Getting data out of em client, if needed...

The program obviously recognizes the importance of a user being able to move data from one program to another. Just look at the list of things that eM Client will *import* from to see this. I’ve been test driving em client for several months, side by side with outlook, to see if it, to me, was a good replacement for outlook.

I have one major concern and that is my data will be locked into eM client. This is important enough to me that I will not use the program. I do not see any mention of exporting the data from em clients sqlite db format into any sort of standard format that could be used by another email program. Eml export is not viable, as I’m talking about an email archive containing 15 years of emails - easily tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of messages currently spread across multiple PST files.

Is there a way to address this? a conversion utility, 3rd party utility, some way to have em client store its data in a different format, etc…

Thanks
Keith

Unfortunately .eml is the only file format at the moment. Its nature for a software that can support as many format as possible to import, as it can grab as much as audience its can get and not scared people away.

Export on the other hand, since there’s no standard in database used in e-mail, there’s not much option. Much like, the list of export under Outlook, WLM or even Thunderbird, isn’t looking so great either.

I know this seems like you’d be building a feature to allow people to more easily leave your software, but it’s actually the opposite. You mention outlook and thunderbird. Outlook uses the PST format, which is very widely supported - import features of other email clients, third party utilities, etc. Thunderbird is open source and uses an RFC defined format to store the mail archive. Both of these provide options for ‘getting my mail back’ even if they don’t have an export menu item.
I’ve not heard of any 3rd party support for em client similar to that which exists for Outlook/PST. em Client isn’t open source, so I can’t just grab the source and create an email converter, if I were so inclined. It also doesn’t use an existing well defined email storage format so I can’t use other standards compatible applications with its mail archive.

If I import my mail archive into em Client, I’m stuck with em Client or I sacrifice my email archive. I’m not willing to take that chance. What if I find that I don’t like em client, that em client development is stopped, the company shuts down, I switch operating systems, etc? I’m not willing to take that chance, so I’m not going to switch to em Client, even if em Client is a far superior product in every other way. In that sense, having an export feature or using a standardized email storage format would potentially increase the number of em Client users as making the switch would require less risk on the users part.

Keith

PST format is not widely supported. Both WLM and OE don’t even use PST, it only Outlook. Thunderbird uses Mbox, and last time I check, it doesn’t support export to PST. With Thunderbird, it the same -> .eml -> Outlook. I’m not sure why its a big fuzz for you with .eml. It as simple as Ctrl+A -> Drag ‘n drop to any folder. It not that slow as it seems. And I have e-mail date back 98’.

And just to clear the confusion, I don’t work for eM.

I’ve been looking into this issue in the process of seeking alternatives to Eudora, and have similar concerns about conversion in and out of various clients. A third party app (not free) called Aid4Mail can import and export many file types - including Eml.

As a test, it WILL take Eml files exported from eM Client and concert them into PST format. (Note - I tried this on a subset of my folders, but not sure why Keith above says that might not be viable for a much larger dataset.)

This question is very interesting. I’m not sure to have understood perfectly (sorry I don’t speak very well english).
Does it mean that, if we cannot or do not want renew eMClient licence, the only way to keep all our received/sent messages will be to copy all .eml files ?

When eM license expire, the program will still run/open, but it won’t send/receive any item. So in such case you either:

  1. Renew the license (free or Pro).

  2. If you decide to change the mail program, than you need to export them to .eml file. Which is a format support by ANY mail program. It a matter of Ctrl+A -> click+drag to a folder. Like Dan says, I also don’t see the complication regardless if it a large database or not.

It not like MS made Outlook PST export any better nor WLM/OE with dbx or Thunderbird with Mbox. Mind you Mbox is slight worse, since it not govern by any organization, each developer can have it variant of Mbox (like .CSV). So the result is most mail program can only output to .eml as standard. Since there are no standard in databases mail program to use. You may see a bit more option under Microsoft product, since they have 3 mail software and mail server (MS Exchange) to begin with, but that about it all.

