Backup Email

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Backup Email

 

This profile settings page can use and create shared settings.

 

Using these settings it is possible to backup your email messages (this is not to be confused with emailing the log). SyncBackPro can make a backup of emails stored on any POP3 or IMAP4 email server. If your Microsoft Exchange server supports access via EWS or WebDav, one of those options can be used instead.

 

You can backup whichever IMAP4 folders you like. When using POP3 you cannot select your source (folder). This is because the POP3 has no concept of folders. It only has a single list of emails (files).

 

How do you restore your emails? You cannot restore the emails to your (SMTP) email server using SyncBackPro. Instead you must import the EML files into your email client (see the Filename of EML files setting below).

 

How do you have the emails deleted from the email server after a copy has been made? You must configure the Decisions - Files settings so that the emails are moved instead of just being copied.

 

To reduce the backup time it is recommended that you enable the Fast Backup feature. Note that this is not possible if you are using a POP3 email server.

 

 

Retrieving Server Connection Details

 

Email Service: If you use a public email service, e.g. GMail, then you may be able to choose it from the drop-down list. If so, some of the settings will be set automatically for you. Note that you may still need to set things like the login username as they are unique to your account.

 

Server Type: For most people this should be typically be POP3. However, if you're using a Microsoft Exchange server then you can change this as appropriate. If you are using Microsoft Exchange 2007 or newer then do not use the WebDAV option unless you are using an old version of Microsoft Exchange (2000 or 2003). Check with your email provider or systems administrator.

 

Hostname: The hostname (or IP address) of your POP3 or IMAP4 server. Check with your email provider or systems administrator on what that is. Note that in some cases, e.g. Gmail and other web based email services, you may need enable access to your emails via a POP3 (or IMAP4) server.

 

Port: The port number of your email server. It is recommended you leave it as zero (then SyncBackPro will use the default port number based on your settings). If you are using Microsoft Exchange then this value is not required.

 

Connection Encryption: If your email server requires an encrypted connection, or it supports one and you want your email to be transmitted from the server in encrypted form, then select the appropriate option. Some email servers, e.g. GMail, require an encrypted connection. If your POP3/IMAP4 server supports a direct encrypted connection then select Direct SSL/TLS connection option. The Use STLS command is different from the direct setting in that it connects to the email server using an unencrypted connection and then once connected it requests that the connection be encrypted by sending a special command to the email server. Choose this option if your email server does not support a direct encrypted connection. If you're using Microsoft Exchange then select either option to use an encrypted connection.

 

Login: If you must login to your email server (and if you are using Microsoft Exchange then you must) then select Must login to email server and enter your login username and password below. Note that some servers require a login whereas others may fail if you do attempt to login. Check with your email provider or systems administrator. Some email services have 2-step verification for added security. In this case the password may need to be an application specific password and not your actual password. Refer to your email services documentation on how to create an application specific password. Due to spam, most email servers now require you to login. SyncBackPro can login to email servers that require a username and password in clear-text, NTLM, CRAM-MD5, or MSN.

 

oUsername: The username used to login. This is only enabled if Login is set to Must login to email server. You can use a secret for the username.

 

oPassword: The password used to login. This is only enabled if Login is set to Must login to email server. If your password has spaces in it, and you're not using Exchange, then you may need to enter it with double-quotes. For example, if your password is abc 123 then enter "abc 123" as the password. You can use a secret for the password.

 

oPrompt for the password when run (profile will fail if run unattended): If this option is enabled then every time the profile is run SyncBackPro will prompt you for the password. If the profile is being run unattended, then no prompt will be displayed and the profile run will fail.

 

Modify the email received time: This should be left as zero unless you are having problems with the last modification date & time of the EML files (see the warning below about a bug in Windows). This value is the number of minutes to increment (or decrement, if negative) to the received date & time of the email. For example, if you set this to 180 then the received date & time is incremented by 3 hours (180 minutes).

 

 

Filenames

 

Filename of EML files: This is the filename to use for the email files. Each email is downloaded and stored in its own self-contained EML file, i.e. the EML file contains the email body and all attachments. EML is a standard file format used  by many of the popular email clients, e.g. Mozilla Thunderbird. You can use special variables for the filename. The default filename is %EMAIL_SUBJECT% [%EMAIL_IDORMD5%].eml. The filename will be automatically trimmed if it exceeds 255 characters (that is the filename of the EML file, not the complete path). The filename extension will kept unless it itself exceeds the maximum length. Also, any invalid filename characters will be removed (e.g. carriage returns) or converted to dashes (e.g. asterisks).

 

warning

 

There is a known bug in Windows where the last modification date & time of EML files is changed. See our KB article online for more details and a fix.

 

Also export the email bodies and attachments: If you also want the email stored in plain text and the email attachments saved as-is then you should enable this option. Please keep in mind that the EML file already includes the body and attachments so it is not recommended or required that you enable this option.

 

oSub-folder to export the emails and attachments to...: This is the sub-folder to store the emails in. You can use special variables in the sub-folder name. The default sub-folder is \%EMAIL_DATE%\%EMAIL_IDORMD5%\%EMAIL_SUBJECT%\. Note that each variable will be expanded to a single valid filename with invalid filename characters changed to dashes (-). For example, %EMAIL_DATE% will be be converted to 30-08-2013 and not 30\08\2013.

 

 

Gmail

 

If you are using a Gmail account, and are not using 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) with your Google Account, the following explains how to configure it so it can be used with SyncBackPro:

 

Login to your Gmail account

Click Settings link in top-right

Go to Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab in Settings

Enable Enable POP for all mail (even mail that's already been downloaded) and Enable IMAP

Change When messages are accessed with POP to keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox

Click Save Changes

You also need to allow access via less secure apps. To do this visit https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps

 

The problem with Gmail is that it sometimes forgets these settings and so you may have the problem of SyncBackPro saying there are no emails. This is because the Gmail POP server is saying there aren't any emails because the Enable POP for all mail setting is sometimes "forgotten" by Gmail.  Also, sometimes Gmail doesn't appear to delete emails that SyncBackPro asks it to delete.

 

If you are using 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) with your Google Account then you need to create an App Password for SyncBack. You then use that password instead of your Google password.

 

 

 

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