G'day Andy You got me re-thinking about the same question.
I'm going to put in place an email client that stores each mail item as a separate file, re-set pop at gmail ie turn it off, then back on for all messages; and set up a simple, local back-up of that mail directory. I tried the Google approach. It creates a giant compressed file which you download a few days later when it is ready. My view is that back-up files should be as small as possible. This thinking also turns me off programs that store large amounts of data in 1 file, but I digress. My preference for this is OperaMail/Browser as it stores mail in directories year/month/date based on their original receipt. The plan is to allow the email client to run but not use it unless I need to retrieve something I lost elsewhere. I also send all mail direct to a 2nd gmail account on receipt, via a filter. I tried to get old mail to copy over with the filter but as far as I could see that didn't work. Thanks Regards Keith Bainbridge +61 (0)447 667 468 [email protected] On 17 April 2014 14:41, Andy <[email protected]> wrote: > Years ago I used an email client program with Gmail. I used POP3 to > download all messages to my PC. It was the only choice. > > A few years later, Gmail added IMAP support. Everyone said it was better > than POP3, but at the time I kept using POP3 anyway. Some time after that, > I stopped using the email client program altogether and instead used > Gmail's webmail interface. > > But it bothers me that I don't have a backup or local copy of my messages. > So I am thinking of going back to the email client program. Now, the > question once again is whether to use POP or IMAP. > > I understand basically how POP works (from a user's perspective), but not > IMAP. > > One IMAP advantage is supposed to be that all messages are in the same > folders on my PC as they are in Gmail's Labels, and that changes made in > one (say, the PC side), automagically reflect in the other. Another is > something about better synchronizing, whatever that means in this context. > > One more IMAP feature is supposed to be that you can use IMAP to upload > older messages you have from before you had Gmail, to your Gmail account. > Then you can have all your emails in one place. I have emails going back > several years and it would be handy not having to locate them in different > places, and be able to search through all of them. > > A concern with that is, if I accidentally delete a message on one side > (either Google's end or my PC's end), or if a Gmail glitch makes some > messages disappear, do they delete on the other end too? POP doesn't have > that problem. > > Anyway ... I am wondering, is IMAP really so much better? > > Why would one choose IMAP over POP3, or vice-versa? > > Thanks, > Andy > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Gmail-Users" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-users. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Gmail-Users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/gmail-users. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
