backing up email service
 

In the past, I have lost my emails because I was unable to copy them from my email service provider to my PC, those emails were not important.

My current email service is "mailbox.org" which claims that "unlike their competitors" they allow a customer to download all their emails but it seems that is 'marketing' since I simply can not find how to do that.
My objective is not to transfer my emails to another service provider, it is only to get a copy of them (approx 400MB) on my desktop.

I am an ignorant user who knows that every email service is free to process their client's emails in any way they wish but email transfers having to follow certain standards, it is probably likely that what I want to do could be done with possible small tweaks depending on each consenting email service provider but a common basic approach would fit them all.

If my recollection is correct, I was able to download one at a time some years ago - which is too slow.

My question: does anyone know a general rule about how to download systematically all the emails from any email service provider?

Thank you for your help.

I know of no single solution what will work for ANY mail server, but if you set up POP3 then every email in your inbox gets downloaded to your email client and can be handled on your local machine. Some servers mark downloaded emails READ on the server, some delete them, and most allow you to have some control over how that is handled. I generally discourage this, if the server is more reliable than the local machine.

I do think that if you are paying for the email account you should be able to contact their support and ASK about bulk, downloading your emails. If they claim to support that, then they should be able to tell you HOW it is done for their server.

Their website tells you how, as do their support forums:
https://mailbox.org/en/post/data-exp...-recent-update

And there are loads of IMAP tools available to download entire IMAP mailboxes locally:
https://github.com/imapsync/imapsync

I've used imapsync, good tool because imapsync compares (like rsync) what you have and downloads the bare minimum. I can't remember the format, it is either MailDir or mbox format, but those are easily converted.

If you don't use imap on mail you could easily setup a cron job to run every day to get your archive and continue to use web mail or whatever.

I have read that one - with no success. It seems my IQ is not high enough to extract from that how to solve the problem.
There is a sort of "screenshot" which is unreadable.
I'd like to say that I am one of those users who expects claimed info to be reasonably identifiable, the fact that it may exist somewhere is not good enough.

I also think that we should not accept the growing attitude of providers and authorities alike who behave as if consumers only existed to spend time admiring their subliminal propaganda.

Thanks for the suggestions I have to investigate and learn. I like elgrandeperro's.

Did you actually read the text, instead of the screenshot?? Where it tells you (bolded for emphasis), "However, the information can be retrieved via our existing GDPR "Personal Data Access" feature in the mailbox.org settings." Very clear....go into settings in Mailbox.org...go under "Personal Data Access". Follow the instructions. And if you're paying for it, why haven't you called/emailed the support you're paying for, if you feel like they push 'subliminal propaganda'??

Expecting users to read instructions isn't a huge ask.
...which is the same thing I suggested as well.

I believe if you are on Debian you can use archivemail. It is a imap downloader just for this task.

My apologies for the delay.
I was using Debian 9 and trying to install Thunderbird broke the system, I now have installed Debian 11 but have to slowly rebuild my desktop.

It may be explained in their website but does it work?
I have found that my communications with that email service is extremely slow which may or may not or be partially their responsibility.
The problem I have found is that the downloaded "archive" offered is a lot of eml files and I need them as pdf files and exact replicates of the originals.
As far as I understand (I know very little on the subject), the download is only usable for an experienced party like another email service provider.

I had found I could solve my problem with Thunderbird but they ask a donation which I do not mind doing for something I use regularly but in this case, I only want one copy of my emails for one specific purpose.
My biggest objection is in giving my details unnecessarily because once they have those details they keep them forever and are free to do whatever they like.

I still have to try a few recommended solutions and probably come back later if I don't succeed.
Reading the description, Imapsync may "transfer" email rather than copy them. I do not want to change the data on the server, I only need a copy of it.
Can some one clarify that point?

No idea what you're saying/asking. What website, for who?? You asked in another thread how to convert .eml files to PDF's and got answered there:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...es-4175725269/

...with two options to do so, one being Thunderbird itself.
If you're going to go on about 'subliminal propaganda' and other paranoia, there isn't much we can do to solve that. Not sure what's wrong about asking for a donation, but you can use Thunderbird FOR FREE. Make a donation if you feel like it. Use another email client (they are numerous). Use imapsync, which I told you about in post #3 in this very thread, and download everything locally to your own mail-server and do what you want.
Clarify what??? Making a copy isn't changing what's on the server...it's making a copy.

I think tbone is expressing his/her own dislike of my posts which does not help.
A look at Imapsync says that it "transfer" the emails. I think the word is very clear. Than means Imapsync takes the emails from my email service and "transfer" them to my machine which means that after the transfer, they are not in my email provider anymore.
I also think that my posts clearly explains that what I need is only a copy of those emails as I know that my email service provider is far more secure than my own machine but I have no knowledge of the subject.
My email service provider allows the download as an archive of "eml" files.
My posts have also resulted in some answers explaining that, about what I intend to do, service providers do unexpected things sometimes like possibly deleting my emails from their storage after a transfer.
So I do not think that asking if anyone can clarify what really happens is not asking something unclear or asking too much because I do not want to do something on the blind and find I have done something I did not intend to do.

Again and as I said, I have no objection to donations, even to paying every month, my email provider collects 36 Euro every year for my personal emails (less than 400MB after 5 years) which I think is good money for them.

