Back up emails before server migration
I want to use Thunderbird to back up all emails from our small business and I'm terrified of losing any. I believe the right way to go about it is to install Thunderbird, set up all email accounts as POP3 and make sure not deleted from server. But, I see that I have to set up my email before ensuring I don't delete off the server and, thus, the terror at setting up and then somehow missing the critical setting that doesn't delete off the server and pulling everything off the server into my backup.
Questions: 1) Is this the right way to back up (POP3)? 2) Is there a global default to never delete off the server? 3) For account specific, is there anything I can do to mitigate this? I'm ok doing this command-line too if there's a way to ensure the setting isn't 'missed'. 3) Is there a recommended flow for backing up email and then saving to S3 (might you consider adding this as a feature? Seems like many people would want this?)
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To keep all messages from being deleted, there is a setting at syncronization&storage to never delete messages, and another at server settings pane to never delete from server. Once you have made settings, immediately exit thunderbird. Now, restart and it should be acting as desired. To do backup, I recommend - always exit thunderbird first, as a backup while running will cause some data to not be backed up, as the data is being held by Thunderbird. - then, copy the profile at c:\users\<yourid>\appdata\roaming\thunderbird to an external drive using Windows File Explorer (assuming you use WIndows) or whatever preferred software you prefer for this purpose. - Then, should you need to restore, just copy the backedup Thunderbird folder to c:\users\<yourid>\appdata\roaming - you will be prompted for overwrite, allow.
However, if your small business includes several people on different PCs accessing the account, you have bigger issues to address, such as deciding how they are to share one account. You need also to be sensitive to whatever possible limit the email provider allows for storage space, as you may eventually exceed the space allocation and will need then to rethink your retention strategy. Just issues to consider...
Thanks David! If I'm getting this right, both the 'syncronization&storage' and 'server settings pane' options are after I set up the actual email account, connecting with password, and are repeated x times for each account. There isn't a global option for future/subsequent/new email accounts to never delete from server, right?
That is correct, it must be done for each account.