Getting rid of older mail server

[Bob M.]

I want to stop using an older mail server I've used for a long time. I now have several email addresses that I use on other servers and this email in question is the only one where I pay a monthly bill. It has become less reliable lately and I can no longer send emails from this account (but I can receive them). The main problem is that I have about 3,000 older emails that I've saved from my Inbox and Sent box that I'd like to transfer to a hard drive or flash drive (memory stick) or elsewhere and edit them at my leisure. Some have important information that I need to keep; some I can erase. But I'd like to get these emails transferred to another place some I can close this email account.

My question is how can I do this; I'm not a very advanced computer user. I hope there is some app or utility where I can transfer the emails en masse rather than one at a time.

Thanks in advance for your advice and help,
Bob M.

 

[pm-r]

My question is how can I do this; I'm not a very advanced computer user. I hope there is some app or utility where I can transfer the emails en masse rather than one at a time.

I'm not sure I completely understand your problem or what you want to do, but why not just open your Ma.appil Preferences (assuming you are using Mail.app as your email client) application) > Accounts and select the account you want to ignore and uncheck the "enable this account" checkbox.

All your email for that account should stay intact but it just will not be active until you change the setting in the enable this account checkbox.

My apologies if this is not what you intended to do or want to do.



- Patrick
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[Rod]

I think the OP wants to terminate the account with the provider because it costs money, not to mention redundancy and functional problems.

So terminating your account with the provider is a matter to take up with them but saving your email history should be possible using PM-R's suggestion in post #2 if you are using Apple Mail.

 

[Jimmysb]

Are you using POP3 or IMAP, if POP3 your emails are already on you machine, if you are using IMAP, your emails remain on the server, and if you do not wish to loose any then you need to export them, if you are using Apple Mail a simple way is to navigate to User>Library>Mail>. once there, if you have more than one email account, you will need to determine which is the one you wish to keep, and then copy it somewhere safe.

I have number of accounts, but one saved it then can be imported into mail and all the emails are safe.

 

[Bob M.]

Let me clarify what I'm trying to do. I know how to cancel my account with a mail server when I'm done with it.

But there are lots of older emails I'd like to save before cancelling my account. I'd like to transfer these somewhere else, like a hard drive or memory stick or maybe even somewhere else I have thought of yet. No, I don't want to import these into another email account. Once I have them off the server, I'll extract the information I need and would like to keep and I'll erase/trash the rest.

However, my question is: is there a utility or app where I can move all these emails to my preferred destination all at once as opposed to copying and moving them one at a time. I'm sure I'm not the first person (attempting) to do this.
Thanks,
Bob M.

 

[MacInWin]

Try this:

Open Mail, go to the Inbox of the account in question. On the top bar, select Edit, then Select All. Now click on File on the top bar and "Export as PDF" and select where you want the messages exported to. When it's done, you'll have PDFs for every email selected. The PDFs are, however, not searchable (I tried).

 

[pm-r]

Let me clarify what I'm trying to do. I know how to cancel my account with a mail server when I'm done with it.

Did you try using your Mac's Mail Help and do a search on “archive”?

There should be an option you can use out of the various related topics found.



- Patrick
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[Jimmysb]

Let me clarify what I'm trying to do. I know how to cancel my account with a mail server when I'm done with it.

But there are lots of older emails I'd like to save before cancelling my account. I'd like to transfer these somewhere else, like a hard drive or memory stick or maybe even somewhere else I have thought of yet. No, I don't want to import these into another email account. Once I have them off the server, I'll extract the information I need and would like to keep and I'll erase/trash the rest.

However, my question is: is there a utility or app where I can move all these emails to my preferred destination all at once as opposed to copying and moving them one at a time. I'm sure I'm not the first person (attempting) to do this.
Thanks,
Bob M.

If you follow my instructions above you can move the lot in one go!!!

 

[Bob M.]

Thank you; I'll try that. I did try the 'Export as PDF' but it only moved about 50~60 emails (don't know why it was so few). They are not dated nor do they appear in chronological order. It'll be a little more work with this transfer method but better than nothing. I'll still look around. Thanks.
Bob M.

 

[pm-r]

I did try the 'Export as PDF' but it only moved about 50~60 emails (don't know why it was so few). They are not dated nor do they appear in chronological order. It'll be a little more work with this transfer method but better than nothing. I'll still look around. Tha

I came across this possibility while looking for something else today that you might be interested in.

