Moving folders between IMAP and LOCAL (possible data loss)
Hyperbatus
I am using Thunderbird 3.0.3 and have multiple accounts on IMAP servers; I
am also using local folders, though. Now it is necessary for some reason to
move all the mail from one of the IMAP accounts into one of the local
folders preserving the folder structure and all messages, or course.
There are two problems with this; one of these could lead to data loss.
1) Although googling and RTFMing for hours now, I could not find a way to
recursively move a folder from an IMAP account to the local folders (or even
to another IMAP account). Whatever I do, the folder structure is copied, not
moved.
This forces me to copy the folder structure from IMAP to local at first and
then delete the folders on IMAP manually. Although this really sucks, I
could live with it.
2) The really bad thing: When copying the folders from IMAP to local,
messages can be lost. When copying a folder from IMAP to local, it seems
that TB3 only copies the messages the headers of which it has already
downloaded, and obviously, there is no such thing like an "automatic
complete header download before copy".
That means: If I have a main folder with 1000 subfolders on IMAP, and if I
want to copy the main folder with all contents to local, I have to click
each one of the 1000 subfolders and wait until TB has finished the indexing
completely. Then, after copying, I have to compare the message count of each
folder on the local side to that on the IMAP side.
Besides the fact that this would take a week or so (my structure is by more
complicated than one folder and 1000 subfolders...) and that I would have to
go to the mental home after doing so, I still would not be sure that I
haven't lost something. Since moving the folders is not possible (see
problem 1)), I have to simulate moving by copying the folders and then
deleting them on the IMAP side. Since TB isn't able to do the copy in a
reliable fashion, data will be probably (and finally) lost after deleting
the folders on the IMAP side.
Due to this problem, I have lost about 2000 important messages (of 3000)
during such action. Fortunately, all original IMAP data is still available
in backups, but we have to stop the server for restoring it, and still have
no solution for the problem.
To further clarify: Let's assume you have a folder with 5000 messages in it.
To copy this folder, you click with the mouse on it. From this moment on, TB
begins to download the headers which could take a long time (at least 20
seconds, usually much longer since it begins to index the messages before it
has downloaded all the headers, so indexing could slow down the header
download). If you don't know that, you click on the folder and immediately
drag it to the destination. This way, only the smallest part of the messages
will be copied. Happy night after deleting the original folder!
Furthermore: Let's assume there are subfolders. A great part of the messages
in these will not be copyied when copying the main folder because clicking
the main folder only leads to the download of the message headers which
belong directly to the main folder, but will not cause this action in the
subfolders.
Is there any addon for solving this? Is there something that I do wrong?
Will turning off indexing in thunderbird solve the problem? Actually, is
this possible (I haven't looked into it since I am very distrustful now). By
the way, if it helps, the IMAP server is Cyrus 2.2.3.
I would be grateful if anyone could give a comment or solution. Is there
another mail client which is reliable?
Yours,
Peter
Greywolf
> Hello,
>
> I am using Thunderbird 3.0.3 and have multiple accounts on IMAP servers;
> I am also using local folders, though. Now it is necessary for some
> reason to move all the mail from one of the IMAP accounts into one of
> the local folders preserving the folder structure and all messages, or
> course.
>
> There are two problems with this; one of these could lead to data loss.
>
> 1) Although googling and RTFMing for hours now, I could not find a way
> to recursively move a folder from an IMAP account to the local folders
> (or even to another IMAP account). Whatever I do, the folder structure
> is copied, not moved.
This is how TB does _all_ Moves. Try Compacting the IMAP folder after
Moving a folder within it. I don't use IMAP, but AFAIK TB uses the same
mbox "folders" system as for POP accounts.
HTH
wolf k.
Terry R.
Hi Peter,
Do you try going into Account Settings and Copies & Folders of the IMAP
account and change the location of those three? You will probably need
to also change the Server Settings "Local Directory" location to be
under the Local Folders also (see Local Folders "Local Directory" path).
Terry R.
--
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.
Hyperbatus
"Greywolf" <wek...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:TqydnVEK0cWsmDPW...@mozilla.org...
>> There are two problems with this; one of these could lead to data loss.
>>
>> 1) Although googling and RTFMing for hours now, I could not find a way to
>> recursively move a folder from an IMAP account to the local folders (or
>> even to another IMAP account). Whatever I do, the folder structure is
>> copied, not moved.
>
>
> This is how TB does _all_ Moves. Try Compacting the IMAP folder after
> Moving a folder within it. I don't use IMAP, but AFAIK TB uses the same
> mbox "folders" system as for POP accounts.
I'm not sure what you mean by that. Compacting the folder won't solve the
problem since the folder will still be in the original place after doing so.
The problem and possible data loss are due to two things: Firstly,
Thunderbird's inability to move folders between IMAP and local, and
secondly, the thing I am talking about in paragraph 2) of my original post.
So, if Thunderbird was able to really move the folders between IMAP and
local instead of copying them, the whole problem would not arise. But
currently, I can't understand how the inability to move the folders can be
compensated by some sort of compacting. I would be grateful if you could
explain this further.
Please note that I am not talking about moving folders within the same IMAP
account (this, indeed, is working as expected, even without compacting), but
about moving folders from an IMAP account to local folders (or another IMAP
account).
Anyway, thank for time and help!
Regards,
Peter
Hyperbatus
"Terry R." <Terry...@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote in message
news:WK-dnWOij47E_TPW...@mozilla.org...
I did not try to change something with the IMAP settings. In fact, I want to
leave all IMAP settings as they are. I just have to _move_ one folder with
thousands of nested subfolders from one of the IMAP accounts to the local
folders, thereby moving just the one whole folder tree and leaving the rest
of the IMAP mailbox as is. The rest of the IMAP mailbox (Inbox, Drafts,
Trash, Junk, Sent) is required to work as before.
Thanks for your help!
Regards,
Peter
Hyperbatus
"Hyperbatus" <hyper...@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:o9qdnd0Ubr23WDDW...@mozilla.org...
I have solved the problem by using Outlook 2007 for the task. Fortunately,
Outlook 2007 can really move folders from an IMAP account to local folders
(in Outlook, they are called Personal Folders, I think - I'm in Germany so I
don't know the exact name in English) instead of copying them.
By the way, Outlook prevents moving or copying as long as it needs to
download the message headers for the respective folder(s), and there is a
clear and understandable error message when you try to move a folder from
one IMAP account to another (or to local) before the download of it's
messages' headers is finished..
So, although I am not a fan of Outlook, I must admit that there has been
done a great job in preventing data loss when moving / copying large folder
structures between different IMAP accounts or from IMAP to local; none of
the two problems I have mentioned in my original post are occurring there.
Nevertheless, now that the problematic act of moving these big folder
structures has been done succesfully, I will use Thunderbird again due to
several reasons, spam handling being the most important of them.
Regards,
Peter