Email Archiving - Mac Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook

The balance between keeping important information on hand at a moments notice, and keeping your email account size in check is often difficult. Simply deleting emails isn't an option in many cases, and isn't best practice as you keep a record of information. The answer to the problem is to archive old emails onto your local computer (desktop or laptop, whichever you use most). This means that your computer stores all of your old emails for safe keeping, but keeps your email account on your server clear for new messages.

What should do I need to know before I get started?

• Decide which is the best computer to store your archived emails on. The best place is usually the device that you use the most. However, if that device is a tablet or smartphone, then you need to choose a laptop or desktop computer instead. It is also important to make sure that this computer is connected to a regular backup. Contact Stuart at Jemford for help if you don't have backups in place.
• Have you had an email from Jemford warning you of an issue? If not, your account is already compliant with hosting rules, so you don't need to do anything.
• Delete all messages that you definitely don't need or want. This is the quickest way to bring your online storage use down. So if your Spam or Junk folders are full, regularly empty these. Don't forget to empty your Trash or Deleted Messages folder too, as these can clog up with unwanted messages too.

Why have I received a message about my email account?

Recently, hosting providers have been clamping down on email accounts that are becoming bloated and filling up storage space simply down to a lack of cleaning. Providers are now requesting that accounts be brought in line with a 2GB limit, which should be ample for the vast majority of users. However, we are aware that a number of clients have substantially bigger accounts, and dropping to 2GB is not always feasible. As such, as an interim measure, accounts that exceed substantially are being offered 5GB accounts whilst they bring their accounts inline. Should you require email accounts with more than a 2-5GB limit, we can help source dedicated email services that will allow you to keep such large accounts. Contact Stuart at Jemford for advice on this matter.

How do I archive my messages onto my computer?

It all depends on your software package, but here are a few of the most used software packages below, and how to archive on them.

1. Create an Archive folder on your local computer:
   • Mac Mail:
     1. Left sidebar
     2. On My Mac (hover)
     3. +
     4. Name: [enter the name of your email account] ARCHIVE
     5. OK
     6. Select this new Archive folder
     7. Right click, New Mailbox
     8. Name: Inbox
     9. OK
     10. Repeat steps 6 to 9 for a new mailbox called Sent
   • Mozilla Thunderbird:
     1. Left sidebar
     2. Local Folders (right click)
     3. New Folder
     4. Name: [enter the name of your email account] ARCHIVE
     5. Create Folder
     6. Select this new Archive folder
     7. Right click, New Subfolder
     8. Name: Inbox
     9. OK
     10. Repeat steps 6 to 9 for a new subfolder called Sent
   • Microsoft Outlook:
     1. File
     2. Account Settings
     3. Account Settings
     4. Data Files
     5. Add
     6. Name: Local Archive
     7. OK
     8. Back to email overview
     9. Select this new Local Archive folder
     10. Right Click, New Folder
     11. Name: [enter the name of your email account] ARCHIVE
     12. OK
     13. Select this new folder
     14. Right Click, New Folder
     15. Name: Inbox
     16. OK
     17. Repeat steps 13 to 16 for a new subfolder called Sent
2. Select the files in your email accounts Inbox that you want to archive. Many people will select by date, and move them in bulk, from the oldest first. You can highlight chunks by selecting the first email and then holding the shift key, whilst then selecting the last email. This will highlight all of the emails in between. I would always recommend moving 1000 messages maximum at a time. More than this may well work, but it is is always better to be safe rather than sorry.
3. Simply drag and drop these emails onto the Inbox folder that we have created in our new Archive folder on our computer. You'll see the new folder filling up, and the emails disappearing from your email inbox. This can take time, so leave it to complete. Don't start a new drag and drop until the existing one is completed. Most software packages will show a progress bar at the bottom.
4. Look in the new folder and check that the messages have moved as expected, and test a few to make sure by reading them.
5. Repeat the above until you have cleared down the volume of messages that you wanted to from your Inbox.
6. Repeat steps 2 to 6 for your Sent/Sent Messages folder. It is likely that the largest messages that you have are actually messages that you have sent (attachments etc), so it is important that you regularly clean your Sent/Sent Messages folder also.