Email Archiver Pro but it seems a bit expensive for my taste and usage and you might want to read the user comments at Mac update site:

Download Email Archiver Pro for Mac | MacUpdate

Download the latest version of Email Archiver Pro for Mac for free. Read 54 user reviews and compare with similar apps on MacUpdate.

www.macupdate.com

Also listed in the Mac Apple Store but very few user comments:

‎Email Archiver Pro

‎Email Archiver Pro creates a future-proof, accessible, searchable, archive of all your emails in up to 5 accounts. Preserve and protect all inbound and outbound email messages (as well as attachments and metadata) with Email Archiver Pro today. Archiving made simple. Archive up to 5 email...

apps.apple.com

I have no connection with the program or the programmer and no comment on how well it works or not.

Actually, I'm quite surprised for the lack of Apple Mail archiving applications, at least for IMAP email accounts.


- Patrick
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[MacInWin]

Actually, I'm quite surprised for the lack of Apple Mail archiving applications, at least for IMAP email accounts.

There is an archive function in Mail. Just select the messages you want to archive, right click on any of them and then select "Archive." They get moved to an Archive folder under the same account name. But I don't think that's what the OP wants. He wants to "transfer" his messages from the account he wants to close. I took that to mean somewhere NOT in Mail at all.

 

[Jimmysb]

Just copy the mail folder in finder, all the mail will be in it and once copied it can be opened as Apple mail.

 

[pm-r]

They get moved to an Archive folder under the same account name. But I don't think that's what the OP wants.

Thanks Jake. I guess I didn't completely understand what the op was wanting to do and I guess I thought that maybe Apple had disabled the mail archiving function or some such thing.

Assuming the OP is using IMAP for the account he wants to Archive, are all there email messages saved to their Mac or iDevice if they just disable that particular account? Just curious and wondering if that would be a way to save all the old emails.

I have only ever used POP with my Mail email accounts that I normally use daily. And they are saved already to my Mac unless I send anything to the Trash mailbox and then empty it. I don't think IMAP email works that way.

Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud or trying to.



- Patrick
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[MacInWin]

What I don't know personally because I've never done it, Patrick, is if I take a mailbox offline and disable it in Mail if the messages are kept. I think they are. In Sonoma, in Mail, clicking on Accounts shows, for each account, an on/off slider that seems to disable the account without deleting it, which SHOULD mean that it would just stop getting messages and sending messages in that account, but leave the messages in Mail. But I don't have a "throwaway" account I'm willing to risk to test it. The Help file is silent on messages in that account, only that the switch activates/deactivates the account in question.

 

[Jimmysb]

What I don't know personally because I've never done it, Patrick, is if I take a mailbox offline and disable it in Mail if the messages are kept.

If you are using POP3 then the mail (whatever client you are using) is stored on your computer, and depending how you set it up deleted from the server (normally set as immediately but can be changed unto 30 days) IMAP, in theory are not kept on your computer but stored on the server, which is why with multiple devices IMAP should show the same emails across all devices, regardless of OS or mail client. With IMAP, most clients do save the mail to you device (but not guaranteed), so with your mail client open, and fully synced, if you copy the mail folder in finder to another place you have a saved copy of all the mail on the server. In the example below copying 7F59B442-6D05-472E-B06B-239CC48946D5 will save the whole of that account, and the mail then can be imported in to Apple Mail.

 

[pm-r]

In the example below copying 7F59B442-6D05-472E-B06B-239CC48946D5 will save the whole of that account, and the mail then can be imported in to Apple Mail.

Hmmm...???
I wouldn't rely on that method being very reliable, especially considering the lack of consistency Apple applies to their users Mail folder.



- Patrick
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[Jimmysb]

Hmmm...???
I wouldn't rely on that method being very reliable, especially considering the lack of consistency Apple applies to their users Mail folder.



- Patrick
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I currently own my own domain, and email address, however due to exceptional price increases, less use of domain, and aging, I have decided to ditch my domain. With the server synced in Apple mail, I went and copied the folder in finder, renamed and pasted elsewhere. I have now opened the the folder in Apple mail and compared it to the original, and it seems everything is there.

 

[pm-r]

I have now opened the the folder in Apple mail and compared it to the original, and it seems everything is there.

That could very well work and seems fairly logical but like Jake says I don't know if I would trust it so much as to recommend such a method to another member for something reliable to use.

I'm also not sure how Apple uses disabled IMAP email accounts, they often do things their own way which may not be very conventional.


- Patrick
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[Jimmysb]

That could very well work and seems fairly logical but like Jake says I don't know if I would trust it so much as to recommend such a method to another member for something reliable to use.

I'm also not sure how Apple uses disabled IMAP email accounts, they often do things their own way which may not be very conventional.


- Patrick
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Once you have a copy of the account as a separate folder it is like any other folder containing data. I have to admit Windows running Outlook archives accounts far more efficiently.

 

[pm-r]

I have to admit Windows running Outlook archives accounts far more efficiently.

Even the Fantastic third party email client Eudora.app could manage email far better than Apple's Mail has ever been able to do and probably several others.


- Patrick
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