Archiving your mail to keep your Inbox size down, the poor man's option

brong · 9 Mar 2007, 07:44 PM

I wrote this for someone else as a PM, thought I should share it. It's pretty much what I do because I'm too lazy to manage folders properly, and I use offlineimap+mutt or the web interface anyway.

1) Create Folders:

Archives.Inbox-2007
Archives.Inbox-2006
Archives.Inbox-2005

Archives.Sent-2007
Archives.Sent-2006
Archives.Sent-2005
...
to end or just an "Old" folder if you have a long tail of years archived.

2) Open the little "[+]" sign to see the folders in the folder view at the left.

3) Select "Inbox" (or "Trash" if you've been storing it there).

4) Go Advanced Search and enter for "Received since": 2007-01-01 (and similarly 2006-01-01, etc)

5) Go to drop-down menu on main screen and chose "Select all in search"

6) Click on the arrow sign pointing into the Archives.2007 (etc) folder on the left to move all messages there.

7) Wait about 5 seconds for that to complete (for approx 10,000 messages in the example I was using) and go back to (4) for each additional folder - moving everything that is left at the end into Old.

8) Same for Sent Items

That seems to work for me. Most of the other folders I have are either mailing lists or low enough traffic that I don't need to archive it. Most mailing lists I just clean up occasionally instead - there are enough other archives out there I don't need to keep an unshared one myself. I just like having it there for a bit so I can search it offline.

I usually have a pretty good idea what year something was from, and this keeps folder sizes managable. NOTE: I tend to delete stuff that I really never need again - i.e. things from computers rather than humans. Storage space is so cheap I don't throw away anything that a real human spent loving thought and energy into composing these days. Not the text anyway.

(yes, I probably should write this up on the wiki or something)

Bron.

**Gankaku** · 9 Mar 2007, 07:59 PM

Can you believe I've never archived my email? I like your system of having ArchiveInboxYear and ArchiveSentYear...I think I'll try it. My boxes could use a good cleaning out.

And this is a nice tip; you should add it to the wiki...

brong · 9 Mar 2007, 08:11 PM

The faster loading of Inbox (both on FastMail and even more in mutt on my laptop where the slow hard drive means that reading a big Maildir is annoying regardless of any other considerations)

And I rarely ever look at old mail, but when I do it's nice to be able to search by year.

My old personal mail server which still runs separately has a Maildir which contains an archive of every single mail it's ever received, spam or not. I dread to think how long it would take to ever load it! It's more a protection against accidentally deleting stuff than a useful folder as such.

rabarberski · 9 Mar 2007, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brong

And I rarely ever look at old mail, but when I do it's nice to be able to search by year.

I have been using the same system for archiving my email since 1999 and I still happily stick to it.

I like it especially because :

it is VERY simple and straightforward to set up
it is VERY easy to archive emails
(i.e. it doesn't force me to ponder about whether I should put an email in "work", "personal", "XXX", "ZZZ", because a lot of emails don't fit in a single category; they do fit in a single year however).
it makes it easy to search for mail since indeed i too generally have good idea about the year when searching for an email....
If not, it requires me to search only a couple of folders (growing each year though )....
as a bonus it is very easy to see some basic email-usage statistics from year to year

I also tend to archive all but (a) computer generated emails (mailing lists, etc.) and (b) emails with large attachments (until the fastmail feature to remove att. from emails has been implemented

)

**Sherry** · 10 Mar 2007, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabarberski

(until the fastmail feature to remove att. from emails has been implemented

)

I'm surprised you don't use IMAPSize for that. (if you use Windows?)

Sherry

rabarberski · 12 Mar 2007, 02:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherry

I'm surprised you don't use IMAPSize for that. (if you use Windows?)

Sherry

Yep, i forgot about that. However, I don't start up imapsize that much, only to backup every 3 weeks or so. But then again, I probably still wouldn't use it because it is yet another program to handle my email (I already use apple mail, OE, the webinterface, sometimes thunderbird)....

vidvandre · 21 Mar 2007, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabarberski

(...) emails with large attachments (until the fastmail feature to remove att. from emails has been implemented

)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabarberski

(...) sometimes thunderbird)....

