Hello folks, I use an email provider with a web interface in my daily business. For backup purposes, I start Thunderbird every few days and download all emails from this account to my local Thunderbird profile via IMAP (and regularly back up this profile to a separate hard disk). Due to a size limitation of my online mailbox, I would now like to archive old emails and thus remove them from the online mailbox. What I want to achieve: # Once archived emails should disappear from the online mailbox. # Emails from the last two years should still be accessible online. # The existing folder structure should be retained. # Access to emails within the archive via Thunderbird must be ensured. # I need to be able to back up the local profile / archive to an external hard disk via copy&paste. I have installed the Thunderbird extension "AutoarchiveReloaded" for this purpose and now need some help in sorting my thoughts and later setting up the archiving. # To ensure that the emails are deleted from the online mailbox after archiving, I set the Thunderbird option "mail.imap.expunge_after_delete" to true. # In the Thunderbird account, I set the option "[x] Keep messages archives in > Archives Folder > Local Folder". # I also set the "Archive options..." to "Yearly archived folders" and "[x] Keep existing folder structure of archived messages". # I set the AutorarchiveReloaded limits as requested (i.e. 730 days) # I can still save the local mailbox (with the archived emails) by copying the Thunderbird profile (currently '/home/ElBarto/.thunderbird/1d4ztbb9.default-release/') as the "Local Directory" below "Local Folders" is the same path and is only supplemented by the subdirectory 'Local'. # And most importantly: data loss due to archiving must be avoided at all costs. I am talking here about 20 years of email history, which I have moved securely and completely with every email provider move so far. Does it all work like this or have I made a mistake somewhere? Thank you very much for your support and have a nice Sunday!