It will be quite long and not easy to export all .eml files :slight_smile:
I wish a long life and stable prices to eMClient :slight_smile:

@FranceBg: depends what you mean by “long.” I’m working with roughly 100K messages stored in around 100 folders. Whichever client I’m converting data into or out from, it’s taking no more than a couple of hours to run the conversion on a 4 yr old Thinkpad. What takes a lot longer is for the new client to then index the mail files.

You’re wright Dan. For me one hour is “long”.
Please notice that in my message above there is an emoticon sign :slight_smile:

No, that is not true. When your license expires eM Client remains active, but you will not be able to download any further upgrades until you purchase additional updates for 1 year.

No, that is not true. When your license expires eM Client remains active, but you will not be able to download any further upgrades until you purchase additional updates for 1 year.

I have another solution that works for a large e-mail database I have gathered from 1985 until now.
I first had all my mails in Outlook. Upgraded from very old *.pst formats until the 2007 version. I eventually got annoyed by the *.pst format and the huge files that slowed down starting Outlook and made daily incremental backups taking an hour or more, having to copy 20 or more Gb to the server everyday (*.pst files are indicated as changed every time outlook opens them even if no file in there really changed…).
Em is better in handling the big database (i.e. I hardly noticed any slow down in starting up) but still has the issue of the large database in one piece that has to be backed up every day.
I use Em now for my actual (last 12 months) e-mails. This results in an easier to handle database. All my older e-mails I have exported to *.eml format using the folder structure as exported from Em. I have Copernic Desktop Search index those files to quickly retrieve whatever old e-mail I am looking for.
This way all my e-mails are always accessible (whatever mail client is available (even plain text reading is possible for most parts of the mails)). I only have to backup a relative small current e-mail database. Handling this solutions takes a few minutes every month to move mails older then 12 months to the *.eml folder structure.
Apart from this I use the program IMAPSize to backup all my online accounts (gmail, my clients imap facility, et ceteras) in the same folder structure, also as *.eml files.

I exported to .eml and when I drag one of them to an Outlook folder, the file does not convert back into an easily readable format. The .eml basically displays in raw text. It appears my only alternative is to keep emClient around just so I can read my old archived emails. I’m not happy.

Hello,

thank you for your update, this is great solution for large databases and I think that many users will find it helpful.

with best regards
Jan

I’m currently evaluating EM Client as an upgrade from Eudora. The other candidate is Thunderbird. I prefer EM Client, due to its more neat user interface, but there is a critical issue.

While it is possible to get emails out of EM Client as .eml files, the problem seems to be that you lose the email status (replied to, read/unread etc.).

Is there a way to export a combination of emails + email status from EM Client?

Basically, like the OP, I’m concerned that EM Client is a one-way street.

No answer… is this topic “closed”, so that I need to start a new thread?

Hi, yes unfortunately if you export your messages to .eml files flags won’t be stored in the message, the .eml format doesn’t support this.
However your flags should be stored on the server so if you’re using IMAP for receiving emails and synchronization, you should be able to see these whenever you setup eM Client.

Thank you,
Paul.

I’m using POP3, with no plans to switch to IMAP, so I’ll have to pass on EM Client for the moment. At least for as long as there is no way of exporting the emails and their status.

BTW, also the solution of having emails and attachments in two huge files (mail_data.dat and mail_fti.dat) is not a good one, if you want to make backups (every time it would be a multi-GB backup, instead of an incremental one). You should offer the option to store the mails in individual mailbox files (one per email folder).
The proposal of Alexander is just a workaround. You shouldn’t be forced to move out all your email once a year from your email client. And you lose the email status.

Otherwise, EM Client has a very good user interface and works very smoothly, much better than some other email clients I’ve tested.

Hi, I’m sorry you feel this way. You can export mails into .eml, it’s a standard mail message file but it doesn’t support keeping flags, that’s a server feature unfortunately.

I believe this won’t be supported by other mail clients as well, not if they’re using this standard.

Let me know if you have any more issues or questions about eM Client if you ever change your mind.

Thank you and sorry about this,
Paul.