Isn't deletion of attachments a native feautere of Thunderbird? I'm not at my regular computer right now, so I can't check; but this is a feature I use all the time - so if it isn't a native feature it's definitively availible as an extension. IIRC the only thing you need to do is right click attachments and select delete/delete all. Thunderbird even replaces the original attachments with a "plain text dummy file" with some information about the original attachment. If this isn't a native feature, let me know and I'll figure out what extension provides this functionality...

But as Sherry said; IMAPSize let's you quickly do this. For anyone not familiar with it - it's a great tool for this, as well as a myriad other email/imap related maintenance tasks...

David · 21 Mar 2007, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brong

I wrote this for someone else as a PM, thought I should share it. It's pretty much what I do because I'm too lazy to manage folders properly, and I use offlineimap+mutt or the web interface anyway.

1) Create Folders:

Archives.Inbox-2007
Archives.Inbox-2006
Archives.Inbox-2005

Perhaps this could be automated Bron? Like Mailsmith do it - with a script.

coloray · 9 Apr 2007, 03:58 PM

Sorry, I'm a novice so pardon me for asking dumb questions. I archives some files by flagging them and selecting "Archive" from the "Action" menu, and now I can't find them. Where should I look?

**Sherry** · 9 Apr 2007, 04:18 PM

Hi coloray,

When you clicked on "Do" after choosing Archive then a little window would have opened up for you to click on "Save". After that another window would have opened where it would say "Save In:" with something typed into the field to the right of Save in. That is the folder the file would be saved into. If you don't know what was in there you can try it again but after you see what's in that field you can just x out that window and not save it again. It might say "My Documents"? The file will have a .zip extension. When unzipped it will have all your saved emails with an .eml extension. If you double click on one of them it will open in Outlook Express (windows) or you can open it with something like Notepad.

Sherry

rabarberski · 9 Apr 2007, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coloray

Sorry, I'm a novice so pardon me for asking dumb questions. I archives some files by flagging them and selecting "Archive" from the "Action" menu, and now I can't find them. Where should I look?

The action "archive" is indeed not very clear. Even the FAQ page (that appears when clicking the question mark next to the drop down box) explains no more than that it will "archive your messages". What this exactly is, is not explained. You only now it when you try it....

coloray · 10 Apr 2007, 03:32 PM

Thanks, Sherry,
I tried archiving another email to see where it would put it, but it doesn't seem to do what you said. I get a box pop up that asks me if I want to open the file or save to disk, and if I "open" it, it saves(?) it in a window that is at C:\Documents\RAY\Locals~1\TEMP\ (name of file). But when I go and try to locate that file by opening up "My Computer", "Documents", "RAY", there isn't any "Locals~1" or any similar title for a folder. I did a seach on "temporary internet files" but no result. If I choose to "save to disk", it saves it on my desktop; but the ones I archived before that I'm looking for aren't there. They're probably somewhere in that mysterious "Locals~1" file...?
Ray

**Sherry** · 10 Apr 2007, 03:48 PM

When you chose to "open" the file it didn't "save" it to your hard drive. It only put it there "temporarily". When you "save" it it's putting it on your desktop. When you archived the ones before you probably picked to "open" the file so it never got saved? They are still in your account so you can archive them again. I would suggest you save them to "My Documents" instead of the desktop by clicking on the little down error to the right of Desktop and clicking on My Documents in the drop-down list.

Sherry

coloray · 10 Apr 2007, 05:24 PM

After I thought I archived them, I deleted them, so they must be completely gone...at least I had printed them first, so the information on them is not lost.
Appreciate your explaining!
Ray

brong · 10 Apr 2007, 05:33 PM

Hey, this is my thread that you managed to get mislead in, so I think it's only fair to restore those messages for you if you will PM me your username and which folder they were in.

