1 Topic by AndyInNYC

  • AndyInNYC
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Topic: Importing Mail question

==== Required information ====
- iRedMail version (check /etc/iredmail-release):
- Linux/BSD distribution name and version:
- Store mail accounts in which backend (LDAP/MySQL/PGSQL):
- Web server (Apache or Nginx):
- Manage mail accounts with iRedAdmin-Pro?
- [IMPORTANT] Related original log or error message is required if you're experiencing an issue.
======== Required information ====
- iRedMail version (check /etc/iredmail-release):  0.9.7
- Linux/BSD distribution name and version: Ubuntu 16.04
- Store mail accounts in which backend (LDAP/MySQL/PGSQL): mySQL
- Web server (Apache or Nginx): Apache
- Manage mail accounts with iRedAdmin-Pro? Not Yet
- [IMPORTANT] Related original log or error message is required if you're experiencing an issue.
====

My wife and I both use Outlook (2010 for me and 2013 for her).  We both have extensive .pst files with lots of history (even to accounts we no longer maintain, but with emails we want to keep).

Pretend my wife is 'Ruler@ourhouse.com' and I'm moving that domain and email from GoDaddy to my server.  If I change the account settings in her email to point to the new server so that ruler@ourhouse.com now pulls email from the new iRedMail server will:

1.   Her Outlook file retain the old emails (as opposed to getting stripped)?  (I think yes, but don't know)
2.   Will Outlook and the new server (which is using IMAP for connections) sync all of the old emails and move them up to the server? (would love this to be a yes)
3.    If not for #2, if I buy a .pst to MAILDIR conversion program and upload all of the emails to the new server, will Outlook try to download them again so that they live *twice* in here .pst file?

What I'm looking to do is have her Outlook .pst file replicated onto the server with as little effort as possible so that the web email (RoundCube/SOGo) will also have her emails available.  Right now, her Outlook .pst file has many more emails than GoDaddy's webmail shows since we had accounts which predated GoDaddy (and had email addresses other than ruler@ourhouse.com).



Thanks for the pointers.


Andrew

----

Spider Email Archiver: On-Premises, lightweight email archiving software developed by iRedMail team. Supports Amazon S3 compatible storage and custom branding.

2 Reply by ZhangHuangbin

  • ZhangHuangbin
  • ZhangHuangbin
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Re: Importing Mail question

AndyInNYC wrote:

1.   Her Outlook file retain the old emails (as opposed to getting stripped)?  (I think yes, but don't know)

Please backup these PST files before you try any change in Outlook, then you're free to test.

AndyInNYC wrote:

2.   Will Outlook and the new server (which is using IMAP for connections) sync all of the old emails and move them up to the server? (would love this to be a yes)

NO.

AndyInNYC wrote:

3.    If not for #2, if I buy a .pst to MAILDIR conversion program and upload all of the emails to the new server, will Outlook try to download them again so that they live *twice* in here .pst file?

Converted emails will appear in your mailbox, and Outlook will download them (because they have different IMAP UID than the messages in your PST files). According to your #1 question, i think Outlook will remove existing emails in PST and rebuild this PST file, so no duplicate emails.

3 Reply by gargoyle_ir

  • gargoyle_ir
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Re: Importing Mail question

AndyInNYC wrote:

2.   Will Outlook and the new server (which is using IMAP for connections) sync all of the old emails and move them up to the server? (would love this to be a yes)

Here I'm going to disagree with Zhang. I'd say yes. Keep in mind that a.) I'm using Outlook 2016, and b.) I have a physical server, not a virtual one, although neither of those details should matter.

Last year I upgraded my mail server from an old Dell R710 running CentOS 6.7 to a new Lenovo Thinkserver running CentOS 7.0. After a few frustrating attempts at migrating between versions, I decided it was going to be easier to just setup the Lenovo as a new server with a fresh, current installation of iRedmail. That was a lot simpler.

When I was done I had both servers online and added the new server to outlook. Let's say my email was me@myserver.com and the Dell was IP xxx.xxx.xxx.100 and the Lenovo was IP xxx.xxx.xxx.200.

I had then two accounts (both IMAP) syncing with two different servers. I selected all the messages in the old inbox and dragged them to the new. After a few minutes of sync'ing all my old mail was on the new server. To confirm this I logged out of outlook, shut down the Dell and then logged into Roundcube on the Lenovo and all mail was there. And, just make sure I wasn't remembering incorrectly, I just now in outlook only, created a folder in the inbox of my iRedmail account and copied about 100 messages from my Yahoo (personal) account and then confirmed they were on the server, too.

Of course Zhang's advice to backup your .pst first before testing is important (but you should be doing that on a regular basis, anyway if you're using POP3 accounts).