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Topic: Bulk Import/Export?

I'm looking to switch to iRedMail from Google. I have an mbox file containing all my emails, an iCalendar file containing all my calendars, and a vCard file containing all my contacts.

Does iRedMail support bulk importing and exporting these files?

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2 (edited by Neutro 2019-06-28 05:19:31)

Re: Bulk Import/Export?

You can import your calendars and your contacts through sogo (google it it's easy).

For the mails i suggest you refrain from importing all you gmail emails as it would probably pollute your iredmail box more than anything.

If you use a desktop mail client like Outlook or Thunderbird and if you can just forward the important emails to your new iredmail account and archive the rest locally on your desktop client (also make a backup of the file), do it it's way easier.

If you really need to have all your gmail emails on iredmail then google "mbox to maildir conversion". But really dont bother with it unless you absolutely need it wink

PS: if it's your first time setting up a mail server consider having at least a full free day to set it up. It can be more complicated than it looks when you've never done it before.

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Re: Bulk Import/Export?

The first time I did this, I had all my emails in my Outlook .pst file.  I created a new account and drag and dropped the emails into the new account.  This populated the iredmail server.  Obviously, the account on the iredmail server needs to be either IMAP or activesync/Exchange Server.

The second time I had a backup from an iredmail server in ..../Maildir.  I set up the new server and the new (old) accounts.  I then copied all the emails from the right directory way under Maildir into the 'new' directory for the 'new' account.  Workded like a champ once I deleted the index files and had them regenerate.

Andrew

4 (edited by chrisspen 2019-07-01 21:55:10)

Re: Bulk Import/Export?

Neutro wrote:

If you really need to have all your gmail emails on iredmail then google "mbox to maildir conversion". But really dont bother with it unless you absolutely need it wink

I have about 12 years worth of emails archived in my Gmail account, and I use it mostly as an informal filing system and record of receipts and a history of correspondence. That comes to about 2.7GB of data. Losing that much of my personal history is not something I'm willing to do.

This is also why I'm looking at many different Google alternatives, specifically for something that supports bulk import. I tried one solution a long time ago that just linked to your Gmail account via IMAP and then forwarded all your email to the new account. What a horrible piece of crap tool that was. Not only did it take forever, but it didn't preserve the emails, but instead turned everything into a forwarded "Re:" email.

Your email is your personal data, and it should be easily transportable. I made the mistake of entrusting my data to a garbage company like Google, and I don't want to make that mistake again. Whoever or whatever I switch to needs to be able to both bulk import and export its data.

5 (edited by Neutro 2019-07-01 22:40:16)

Re: Bulk Import/Export?

You misread my previous post. I'm not suggesting that you loose anything:

archive the rest locally on your desktop client (also make a backup of the file)

What i'm suggesting is that for daily usage you probably wont need to search through mails that are older than a year or 2, and most of the emails that you received through this time are probably not important (newsletters, stuff already dealt with, ect).

So if you take 20 mins to browse through these you'll probably be able to sort out the few mails that are important (like bills, taxes, invoices...) and that you might need to search for later and then you can forward them to your iredmail account.

This way when you use the search function on your mobile phone you won't have to download 12 years worth of data and wait until your server has to browse through all of them to get your search result.

For the exceptional times when you need to search for an email that's older than 2 years you just do it on your computer through your local desktop client archive.

I have over 20 years worth of mail, i run a business so mail is very important to me and i've been working this way for years without any problem. So i don't see why you couldn't do the same wink

Your email is your personal data, and it should be easily transportable. I made the mistake of entrusting my data to a garbage company like Google, and I don't want to make that mistake again. Whoever or whatever I switch to needs to be able to both bulk import and export its data.

I already explained to you how to do it. It's actually easy if you're familiar with IT. For importing emails it's not a "1 click button import file" but if you want to manage your own mail server, whatever solution you choose won't be all about 1 clicking anyway. It will take you time to setup, time to get familiar with and time to upgrade/backup on a monthly basis.

So if you find that converting your mbox email database to a maildir format is too difficult, i suggest you pay a hosted secure mail solution that will be better for your privacy (like protonmail) and you dont have to deal with maintaining a mail server by yourself.

Otherwise get ready to invest some time into it and to get your hands dirty (well in a manner of speaking of course big_smile )

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Re: Bulk Import/Export?

You can use "imapsync" to transfer / copy emails from one IMAP mailbox to another one, it also supports Gmail and Google Apps. smile

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Re: Bulk Import/Export?

I successfully use(d) fetchmail for this.

POP3 and IMAP access enabled on Gmail, fetchmail set with 'keep' flag to not delete messages from server.
Gmail will sometimes throttle, but fetchmail will eventually pull everything down.

Additionally, you can leave it running and it will also pull any new incomming mail to this gmail account.