Backup, restore and migrate email accounts.
brew install imap-backup # for macOS
gem install imap-backup --no-document # for Linux
imap-backup setup
imap-backupThere are two types of backups:
- Keep all (the default) - progressively saves a local copy of all emails,
- Mirror - adds and deletes emails from the local copy to keep it up to date with the account.
- Migrate - use the local copy to populate emails on another account. This is a once-only action that deletes any existing emails on the destination account.
- Mirror - make a destination account match the local copy. This action can be repeated.
- Restore - push the local copy back to the original account.
See below for a full list of commands.
Docker or Podman
If you have Docker or Podman installed, the easist way to use imap-backup is via the container image.You'll need to choose a path on your computer where your backups will be saved,
we'll use ./my-data here.
If you have just one account, you can do as follows
docker run -v ./my-data:/data -ti ghcr.io/joeyates/imap-backup:latest \
imap-backup single backup \
--dns 8.8.8.8 \
--email me@example.com --password mysecret --server imap.example.com \
--path /data/me_example.comPodman will work exactly the same.
If you have multiple accounts, you can create a configuration file.
You'll need to choose a path on your computer where your configuration will be saved,
we'll use ./my-config here.
First, run the menu-driven setup program to configure your accounts
docker run -ti -v ./my-config:/config -v ./my-data:/data -ti ghcr.io/joeyates/imap-backup:latest \
--dns 8.8.8.8 \
imap-backup setup -c /config/imap-backup.jsonThen, run the backup
docker run -v ./my-config:/config -v ./my-data:/data -ti ghcr.io/joeyates/imap-backup:latest \
--dns 8.8.8.8 \
imap-backup backup -c /config/imap-backup.jsonHomebrew (macOS)
If you have Homebrew, do this:
brew install imap-backupAs a Ruby Gem
* [Rubygem]gem install imap-backup --no-documentIf that doesn't work, see the detailed installation instructions.
From Source Code
If you want to use imap-backup directly from the source code, see [here](/docs/installation/source.md).Normally you will want to backup a number of email accounts. Doing so requires the creation of a config file.
You do this via a menu-driven command line program:
Run:
imap-backup setupAs an alternative, if you only want to backup a single account,
you can pass all the necessary parameters directly to the single backup command
(see the single backup docs).
To use imap-backup with GMail, Office 365 and other services that require OAuth2 authentication, you can use email-oauth2-proxy. See this blog post about using imap-backup with email-oauth2-proxy.
Manually, from the command line:
imap-backupAlternatively, add it to your crontab.
Backups can also be inspected, for example via local show
and exported via utils export-to-thunderbird.
backuplocal accountslocal checklocal folderslocal listlocal showmigratemirrorremote foldersrestoresetupsingle backuputils export-to-thunderbirdutils ignore-history
For a full list of available commands, run
imap-backup helpFor more information about a command, run
imap-backup help COMMANDThere are a couple of performance tweaks that you can use to improve backup speed.
These are activated via two settings:
- Global setting "Delay download writes",
- Account setting "Multi-fetch size".
See the performance document for more information.
If you have problems:
- ensure that you have the latest release,
- run
imap-backupwith the-vor--verboseparameter.
See the Developer Documentation.
