Where is my email stored, and is it being backed up?

You might think that when you are reading and responding to your email, it is actually is stored on your device. In the last 5 years or so IMAP and Cloud based email services changed all of that. Email is actually stored on the email hosting provider servers, unless you are using a old POP mail account. When you read, or respond to your email, you are actually reading/responding to a remote copy of this email that is stored at your service provider’s data center.

This usually isn’t a problem until you lose access to email account, or you delete an email and are unable to retrieve it. Most email providers offer some form of backup to your email account. But from my experience, it’s never a good idea to rely solely on a service provider to maintain backups of your most important data.

This is why I recommend you perform some form of email archiving yourself. Most mail programs offer a archiving tool. You might need to check the mail program’s configuration of the archiving feature to see if, and how the program is archiving your email. I use a tool called MailStore Home edition. The Home Edition supports archiving up to 3 email accounts. The program downloads your email from the servers and stores it on your storage device. It also has a great searching feature when you need to go back and look for that lost email or attachment. When you make a habit of archiving your email at regular intervals you have some security if for some reason the email provider runs into problems where your mail becomes lost in some way.

If you need help setting up mail archiving on your device contact me. I can either show you some basic ideas of how you can archive mail yourself, or can provide a complete backup strategy with my “Backup Management Services”