How to move email off the web to my laptop? (I tried to find a thread regarding this matter, but couldn't)

How to move email off the web to my laptop? (I tried to find a thread regarding  this matter, but couldn’t)

This is a frustration, but it would seem that someone else undoubtedly already asked about this. So, even though I did do a search I couldn’t find an answer. Thanks! in advance for your helpful assistance.

There are three ways you can connect to your email server; IMAP, POP3 or Exchange. With both IMAP and Exchange the messages are stored on the server, and eM Client keeps a synced copy. POP3 is the only protocol that stores the messages on the computer, and then deletes them from the server.

To setup your account as POP3 go to Menu > Tools > Accounts, and add a new account by clicking on the + icon, then choose Mail > Other.

After entering your email address in the next screen, you will be able to choose between POP3 and IMAP.

When using POP3, it is extremely important to make regular backups as the messages will be deleted from the server after some time. Also, if you remove the POP3 account from eM Client, you will delete all your message data. You can specify how long the messages will remain on the server by clicking on the POP3 tab for your account in Menu > Tools > Accounts.

If you want to keep the account setup as IMAP or Exchange, then there is another option; you can move the messages from the IMAP or Exchange folders to Local Folders. If Local Folders are not visible, you can enable them in Menu > Tools > Settings > General > Show Local Folders. Once the messages are in Local Folders, they will no longer be on the server, so regular backups are important.

If you follow one of the above steps  make sure you use the emclient backup feature  so you have a
full backup in case of an oops.

I’m sorry, but I don’t see “one of the above steps” . . .

Thanks! for trying to help me.

I only wish to move the eMails from the server to my computer manually. Not automatically. Which protocol is the one that works in this scenario? THX!

Imap  will stay on server     Unless you do a move to folder   (local folder)  make sure your local folder switch is on       give it a test on a trash item  to verify

Just move email to local folder (in the left pane). Local folder are on your laptop. So you can recreate tree as you wish and move manually emails in the tree, locally.

Yes, so as I said above: “If you want to keep the account setup as IMAP or Exchange, then there is another option; you can move the messages from the IMAP or Exchange folders to Local Folders,” and Richard and Pascal are in agreement.

I am so looking forward to accomplishing this “moving of messages from IMAP folders to local folders”. This is exactly what I hope is the result of our exchanges. However I really don’t have a clue how to do this. I’m very, very dense and don’t quite understand how this works. Thanks! for your continued encouragement!

First, you need to make sure that Local Folders are visible. If they aren’t, you can enable them in Menu > Tools > Settings > General > Show Local Folders.

Then you will have two or more sets of folder trees, one of which will be Local Folders.


Simply move (NOT copy) the messages or folders from the IMAP tree to the local tree by right-click on a folder or selection of messages and choose Move Folder/Move to Folder

So this is fine for manually archiving, but if you want to automatically have all incoming messages in Local Folders, then you need to setup the account as POP3 instead. You can setup Rules to do this, but what is the point when POP3 does it already?

With messages stored in Local Folders it is important to do regular backups as the messages will no longer by synced with a server. If you lose the laptop or the database, you will lose the messages.

I sooo appreciate your help. Now I’ve all my eMails in a Local Folder directory. BUT how do I access these? I know I can certainly use the EMail program. But where are the files actually stored? I’d like to back up that folder and all the attendant files.

Thanks! again for your help with this. I know I’ve been l-o-n-g in replying, but it wasn’t at the top of the To Do List. Nonetheless, I am truly grateful.

Use the built in backup facility of EmClient
Menu > Tools > Settings> General>Backup    to set a recurring backup and where to place them

You can also use the Extract Feature to extract the individual mail all to a local file if you wish
Menu > File >Export      eml files

The physical files on a windows 10 machine should be located at

C:\User\your_pc_id\ AppData\Roaming\Emclient
These folders may be hidden and you will need to use the view  (un hide system files) to see them

Would recommend using the built in backup feature of EmClient

Just to add to this thread, I’m tying to free up some space from my Gmail account. 

I am using IMAP settings on the Mac version of eM Client and have moved a large portion of my emails to local folders, but if I have followed this conversation correctly then these moved emails are now stored both on the Gmail server and on my local hard drive? 

I’m asking this as within the eM Client environment these _moved _emails are only in my Local Folder (no longer in my IMAP server inbox) where as on the Gmail web interface the entire inbox is still in place.   As a safety precaution I have baked up my entire inbox using both Google takeout and eM Client’s back up tool, with both files then sent to cloud storage.  

I have two additional questions please:

  1. When I perform a backup using eM Client’s back up tool, will the program back up both my local folders and IMAP server folders into the same back up file?
  2. Once I have completed the back up, the only way to complete my original intention to free space on the server is to delete the _moved _emails in my Gmail web interface?

Thanks so much in advance for the help!

The Backup Feature does backup everything and will restore    everything      except  if you are using a tailored Theme.  I have had to do a restore and it does restore everything except tailored themes
Also save your license number in a safe place just in case.
They create a ZIP file that you can take a look at with a zip utility to see the folders and files it creates.

To free up space on Gmail  this is what I do :

I turned on archive to run every 180 days .  
It MOVES email from gmail to the archive folder  and removes them from the gmail server (imap ) 
I do not use local folders only archive so I have no experience on what archive does to local folders.
However Gmail is sneaky  you may have to go on Gmail to the ALL MAIL folder and manually remove the archived items.  Gmail wants you to use up space so they can charge you.  Unless this changed recently

I run emclient backup weekly (automatic)  and keep 3 versions of it

Every so often I use the Extract   EMail files  from the archive folder to a data folder so I have a way of viewing them without using emclient just in case.

Using these steps I have been able to keep Gmail storage down to about 1/3  of the free max that I am allowed.

Beside these emclient features I also have an external backup software that backups the entire pc.
I have been destroyed by some of the microsoft updates in the past.     

Thanks so much for the incredibly detailed response Richard.  This made perfects sense and was exactly what I needed.  Really appreciate it!

I’m going to have to print out all of the instructions and then work my way through them. This won’t happen anytime before the second week of June. I just wanted to let you know I’m trying, but other circumstances have taken my time of late. Thanks! in advance for your helpful assistance.