How to backup email from IMAP (gmail) offline on the macos mail

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Level 1

6 points

How to backup email from IMAP (gmail) offline on the macos mail

I created a folder in "On My Mac" account/section and moved some few thousand messages from gmail Archive mailbox.

Then, I manually deleted those messages from gmail (online) and emptied bin.

Now, those messages are being purged from my "On My Mac" folder, indicating that for some reason what was moved into supposedly offline account was just a pointer to an online resource.

It is called irretrievable data loss and I'm not happy about it.

How to create an offline only archive of messages?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Nov 7, 2022 7:26 AM

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Answer 1

xnav

Level 5

7,113 points

Nov 7, 2022 10:56 AM in response to miksmiksmiks

I frequently move messages from Gmail folders to an OnMyMac Save folder and they stay in the Save folder despite being dropped from the Gmail. I just reverified this using a single message. Is it possible that you did not allow enough time for your 1000s of messages to actually transfer from the Gmail server before deleting them.

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

156,260 points

Nov 7, 2022 11:43 AM in response to miksmiksmiks

How to create an offline only archive of messages?

Move or copy emails between mailboxes in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

A few thousand? Yes, it's possible they did not all finish copying prior to permanently deleting them.

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Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

156,260 points

Nov 9, 2022 12:52 AM in response to miksmiksmiks

In your case I'd contact Google for support. I don't know how they handle messages but I do know they have always had a different way of doing things. For example the IMAP implementation in their Gmail product is nonstandard. It's been a problem for as long as I can remember.

Your email messages may yet be retrievable, perhaps in a "trash" or "deleted messages" folder on their server, so don't write it off just yet.

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Answer 4

miksmiksmiks Author

Level 1

6 points

Nov 9, 2022 12:15 AM in response to John Galt

It did show in a status bar that it is moving them and the counter of messages quickly filled showing that it is completed.

The fact that in reality it was most likely still copying it in the background, shows that this is just a UI hack connected to where messages *appear* not where they actually are.

I do have a backup of my data etc, but I think this is a very idiotic design, especially as I have had gmail mailbox meant to be fully synchronised offline (why wasn't it?!). I think Apple has serious issues with delievering cloud-related solutions outside of super-fast internet areas of California...

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How to backup email from IMAP (gmail) offline on the macos mail

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