====== Email Archiving Principles ======

===== Glossary =====

  * **mailbox**  … user's mail storage area on a mail server, keeps messages in folders, limited size.
  * **mail client**  … (Thunderbird, Outlook, etc.) accesses mailbox via IMAP protocol (makes local copy of the mailbox on user’s computer).
  * **webmail client**  … accesses a mailbox via web browser
  * **email archiving**  … systematic approach to saving and protecting the data contained in e-mail messages so it can be accessed quickly at a later date
  * **[[:public:emai:local_folders#local_folders_in_mozilla_thunderbird|local folders]]**... set of mail folders located on the computer where mail client is installed and running


===== Good to know =====

  * Users must be aware of the **limited size of their institutional mailbox**.
  * **Regular maintaining **of the mailbox **is recommended**  (see below for details and hints).
  * Users should **make regular backup **of their local archive folder

===== How to maintain your mailbox =====

There are several ways to achieve this:

  - unnecessary messages wiping (after deleting empty the recycle bin folder)
  - bigger attachments [[http://kb.mozillazine.org/Attachments_(Thunderbird)|detaching]] (sort emails by size and deliberately remove the biggest attachments)
  - move messages to your computer mail folder (archiving to local archive) and make backup of your archive regularly then

==== Maintenance hints and tips ====

  * [[:public:emai:webmail#mailbox_size_check|check folders size (use webmail for this)]]
  * remember to empty the recycle bin email folder


===== Email messages archiving =====

  * You can **archive **messages by moving them to **[[:public:emai:local_folders#local_folders_in_mozilla_thunderbird|Local folders]]** in your mail client (Thunderbird)
  * **Make**  immediately a **fresh copy of the local archive**  to a different storage media (external disc, etc.)
  * Be aware that your **local archive**  is on your computer so its content **is not accessible via webmail**


==== Archiving hints and tips ====

  * classify messages by durability (assign a folder for temporary messages, mark, tag, etc.)
  * make "preliminary archive" folder inside of server's mailbox, continuously process messages movement
  * move spasmodically (regularly or on demand) messages from the pre-archive to the local archive folders
  * this significantly reduces the need to copy the local archive to the external media
  * the local folders copy on the external disc could be connected and used off-line, kept and distributed

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==== Archiving and Shredding rules (examples) ====

=== Conditions ===

  * all messages concerning any topic older than ...
  * all messages with tag "temporary" and older than a month
  * all messages with attachments from sender XY
  * all messages in folder AB since ... till ...
  * all messages from the last year unprocessed by the rules mentioned above

=== Actions ===

  * move to a different folder inside the mailbox (still on the mail server)
  * move from the server to the local folder (on local disc)
  * clean