Email Archive / Gmail ? / Outlook

[coolVariable]

I am sick and tired of carrying some ~30GB of email archives around on my laptop (intel SSD).
One solution would be to move all emails to some online email service, e.g. gmail or yahoo.
I would like to be able to access these "archived" emails from outlook but without a local cache.
Originally, I thought I might be able to do it with IMAP but it looks like IMAP creates a local cache of the emails.

Any thoughts?

 

[Miramonti]

If its like OE, create archive folders for each large email folder, and drag all your old emails into these new folders. OE creates a file for each folder, which you can then manually move those files somewhere to be archived. That way you're keeping all your emails but just keeping handy the most current ones.

Again, that's the way it can be done in outlook express...haven't used Outlook tho.

 

[coolVariable]

If its like OE, create archive folders for each large email folder, and drag all your old emails into these new folders. OE creates a file for each folder, which you can then manually move those files somewhere to be archived. That way you're keeping all your emails but just keeping handy the most current ones.

Again, that's the way it can be done in outlook express...haven't used Outlook tho.

How does this address any of the questions I have asked?

 

[heymrdj]

How does this address any of the questions I have asked?

Apparently he only gave enough thought to reducing your space, IE the most current emails, but you need access to them all at anytime.

As to one aspect, you can't really access it with Outlook in this manner as Outlook will always keep a local copy. I recommend you run your own Zimbra mailserver somewhere if you can afford to. You can even run it from home. The consumer Zimbra version is free (opensource) and fairly easy to get going.

You can use this converter to move your PST files to the server: http://wiki.zimbra.com/index.php?title=Outlook_PST_Import_Wizard_Tips

After that you can use the Zimbra application on your laptop (alot like outlook, just web Java/AJAX based) to work with your email. If you receive email through gmail, gmail can be set up to automatically forward to your zimbra address, so that you can then see your new emails at all times.

 

[coolVariable]

Apparently he only gave enough thought to reducing your space, IE the most current emails, but you need access to them all at anytime.

As to one aspect, you can't really access it with Outlook in this manner as Outlook will always keep a local copy. I recommend you run your own Zimbra mailserver somewhere if you can afford to. You can even run it from home. The consumer Zimbra version is free (opensource) and fairly easy to get going.

You can use this converter to move your PST files to the server: http://wiki.zimbra.com/index.php?title=Outlook_PST_Import_Wizard_Tips

After that you can use the Zimbra application on your laptop (alot like outlook, just web Java/AJAX based) to work with your email. If you receive email through gmail, gmail can be set up to automatically forward to your zimbra address, so that you can then see your new emails at all times.

There's no account type/setting that prevents Outlook from creating a local cache of emails?

 

[heymrdj]

There's no account type/setting that prevents Outlook from creating a local cache of emails?

To my knowledge and research, no. People all over the internet complain about Outlooks shoddy handling of IMAP and the fact you can't even move the IMAP PST file to an area to allow it to be stored with the roaming profile. Outlook just creates a new one in the same crappy place in that occasion.

I hear Thunderbird works really well with IMAP, so much so alot of businesses are using it as the client with Exchange instead of Outlook. I haven't reviewed your particular situation with Thunderbird, but it might be something for you to check out.

 

[gsaldivar]

I am sick and tired of carrying some ~30GB of email archives around on my laptop (intel SSD).
One solution would be to move all emails to some online email service, e.g. gmail or yahoo.
I would like to be able to access these "archived" emails from outlook but without a local cache.
Originally, I thought I might be able to do it with IMAP but it looks like IMAP creates a local cache of the emails.

Any thoughts?

If you want access to emails you don't want to store locally, then you're looking for some type of hosted email solution. As you already know, there are problems with many of these, as they all want to cache data locally to some degree.

One option might be to get either a very large flash drive, or a ultra low-profile external drive, and use that to store the 30GB of email history you need access to. This would free up your intel SSD from needing to cache any local data, and would give Outlook near-instant access to all of your email history without resorting to IMAP or other network-dependent schemes. Additionally, you would be able to view to your emails without requiring constant internet access. If security is a concern - simply grab a copy of TrueCrypt and make the device an encrypted volume.

You can pickup a brand name 64GB flash drive these days for well under $150:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171412

Or, you can get a "ultra" low-profile 1.8" 60GB drive for under $40:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822360004

I would personally go with the cheaper option, as it will tolerate long-term wear (due to encryption) better than the flash drive will. Plus, it's cheap to replace if it ever gets misplaced.

Good luck!

 

[coolVariable]

If you want access to emails you don't want to store locally, then you're looking for some type of hosted email solution. As you already know, there are problems with many of these, as they all want to cache data locally to some degree.

One option might be to get either a very large flash drive, or a ultra low-profile external drive, and use that to store the 30GB of email history you need access to. This would free up your intel SSD from needing to cache any local data, and would give Outlook near-instant access to all of your email history without resorting to IMAP or other network-dependent schemes. Additionally, you would be able to view to your emails without requiring constant internet access. If security is a concern - simply grab a copy of TrueCrypt and make the device an encrypted volume.

You can pickup a brand name 64GB flash drive these days for well under $150:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820171412

Or, you can get a "ultra" low-profile 1.8" 60GB drive for under $40:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822360004

I would personally go with the cheaper option, as it will tolerate long-term wear (due to encryption) better than the flash drive will. Plus, it's cheap to replace if it ever gets misplaced.

Good luck!

