The developers of this excellent free email backup software have just released version 5 which is more of a bug fixing release than one with many new features. The software’s functionality remained mostly unchanged. It is still possible to backup and archive email accounts both online and software based, to search and filter those emails, migrate emails into other applications and even restore emails. Some new features deserve mentioning.

One of the nicest options that has been added to MailStore Home 5 is the ability to “install” a portable copy of MailStore Home on a computer system. This makes it possible to use the software on USB flash drives and other external devices or discs.

Another rather apparent change is the new user interface which gives the program a modern cleaner look. Here are two screenshots, the first showing the new interface, the second the old one.

The developers have added an auto configuration feature to the email backup and archiving software. The program tries to automatically detect settings based on the email address entered. This works well for known providers such as Google Mail, Yahoo Mail and others. Manual configuration options are available in case the mail server settings are detected incorrectly.

The last new feature is the ability to run multiple archiving tasks at the same time. Before it was only possible to run one archiving task at a time which limited the software quite a bit, especially for users with multiple email accounts.

The addition of a portable version of MailStore Home is without doubt the most promising new feature of the program.

Windows users can download Mailstore Home 5 from the developer website. the program is compatible with all Windows based operating systems from Windows 2000 on. (via)

Mail Browser Backup tries to change that by introducing a computer software program for the Windows operating system that can – in its current version – backup Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and the Chrome clone SRWare Iron. It can also create backups for the email client Mozilla Thunderbird and the ftp software Filezilla. The list is incomplete and the software developer has already announced that the next version of the backup software will include Internet Explorer backups as well as backups for the Opera and Safari web browsers, the email clients Windows Mail and Incredimail plus eMule.

The backup itself could not be more straightforward. The portable application displays all supported computer software programs in a list. Grayed out items are currently not supported. Each entry can be selected by clicking in the checkbox next to it. Options are to either backup or restore the selected programs.

The program will open a file browser that can be used to select a directory for the backup or to select a previously created backup for the restoration process. Mail Browser Backup requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 or above and will run on Windows XP or Windows Vista. The source code of the application is provided by the software developer on his homepage.

You can configure jobs in the email backup software that backup all or specific data of the selected software programs. The job creation begins with the selection of the first software program that you want to backup. KLS Mail Backup (via Download Squad) will immediately display various data types and their size in a second pane in the same window.

For Outlook Express they are the email inbox, settings, rules, signatures, internet accounts, stationeries and address books. A checkbox in front of every item makes it fool proof to select the items that should be backed up in the job. The email backup software is able to read all profiles if more than one is existing on the computer.

Once the selections have been made you can either add the job and close that window or simply add the job leaving the window open to select a different application or profile that you want to backup as well.

The target directory for the backups can be defined in the properties. It is unfortunately not possible to define different directories for the jobs. Everything is stored in the same directory which can be on a local hard drive, network drive, ftp server or CD / DVD media.

The properties do also contain options to change the compression of the backups including the maximum size of each volume. They also contain basic versioning and an option to delete old backups.

The email backup software has to be installed but is completely portable afterwards which means that it can be moved to a portable device to execute it from there.

We will utilize IMAP to transfer the local mails to Gmail which will make it possible in the end to simply move or copy mails to the Gmail account in the local email client.

The first thing that needs to be configured is IMAP support in Gmail. This is done in Settings > Forwarding and Pop / Imap. You only need to check the IMAP enabled checkbox to enable IMAP access for that GMail account.

The rest has to be configured in the local email client. Thunderbird will be used as an example but the basic settings are similar in all other email clients such as Microsoft Outlook.

Here are the values that you need to create the IMAP account in your local email client:

Email Address: username@gmail.com
incoming server: imap.gmail.com
incoming server port: 993
secure connection: SSL
incoming user name: username@gmail.com

outgoing server smtp.gmail.com
outgoing user name: username@gmail.com
outgoing server port: 587
secure connection: TLS

Google provides detailed (but sometimes slightly outdated) information about setting up IMAP in various email clients.

If the setup was successful you should check for new mail. All Gmail mail header should be downloaded to the local mail client.

To backup mails you simply move the mail folders into the Gmail IMAP folders. They will be created there with a label taken directly from the folder’s name. All folders and emails will be accessible in Gmail in the Labels menu.

It is even possible to take it a step further and delete old mails in the email client afterwards. If you need to access them again they are still accessible in Gmail. It is still advised to create a local email backup before deleting any mails locally.

If you encounter difficulties moving or copying folders you could circumvent the problem by creating the folders manually. The emails can then be copied or moved into the newly created folder easily.

I do use MozBackup to backup the data in Thunderbird regularly but what if you use another client ? Amic Email Backup can create backups of the data of nine popular email clients including Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft outlook Express, Opera Mail, Pegasus Mail and The Bat. The user can choose the identities, some would call it profiles, and the data that should be backed up from those profiles. By default everything is selected which means backups are created of account settings, mail folders, message rules, signatures, address books and stationery.

Backups can be password protected for increased security and scheduled so that they are created on a regular basis. It is also possible to define the amount of backups that you want to keep which would mean that older backups will be deleted eventually. Backups that are to large can be split so that they fit on a floppy disk, zip drive or CD.

The restore function can be used to restore the email account on another computer as well which is great if you have purchased a new computer or want to migrate your emails to another one. I’m not sure if the backups are compressed at all because I lack a mail program that is supported by Amic Email Backup [via Shell Extension City].

The main feature that is missing is in my opinion support for Thunderbird which is definitely one of the most popular email programs in my opinion. A way to import email backups of one program into all the other programs would be awesome as well. It’s a nice tool that is especially useful for users who do not know how to backup their emails manually and don’t want to learn how to do it.