uncompromised system:
https://www.mozilla.org/
https://www.thunderbird.net/

Before I would install anything on your compromised system I would wipe out the entire Windows sytem and install a Linux distribution. A Linux distribution comes with browser, mail program, backup tool and with LibreOffice preinstalled. May be you find someone who can do that for you.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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Re: [Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by bernieb123 »

Thanks I can't. my family is 2000 miles away & there's no one here.
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Re: [Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by Hagar Delest »

Then you should clean your machine first. Use something like CCleaner: https://www.ccleaner.com/
I agree with Villeroy, there is a problem with your browser. You should uninstall it right away and use the default one provided (Edge). Then install Mozilla Firefox or Brave: https://brave.com/
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Re: [Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by bernieb123 »

did that firefox is refreshed now what?
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Re: [Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by bernieb123 »

Used pccleaner ( the free version) it said HMMM... there is a problem, but finished and said it fixed everything it could find. Then I went to uninstall firefox, but it aid to refresh instead, so I did.
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Re: [Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by Villeroy »

https://www.thunderbird.net/
Download, install, start the program, enter your mail address and password.
The program shows your mail account with all its folders in a folder pane. When you click one folder, the messages are listed in another pane. When you click a message, the content is shown in a third pane. There is a "special account" "Local Folder" which represents just a local storage for mails on your hard disk and nowhere else.
Call Tools>Account Settings... click "Folders and Copies" and specify the "Local Folder" as target for archives.
Sort the messages by date by clicking on the column header.
Select the messages you want to archive: click first message in the message pane, scroll to the last one, Shift+Click the last message to highlight all messages between first and last.
RIght-click>Archive... will store all the selected mail in the "Local Folder", remove them from the accound folder and from the server as well. Now these messages are on your hard disk only and nowhere else. Just navigate to the local folder, click a message and read the mail, answer the mail, delete the mail, highlight, categorize, whatever you can do with that program. Thunderbird can do a lot of useful things with emails.
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Now this is not a true backup because all your data may be lost if something bad happens to your machine while everything resides on that same machine. Get some USB storage (a stick, card or pluggable hard disk) and install a simple backup application for MS WIndows. Tell that program to write backups onto that disk. I won't recommend any specific program since I do not use MS Windows privately and the tool we use at work is rather sophisticated. With some self disciplin you will never lose any file nor message for the decades to come.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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Re: [Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by bernieb123 »

Dear Villeroy, thank you for taking the time to write all this out, but anything more than a couple of steps is beyond my ability. it turns out firefox deleted my ad blocker so I had to add it back, which is prolly what caused the bad behavior of thunderbird. so I won't be using the thunderbird route again. i think for now, I'll just copy and paste the archive into a writer file and then find a new provider.
Ciao, Bernie
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Re: [Solved] How to back-up emails

Post by Villeroy »

You don't need any ad-blocker to visit the thunderbird website, install and setup the program.
You will have the same problem with any provider. If the data do not reside on your computer, they are not under your control.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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