The problem with that is that emails do not get indexed for instant search.
By uploading it to gmail, I would at least have the ability to instant search through gmail webmail ... and considering the volume of messages ... that is quite a significant bonus.
Really retarded that they don't offer an option where it only temporarily downloads info based on which folders you look at.

 

[Nothinman]

Really retarded that they don't offer an option where it only temporarily downloads info based on which folders you look at.

I can probably count the number of people who would want that option on one finger. Opening each folder would take forever and, as you mentioned, you can't index what isn't local.

As an aside, storing IMAP headers on disk is optional in mutt. However, the learning curve is pretty steep and most people tend to balk at text mail readers.

 

[gsaldivar]

The problem with that is that emails do not get indexed for instant search.

Google Desktop Search (GDS) can index your Outlook archives quite easily, and store its index on the same encrypted removable volume if you prefer. There is an addon called TweakGDS that will allow you to specify exactly what you want indexed and where the indexes should be stored. An index of 30GB will take many hours to complete, but GDS will do this on your computer's idle time, and let you search the partial result while it's processing the remainder.

Using Outlook+GDS locally also has some benefits over relying on the Gmail to handle your archive searches: GDS will allow you to "drill down" through your searches, refining them by sender, recipient, dates, and you have the option of viewing the email threads within your browser window, or GDS can open the actual emails themselves right within Outlook where they can be edited/appended/forwarded etc. Additionally, you won't need the internet to access your archives, and won't be subject to any Gmail outages. 😉

http://desktop.google.com/ (Btw, don't let the screenshot of the sidebar put you off, you can disable that entirely and use only the "search" feature if you like.)

http://podsync.com/tweakgds.htm

For a GDS-type solution, you will certainly want to avoid a Flash Drive. Instead opt for the "ultra" low-profile hard drive and make sure its NTFS formatted to avoid some issues with large file sizes.

There are some other products that can do the same thing (Windows Search, Xobni... etc.), but I don't know how customizable they are compared to GDS.

Hope this helps!

 

[coolVariable]

Google Desktop Search (GDS) can index your Outlook archives quite easily, and store its index on the same encrypted removable volume if you prefer. There is an addon called TweakGDS that will allow you to specify exactly what you want indexed and where the indexes should be stored. An index of 30GB will take many hours to complete, but GDS will do this on your computer's idle time, and let you search the partial result while it's processing the remainder.

Using Outlook+GDS locally also has some benefits over relying on the Gmail to handle your archive searches: GDS will allow you to "drill down" through your searches, refining them by sender, recipient, dates, and you have the option of viewing the email threads within your browser window, or GDS can open the actual emails themselves right within Outlook where they can be edited/appended/forwarded etc. Additionally, you won't need the internet to access your archives, and won't be subject to any Gmail outages. 😉

http://desktop.google.com/ (Btw, don't let the screenshot of the sidebar put you off, you can disable that entirely and use only the "search" feature if you like.)

http://podsync.com/tweakgds.htm

For a GDS-type solution, you will certainly want to avoid a Flash Drive. Instead opt for the "ultra" low-profile hard drive and make sure its NTFS formatted to avoid some issues with large file sizes.

There are some other products that can do the same thing (Windows Search, Xobni... etc.), but I don't know how customizable they are compared to GDS.

Hope this helps!

all these search products work squat when the archive files aren't open.

 

[gsaldivar]

all these search products work squat when the archive files aren't open.

GDS allows you to traverse the entire index history without the actual source file being open in Outlook. Only if you click "View in Outlook" in GDS search results will Outlook be launched, and the original email opened for you. :thumbsup:

Of course, you need access to at least the GDS index files if you expect any hits in your searches. So, with any solution, they obviously have to be accessible either locally, on a removable volume, or over the network/internet. 🙂

 

[coolVariable]

GDS allows you to traverse the entire index history without the actual source file being open in Outlook. Only if you click "View in Outlook" in GDS search results will Outlook be launched, and the original email opened for you. :thumbsup:

Of course, you need access to at least the GDS index files if you expect any hits in your searches. So, with any solution, they obviously have to be accessible either locally, on a removable volume, or over the network/internet. 🙂

Didn't work when I tried (couldn't find emails in the archives) and found GDS to be a horribly bad piece of bloatware.
Both GDS and WS let you "check" that unopened files are indexed ... but with my GB of email archives it works badly at best. Had better results turning of ALL search, which brings out the benefit of the SSD but is detrimental to the instant search where I actually want it.

 

[gsaldivar]

Didn't work when I tried (couldn't find emails in the archives) and found GDS to be a horribly bad piece of bloatware.
Both GDS and WS let you "check" that unopened files are indexed ... but with my GB of email archives it works badly at best. Had better results turning of ALL search, which brings out the benefit of the SSD but is detrimental to the instant search where I actually want it.

I have this exact solution working on my own system with no problems (only with about 8GB of emails though). Without more info I'm not sure what prevented it from working on your end.

Some caveats: First off, you need to leave Outlook open (with the PST files to be indexed also opened) for the duration of the indexing process. Once the index has been created you can close the PST files, close Outlook, use a different Outlook profile, etc. and GDS will still allow you to search the created index with no problem. Also, make sure email indexing is checked in GDS preferences - I don't know if its on by default.

Yes, GDS is bloated if you leave the entire sidebar open (weather, maps, clock, etc). For my use, I have disabled the sidebar completely, and am using ONLY the search field that appears in the task bar (GDS calls this a "Deskbar"). Additionally, I have disabled GDS from running at startup. I launch it manually when I need to use it for archive e-mail searches. I do not need continuous real-time indexing of new emails.