9 Mar 2007, 07:44 PM	#1
brong The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,696 Representative of: Fastmail.fm	Archiving your mail to keep your Inbox size down, the poor man's option I wrote this for someone else as a PM, thought I should share it. It's pretty much what I do because I'm too lazy to manage folders properly, and I use offlineimap+mutt or the web interface anyway. 1) Create Folders: Archives.Inbox-2007 Archives.Inbox-2006 Archives.Inbox-2005 Archives.Sent-2007 Archives.Sent-2006 Archives.Sent-2005 ... to end or just an "Old" folder if you have a long tail of years archived. 2) Open the little "[+]" sign to see the folders in the folder view at the left. 3) Select "Inbox" (or "Trash" if you've been storing it there). 4) Go Advanced Search and enter for "Received since": 2007-01-01 (and similarly 2006-01-01, etc) 5) Go to drop-down menu on main screen and chose "Select all in search" 6) Click on the arrow sign pointing into the Archives.2007 (etc) folder on the left to move all messages there. 7) Wait about 5 seconds for that to complete (for approx 10,000 messages in the example I was using) and go back to (4) for each additional folder - moving everything that is left at the end into Old. 8) Same for Sent Items That seems to work for me. Most of the other folders I have are either mailing lists or low enough traffic that I don't need to archive it. Most mailing lists I just clean up occasionally instead - there are enough other archives out there I don't need to keep an unshared one myself. I just like having it there for a bit so I can search it offline. I usually have a pretty good idea what year something was from, and this keeps folder sizes managable. NOTE: I tend to delete stuff that I really never need again - i.e. things from computers rather than humans. Storage space is so cheap I don't throw away anything that a real human spent loving thought and energy into composing these days. Not the text anyway. (yes, I probably should write this up on the wiki or something) Bron.

9 Apr 2007, 03:58 PM	#9
coloray Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 3	How to find archived files Sorry, I'm a novice so pardon me for asking dumb questions. I archives some files by flagging them and selecting "Archive" from the "Action" menu, and now I can't find them. Where should I look?

10 Apr 2007, 03:32 PM	#12
coloray Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 3	Thanks but Thanks, Sherry, I tried archiving another email to see where it would put it, but it doesn't seem to do what you said. I get a box pop up that asks me if I want to open the file or save to disk, and if I "open" it, it saves(?) it in a window that is at C:\Documents\RAY\Locals~1\TEMP\ (name of file). But when I go and try to locate that file by opening up "My Computer", "Documents", "RAY", there isn't any "Locals~1" or any similar title for a folder. I did a seach on "temporary internet files" but no result. If I choose to "save to disk", it saves it on my desktop; but the ones I archived before that I'm looking for aren't there. They're probably somewhere in that mysterious "Locals~1" file...? Ray

10 Apr 2007, 05:24 PM	#14
coloray Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 3	okay, thanks After I thought I archived them, I deleted them, so they must be completely gone...at least I had printed them first, so the information on them is not lost. Appreciate your explaining! Ray

9 Mar 2007, 07:59 PM	#2
Gankaku Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 3,265	Can you believe I've never archived my email? I like your system of having ArchiveInboxYear and ArchiveSentYear...I think I'll try it. My boxes could use a good cleaning out. And this is a nice tip; you should add it to the wiki...

9 Mar 2007, 08:11 PM	#3
brong The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,696 Representative of: Fastmail.fm	The faster loading of Inbox (both on FastMail and even more in mutt on my laptop where the slow hard drive means that reading a big Maildir is annoying regardless of any other considerations) And I rarely ever look at old mail, but when I do it's nice to be able to search by year. My old personal mail server which still runs separately has a Maildir which contains an archive of every single mail it's ever received, spam or not. I dread to think how long it would take to ever load it! It's more a protection against accidentally deleting stuff than a useful folder as such.

9 Apr 2007, 04:18 PM	#10
Sherry Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: USA Posts: 8,687	Hi coloray, When you clicked on "Do" after choosing Archive then a little window would have opened up for you to click on "Save". After that another window would have opened where it would say "Save In:" with something typed into the field to the right of Save in. That is the folder the file would be saved into. If you don't know what was in there you can try it again but after you see what's in that field you can just x out that window and not save it again. It might say "My Documents"? The file will have a .zip extension. When unzipped it will have all your saved emails with an .eml extension. If you double click on one of them it will open in Outlook Express (windows) or you can open it with something like Notepad. Sherry

10 Apr 2007, 03:48 PM	#13
Sherry Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: USA Posts: 8,687	When you chose to "open" the file it didn't "save" it to your hard drive. It only put it there "temporarily". When you "save" it it's putting it on your desktop. When you archived the ones before you probably picked to "open" the file so it never got saved? They are still in your account so you can archive them again. I would suggest you save them to "My Documents" instead of the desktop by clicking on the little down error to the right of Desktop and clicking on My Documents in the drop-down list. Sherry

10 Apr 2007, 05:33 PM	#15
brong The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,696 Representative of: Fastmail.fm	Hey, this is my thread that you managed to get mislead in, so I think it's only fair to restore those messages for you if you will PM me your username and which folder they were in.