Hi,
I would like to know what this function is and how useful it may be. How can I practically use these files?
Thank you
An eml is the actual message, just as it is on the server. It has all the headers, and content including attachments, so the full message. Each message will be a separate eml file. They are not tied to a specific email application, so you can open them directly from Explorer on the PC or Finder on the Mac with most email applications and without having to import them into the application first. They can be used as a backup, or for importing into other applications.
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Oh, sorry, my apologies. You asked about export to emd files, and I incorrectly assumed it was a typing error.
eM Client 10 has a new function called Data Files. A Data File is like a PST file. They can be mounted (or unmounted) from your main database and even stored in different location. You can also move some of your messages into these separate files for archiving reasons or easy sharing. When mounted, you will see them below your other accounts.
This export option allows you to export messages to a Data File (*.emdf) which you can later mount in eM Client.
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Thank you Gary.
I did try to export my local archive folder in emdf format. Then I mounted the file and saw that the emails are stored with all attachments correctly. Then i re-exported the same emails using tha same emdf file and noticed that the app replaces the file. This is great because when emails are exported as eml files the app creates ducplicates and so on.
My conclusion is that this function could be mainly used for backup reasons.
You mentioned “… or easy sharing”. Could you explain in details?
Since the emdf file created is recognized only by emclient, what are the risks to be corrupted and so to lose my backed-up emails?
Thank you
If you wanted to share data with another eM Client user. Rather than send them 100s of eml files, you could just send them a single emdf file.
Just like any file, there are risks. Data Files, even when mounted in eM Client are not included in the eM Client backup. You will need to make separate arrangements to back them up.
Thank you very much.
@Good day Gary,
Today I found out the following emClient v.10 bug.
When I export the emails as an emdf file for the 1st time all is ok.
The second time despite I get the message that the *.emdf file exists and has to be replaced, in reality all the same emails and the new ones are appended to the emdf file.
Developers should take care of this asap. Thank you.
(see following images)
P.S.
The only temporary solution I found is to run deduplicator tool. I did tried and succeeded.
If I export archived local folders to .emdf files then delete those local folders from EM Client, and mount the data files so all email history is accessible should backups be reduced in size? I thought the data files were not included in the backups?
I moved 2 years worth of email from local folders to data files and performed backups but the file size of the backup is nearly identical to before.
@Cwaggoner . No do not do it.
After testing the functionality of emdf files, I found out that the best and most correct use is the following. I had emails or 2021,2022 & 2023 backed-up in eml format. What I did: I created in local folders separate folder for each year and I imported the relative email files per year. Then I exported them ( per year ) in emdf files. In this way I deleted the eml folders of 2021,2022,2023 in local folders ( keeping of course keeping the initial eml folders in an external drive. Then I mounted the 2021,2022,2023,emdf files . In this way I can follow emails of previous years without increasing the size of the database when backup.
See atttached inage. You will understand better what I did.
Hi Chris, I had the same issue but on further research discovered how to force the original local folders database to shrink after exporting emails to .emdl files. See here. Hope this works for you.
I also posted some tips on Data File management (from my extensive experience of 1 day!) in this post.
I’m not seeing any change to the backup.zip file size from any of these changes. Image below shows my backup file sizes from before I made the emdf data files and removed the eml archive folders to having done that and now forced the local folders database to shrink. No relative change to the backup file size even though the emdf files are 5.5 GB in total.
It would appear that it data files are mounted then the backup is including them.
Please let me know if I’m wrong about this.
Did you check the database location and delete any backup files?
Did the command prompt routine cause eM Client to run a routine to check the database - throwing up the window stating that eM Client was not closed properly and checking the integrity of the database?
It worked fine for me once I realised that I needed to remove all the .dat-bak backup files in the database folders.
Also, check where you are storing your Data File .emdf files. If they are in the same eM Client folder then there is a good chance that they are also being backed-up. I chose a different storage location for mine which might explain the different behaviour. Just open the backup .zip file and have a look inside to see if this is the case.
@Cwaggoner
As I explained before the emdf files are only mounted in the folders pane and when you give the command from the main menu to backup your database the emdf files are not included in the backup. They are just mounted files ( i.e. as you mount an iso files in windows). If you want you can unmount them. In my case I found useful to have mounted only the emails of prvs years.
It would not be wise to have them in separate folders (per year) in the local folders. In this way of course I would also increase the database size when I backup.
Sorry, I was editing my post above which then crossed with reply above. Open the backup zip file, if the local folders size has not decreased, then database cleaning has not worked correctly, in which case I can’t help further but @Gary will likely be able to advise on what else you can try.
@Cwaggoner @RobinW
When we backup in reality we backup the directory of the application located in C:\Users.…\AppData\Roaming folder. If you try to do anything with these files the database will be destroyed and in case of application malfunction you will not be able to restore.
The database containers all application’s settings, accounts data, tags, rules , emails and local folders data. If your database is so big, in my opinion it means that you have a great number of emails. If this is the case export as many as you can ( as I did ) and then transform them to emdf files (which you can mount later in data) keeping the exported eml files in a separate disk directory. In this way you keep your database backup little sized.
Just follow the way I already explained. Imagaes will help you to understand better the situation.
@lamkarlef, I think Chris’s question relates to why his Backup file did not get smaller after exporting many archive folder emails to Data Files.
@RobinW @Cwaggoner
The backupped database does not resize because he does not delete the emails which he exported to emdf files as a backup file in a separate directory on the disk.
I have already provided info how this can be done.
I did the same thing you did. Before emdf was available (only became a feature in V10) I archived old emails by year to my local folders to remove them from the server. With V10 I have taken years 2022 and 2023 and exported them to emdf files. Deleted the local folder containing these same messages from EMClient and mounted the emdf files so I still have access to them.
I did not export the individual emails as .eml. I did not see the reason for the duplication of .eml and .emdf backups.
My scenario of removing 5.5gb of emails from local folders has not made any difference to the size of my backup zip file. This does not seem correct to me.
I did run the cleanup using the command line. It appeared to complete correctly as I do now have the dat-bak files in my local database. Comparing the dat files to the dat-bak files does not show any real size difference for the local folders that would account for removing 5.5gb of emails from that folder. Both the mail_data.dat and mail_data.dat-bak files are over 6gb
