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How to Archive Your IMAP Emails with MailStore Home
Introduction: What Does ‘Archiving’ Mean and Why Do I Need It?
Think of your email account on the server like a bank safe deposit box. It’s very secure, but it has a limited amount of space. Every email you send and receive is stored in that box.
Your email provider gives you a certain amount of storage space, often called a “quota.” When your emails start to fill up that box, you get close to your quota. If you hit the limit, you can’t receive any new mail—it’s like trying to stuff one more thing into a box that’s already overflowing.
Archiving is the solution. It’s like taking your older, but still important, items out of the safe deposit box and moving them to an equally secure personal safe in your own home.
With email archiving, you are:
- Moving older emails from the email server (the bank’s box) to a secure, searchable file on your own computer (your personal safe).
- Freeing up space on the server so you can send and receive new emails again.
- NOT deleting or losing your emails. They are just in a different, safe place that only you can access.
Getting Started: Installing MailStore Home
MailStore Home is a free program for Windows that acts as your personal email safe. Please note that this software and these instructions are for the Windows operating system. It’s highly respected and perfect for this job.
- Download the software: Click this link to go to the official MailStore Home download page: https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-home/
- Find the downloaded file: Look for a file named something like
MailStoreHomeSetup.exein your computer’s “Downloads” folder. - Run the installer: Double-click the file to start the installation.
- Follow the prompts: The installer is very straightforward. Just accept the license agreement and click “Next” and then “Install” until it’s finished.
Phase 1: Making a Safe Copy of Your Emails (No Deleting!)
In this first phase, our only goal is to make a perfect copy of your older emails. We will not delete anything from the server yet. This step is all about building your confidence that the process works.
- Launch MailStore Home: You should see a new icon on your desktop. Double-click it to open the program.
- Start the Archive Wizard: On the main screen, click the large “Archive Email” button on the left.
- Enter Your Email Address: A window will pop up. In the “Email Address” box, type your full email address. Click “Start”.
- Enter Your Password: MailStore will automatically detect the settings for most providers. You will just need to enter your email password and click “Continue”.
- Let it Connect: The program will test the connection. Once it says “IMAP settings successfully tested,” click “OK”.
- Open the Profile Settings: After the profile is created, you will see it listed on the main screen. Do not run it yet! Right-click on the profile (it will be named after your email address) and select “Properties”.
- Navigate to Advanced Settings: A window will appear showing the server settings MailStore detected. You don’t need to change anything here. Simply click the “Next” button at the bottom to continue.
- IMPORTANT – Set the Date Filter: Now you’ll see the advanced options. In the “Filter” section, select the option “Only archive messages older than” and choose “1 year” from the “Range” dropdown menu. This tells the program to only touch emails that are more than a year old.
- CRITICAL – Confirm Deletion is Off: In that same window, look for the “Delete” section at the bottom. Confirm that it is set to “Never delete messages”. This is the default and the most important setting for this first run. It guarantees that MailStore will only copy emails and will not remove anything from your server. Click “Finish” to save all your changes.
- Run the Archive: Now you are ready. Select your profile on the main screen and click the “Run” button on the right.
- Be Patient: Depending on how many old emails you have, this could take a while—from a few minutes to several hours. Just let it run until it says “Finished”.
You have now made a safe copy of all emails older than one year. All your emails are still on the server, exactly where they were.
Phase 2: Verifying Your Archive is Safe and Sound
This is the most important step for your peace of mind. Before we do any cleanup, you must prove to yourself that your old emails are safely copied into your new archive.
Do not proceed to the next phase until you have found your old emails and are 100% confident they are safe.
- Go to the Search Bar: In MailStore Home, look for the “Quick Search” bar at the very top.
- Search for an Old Email: Think of an email you received more than a year ago. Maybe it was from a specific person or had a unique subject line.
- Type in your search: Type the sender’s name or a word from the subject into the search bar and press Enter.
- Check the Results: MailStore will instantly show you any matching emails from your archive. You can click on them to read them, just like in your regular email program.
- Try a Few More Searches: Repeat the process with a few different old emails. Find them and open them. Once you see them with your own eyes, you’ll know the copies are perfect.
Phase 3: Cleaning Up Your Server Mailbox
Okay, you’ve confirmed your old emails are safely archived on your computer. Now, and only now, it’s time to tell MailStore that it’s okay to clean those same old emails off the server to free up space.
- Return to the Profile List: After you’re done searching, click on “Archive Email” on the left-hand side menu. This will take you back to the screen that lists your archiving profiles.
- Go Back to Profile Properties: Now that you see your profile list, right-click on your archiving profile again and choose “Properties”.
- Navigate to Advanced Settings: The server settings window will appear. Click the “Next” button at the bottom to continue to the advanced options.
- Change the Deletion Rule: In the “Delete” section at the bottom of the window, click the “…” button. In the new window that appears, select the radio button for the option that says “if message older than”, enter 1 in the field, and choose Year(s) from the dropdown box. Click OK.
- This is very safe! It uses the exact same rule we used for archiving. It will only delete an email if it matches the rule (older than a year) AND it has been successfully copied into your archive.
- Save and Run Again: Click “Finish” to save the new setting. Then, select the profile and click the “Run” button on the right one more time.
- Let it Finish: This run will be much faster. MailStore will scan the server, see the old emails that it has already archived, and then safely remove them from the server.
- Check Your Mailbox: Once it’s done, log in to your email using your web browser (ie. Widomaker Webmail). Go to your storage or quota settings. You should see a wonderful sight: a lot more free space!
Conclusion: Important Final Tips
Congratulations! You’ve successfully cleaned up your mailbox. Here are a few final, very important tips.
- Regular Maintenance: You can run this same profile every few months. It will automatically copy any new emails that have crossed the one-year-old mark and then remove them from the server, keeping your mailbox tidy.
- CRITICAL WARNING: Back Up Your Archive!
- The MailStore Home archive on your computer is now your permanent history of old emails. It’s an incredibly important file that you must protect, just like precious family photos.
- The easiest and safest way to do this is with MailStore’s built-in backup tool. You should always save this backup to an external hard drive or USB stick.
- How to Back Up:
- On the MailStore Home “Start Page” (the main screen), click on “Backup to HDD or USB” in the “Quick Access” panel.
- A window will open asking you to select a folder. Choose your external hard drive or USB stick from the list.
- Click OK. MailStore will create a backup folder and safely copy your entire archive to it.
- Do this at least once a month. This ensures that if your computer ever has a problem, your email history is still safe and sound on your backup drive.
You’ve taken control of your email and learned a valuable skill. You can now keep your mailbox clean and efficient without ever worrying about losing an important message.
These instructions are based on the official MailStore Home Help page. Instructions are current as of July 2025, for version 25.2.0 of the MailStore Home software, released on 02/04/2025.
