Re: GMail backup on debian
On Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:27:36 +0000, T o n g wrote:
> On Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:17:11 +0000, Camaleón wrote:
>
>> Another thing to try:
>>
>> http://blog.fealdia.org/2008/08/11/backing-up-gmail-on-debian-using-
> isync/
>
> Thanks for the info. I skimmed through the man page, but wasn't able to
> find out how can I backup only a certain folders (labels in gmail term).
> I suppose it is not the pattern(s) for "mailbox", which means something
> else to me.
I have not read the full manual for "isync", but by giving a fast reading
to the above URL, I think the folder to backup is defined using this
variable in the configuration file:
***
Master ":gmail-username:[Gmail]/All Mail"
***
That stanza seems to set the "All" folder as the source of the data to be
backed up but I think (I "hope" :-P) it can be changed to whatever you
want.
>> But I use the manual way and try to keep the mailbox folders in a good
>> shape to avoid having lots (thounsands!) of message is just one
>> "label".
>
> Could you share how you do it the manual way please?
Oh, I use Iceweasel for that task (create a new Gmail account and copy/
paste the e-mails in the fodlers I want to back up).
I also have Mutt installed and I use it for reading Gmail's e-mails but
still have not found the way (nor had the time) to see how to get a local
copy of some folders via IMAP :-)
>> Split messages by years/topics is the clue to have a "sane" Gmail :-)
>
> Is it ok to do it *afterward*? I.e., is it OK to, at the beginning of
> the year, do something like
>
> mv my_important_mails my_important_mails_2010 mkdir my_important_mails
>
> and not break anything?
All the Gmail's messages are stored in the folder named "All", so you are
only "virtually moving" -or in Gmail's parlance, "tagging"- them to
another place... so no, there should be no problems at all, in fact, I
opened my Gmail account in 2006/2007 and created/moved the e-mails in
their respective folders afterwards.
IIRC (as I said, I've created the sub-folders back in 2009 so things
could have changed a bit since then), you have to do it within their
webmail interface (I mean, create the "labels") but after that you can
access the labels/subfolders from any standard e-mail client (I've tested
in Mutt and Iceweasel).
> Moreover, how can I view those folders in thunderbird? (I was able to
> view local mailbox files before, but somehow I can't do it now)
You only have to create a new IMAP account in Iceweasel/Thunderbird for
your Gmail account and then you can access your Gmail's folder/sub-
folders as in any other IMAP server.
What I'm not so sure about is if by creating a new subfolder using
Thunderbird it will be visible/available inside the webmail interface,
maybe someone can confirm/deny this point :-?
Greetings,
--
Camaleón
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