Forum Discussion

K123's avatar
K123
Tuning in
4 months ago
Solved

What is the best way to save a large number of emails when losing my Virgin email address?

Is someone able to advise me on the best way to save the emails that I have in my virgin email accounts please. I have seen that I can load them in Outlook or Thunderbird and export them. I tried downloading Outlook and it did not seem to have an export facility.

I used IMAP when I loaded my email address into Outlook. Would they stay available in Outlook when my email is closed? I notice that Thunderbird is saying IMAP to sync with the server and POP to store emails on my computer.

If I store them on my computer then would I be able to move them to a new computer if I bought one?

I believe that another possibility is to import them straight into a gmail account from my virgin address.

Thanks for any help.

  • Remember to download the emails into a file stored on your computer you may need to configure a POP3 connection.

    The more modern IMAP is just a view of the emails on a mail server.

  • ravenstar68's avatar
    ravenstar68
    Very Insightful Person

    If you are using Classic outlook there is an export function that will allow you to export the whole mailbox as a .pst file, which can then be imported back into Outlook to allow you to view them.  Make use you Select the address of the account you such to transfer and tick include subfolders.

    Alternatively you can use a tool such as Mailstor - which has a free version, to do the same thing.

    • K123's avatar
      K123
      Tuning in

      Hi @ravenstar68,

      Thank you for your reply.

      I have just installed Outlook Classic but it looks like I would need to pay for a license to use it.

      Would Mailstore be better than Thunderbird. I would like the easiest way as I am not very knowledgable in this area and am up against it timewise.

      If I load the emails into these apps then would they still be available to see after my account has closed? Or would I have to export them before that happened?

      I have had a quick look at your post, Backing up your Emails - One of many solutions, but the link to using Thunderbird add-on has been archived and cannot be seen.

      I believe that I could also import the emails directly into a gmail account from my Virgin email address. Is that a good way of doing it?

      Thanks for your help.

      Ken

    • K123's avatar
      K123
      Tuning in

      Sorry, @ ravenstar68, I assumed that I could mark multiple answers as helpful, I did not mean to mark it as solved. If you are able to be of any more help then that would be great. Thanks.

      • Adduxi's avatar
        Adduxi
        Very Insightful Person

        +1 for ravenstar68 regarding PST files and Maistore.   I have PST files going back years so the OP can certainly keep an easily accessible archive.  I would also suggest these files are kept in at least two separate locations for safe keeping.  One thing is clear for this whole debacle, no one should be storing years of emails on an email server, especially if it is run by an ISP. 

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta

    Remember to download the emails into a file stored on your computer you may need to configure a POP3 connection.

    The more modern IMAP is just a view of the emails on a mail server.

    • K123's avatar
      K123
      Tuning in

      Thanks @Client62, I have accidentally marked this as solved, just meant to mark it as helpful. Are you able to give any other advice on the best/easiest way for me to backup my emails  before losing my account.

      Thanks for your help.

      Ken

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta

    Outlook for the computer is a premium product so it is not free.

    But Thunderbird should be able to download the emails via POP3 - be sure to select leave on the server so you get more than one chance to try the process.

    • K123's avatar
      K123
      Tuning in

      Thanks. Do you know if there are instructions for using Thunderbird anywhere? I believe I would have to install an add-on to export the emails. I guess that all that needs doing in the short term though is loading them with POP3.

      Do you think that Thunderbird is better/easier than Mailstore, which was the other suggestion.

      Thanks.

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta

    Load the email into an decent Email client and keep them that way
    so you can search for messages from the past such as old orders where
    requesting a warranty repair is needed.

    I see mention of exporting - but in what format do you imagine that will be ??? 
    It would be not possible / not desirable to have thousands of emails output and frozen into PDF !

    • K123's avatar
      K123
      Tuning in

      Thanks @Client62

      Re. exporting, I was assuming that PST would be useful but I am not very knowlegable in this area. I agree that having lots of PDFs would not be useful.

      If I load them into Thunderbird, using POP3, then would they be contained in a file that I could copy to another computer whenever I next buy one and load them into Thunderbird there?