I have set up Outlook 2013 through Control Panel (Mail 32bit) [Windows 8] to now store a .PST file in my dropbox folder so I am automatically backed up.
However I don't really get how this will work with IMAP.
After 30 days my IMAP emails are deleted right? And what happens to those emails? Do they stay on my machine?
If so do they stay in the .OST files I have for each mailbox or will they magically be synced into this .pst that I can just back up from?
If any of this doesn't make sense, how do I simply back up all of my IMAP email boxes?
Thanks,
Pete
Best Answer
Quite honestly, the best way to back up your IMAP mail boxes is NOT to use Outlook which has always been and remains an indifferent IMAP client. Furthermore, my experience with PST files is less than stellar, they are easily corrupted. A good way to loose things.
You could use Mozilla Thunderbird which is an email client that is good at IMAP though you probably don't want to run two mail clients.
Personally, I use a dedicated IMAP backup tool that runs on a Linux server I operate. That backs up mail from Google Mail as well as several IMAP accounts for my business, my personal accounts and family accounts. The results are in MailDir format which is highly portable and easily backed up as it is a series of folders and files.
You can run this kind of tool on Windows as well though you may need to get your hands dirty with the command line and the Windows scheduler.
Mozilla have a decent summary of IMAP backup tools which is worth checking out.