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how can I archive messages from multiple imap accounts and a local account into time frame buckets?

  • 5 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by Wayne Mery

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I have 6 imap accounts configured and I move important mails from these accounts to a local folder structure on my PC. Over time the local folder has grown quite large and I am looking for a way to make an archive folder or file for every year. This archive should hold all the mails from a given year in the local folder and those which still reside on the imap servers (especially in the sent folder). I do not care about the folder structure in the archives as long as I can search for items. So the folder structure may be preserved or flattened.

What is the easiest way to achieve this?

I have 6 imap accounts configured and I move important mails from these accounts to a local folder structure on my PC. Over time the local folder has grown quite large and I am looking for a way to make an archive folder or file for every year. This archive should hold all the mails from a given year in the local folder and those which still reside on the imap servers (especially in the sent folder). I do not care about the folder structure in the archives as long as I can search for items. So the folder structure may be preserved or flattened. What is the easiest way to achieve this?

Chosen solution

A 1000 thanks for putting me to the right direction.

I found that in fact it is possible ! I can modify the search folder properties afterwards and change the folder list so that it includes all accounts as well as my local folders (see picture)

Now I only need to modify the search dates and then get all messages from that time frame which I then can drag and drop to my archive.

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I knew about this feature but it does not solve my problem in any way. As I said I want ALL messages from ALL imap accounts from a certain time frame plus ALL messages from my local folders structure of that time frame stored into ONE single archive. With the archiving feature I need to select messages in every account and archive them manually just to find that they go into an archive for that very account. This is not what I want. It is not very much easier than to manually drag and drop those messages to an archive folder as the pain is to select those messages in every account. Also there is no archiving option for the messages I have already sorted in my local folders.

What I am really looking for is an option to put a filter on ALL messages. For example I want to select all messages of all accounts and my local folders for the time frame between Jan 1 2016 to Dec 31 2016. Then I would mark those messages and drag them to a folder name "archive 2016"

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> For example I want to select all messages of all accounts and my local folders for the time frame between Jan 1 2016 to Dec 31 2016.

This is not possible.

But you can do it, one account at a time, with Edit > Find > Search Messages I suggest you save each one as a "save as search folder", where you can use the "Choose" button to make it include all folders in the account. Then you can also reuse it in future years just by changing the dates of the search.

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Chosen Solution

A 1000 thanks for putting me to the right direction.

I found that in fact it is possible ! I can modify the search folder properties afterwards and change the folder list so that it includes all accounts as well as my local folders (see picture)

Now I only need to modify the search dates and then get all messages from that time frame which I then can drag and drop to my archive.

Modified by schaloule

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Ha! I totally forgot these saved searches can span accounts. I actually do that in some of mine.

Best of luck to you.