I have found that some service providers (no less than the .au branch of a "reputable" British telco) "erroneously" (their own words as they apologised) tried to withdraw money from a bank account that I had closed after warning them (it did not worked because the account was closed but records showed the 2 withdrawal attempts).
I guess that my warning was read by software and acted upon a few keywords that the service provider found alarming and tried to pre-withdraw the cost of their service for two months when no charge was due.
I had a similar experience with no less than the .au copyright (government) body which took the money and never issued anything, not even an acknowledgement of my ensuing complaint.
So, now I have taken the habit, and i think everybody should do something similar, only to give any of my details after much consideration and when in doubt, I try to pay through Paypal so, at least, I only lose that amount if something goes wrong.

Converting eml files to pdf is also a second choice if I can download a full directory of pdf files.
My objective is to ensure that the result I get is disputable as least as possible in court and the more I manipulate it on my machine, the more its authenticity is disputable in court.
That is 5 years of dealing with one party which I can not afford to have "deleted" after a "transfer".

So the basic question remains: How can I simply get a copy of my emails as pdf files without doing any change on my email service provider?
If I have to try a solution, has anyone found that it does what I need?

I do this. In Thunderbird.
I’ve set up two TB client accounts for a single mailbox. One is an IMAP client and one is a POP3 client with “Leave messages on server” selected.

The POP3 client is configured to download only on demand. When a “get” is requested, TB downloads only those messages it’s not downloaded before. That account is also configured to sort/assign messages to various local folders in that account.

The IMAP account is the “daily driver” used to access messages on the server routinely. Other computers, tablets and phones are set up as IMAP clients, so I can access that account with whichever device I’m using at the time.
So, the emails are saved to the local PC (and backed up from there) on demand.

Doesn’t address the desire to convert to PDF, but note that, at least using TB, received emails and sent emails are not modifiable…they are already “archived” as they sit.

PS Note that a download is a transfer…neither implies removal of the source file(s).

Thank you all for the answers, what I need to do in this case is to convert the date of the emails to a format yyyy-mm-dd and use it as the filename of the email with the intact email becoming the content of the file so they sort properly by date but it must show exactly like an email, hence the .pdf extension. Since there is only about 150 of those emails in a one-off job and some had already been converted that way, it is easier to download the emails with Firefox or Chrome one at a time using the menu of the browser and "print to file" option (it is a little faster with Thunderbird).

Installing Imapsync seems to be an overkill, assuming it can help me, and may take longer that doing my job by hand and, in my view, it needs too many dependencies.

Even so, I tried to donate to Thunderbird but the "Paypal" option refused to work and this is part of what I do not like, when a service seems not to be 100% honest in its procedure, I understand they have commercial restrictions about presentation which must appear to be the user's fault when it does not work (my "subliminal propaganda" reference). May be Thunderbird itself is very honest but if they rely on an unknown third party to collect the donations, then it becomes a risk to give my details to a complete stranger.

And I think you're not paying attention, which helps less.
Wrong; again, did you bother to read the imapsync page?? From that very github page, bolded and underlined for emphasis:
Seems pretty clear; which part are you having trouble understanding??
And the answers are ALSO pretty clear in telling you that you can easily HAVE a copy either using Thunderbird or imapsync.
Don't think there are ANY providers that are just going to trash everyones email after they're (essentially) read, unless the user sets up that feature. Thunderbird makes a copy of your emails locally (it can, at least), and imapsync does so as well. Not sure what you're confused about.
You asked a question and your question has been answered several times over. Pretty much ANY email client can download a copy of your emails locally, Thunderbird being one of them, as you've been told before. AGAIN, you do not have to donate to use Thunderbird, period....it's totally free, so I'm not sure why you're going on about donations, your previous banks, and Paypal, when you have to involve NONE OF THEM. And again....use ANY email client, like Evolution, Kmail, Claws, Geary, and others you can find. All of them support IMAP, and can download your emails.
You have been TOLD how to do this already. Your other thread was very clear, you were given a link to a tool (that had to be looked up for you, apparently), and also told (again) that Thunderbird can do this.

Are you serious???

1. imapsync is a *SINGLE PROGRAM*, and the 'too many dependencies' are easily installed perl libraries, which are not only small, but all installable via the online repositories for pretty much any distro. Again, did you actually look at things, like the installation instructions? https://imapsync.lamiral.info/#install
2. You can go into Thunderbird, select a folder, right-click and export as PDF, as was looked up for you/explained to you previously in your other thread, where you were given ANOTHER tool that also had to be looked up for you (apparently).
3. You can *STILL* use Thunderbird without a donation at all, period. Don't know why you're harping on Paypal/banks/unknown-third-parties when you can do exactly what you want without making ANY donations at all.

Your questions on this have been answered several times over...at this point, YOU actually have to do/try something for yourself.

I use thunderbird, IMAP accounts and copy the profile folder.
Ex:
/home/user/.thunderbird/x3x4x9.default-release/ImapMail

I setup a small server to make a daily snapshot with borg backup. I run some tests and i can restore any email to any date i want in case of disaster by restoring the whole profile folder, copying whatever is needed to an offline local folder, and then restoring the original up to date inbox folder so i can copy whatever was missing from the local folder previously created.