On Thursday 3 October 2024 05:30:58 BST Dale wrote:
> Wol wrote:
> > On 02/10/2024 19:47, Dale wrote:
> >> Well, I'm not really wanting to do my own email server.  In a way,
> >> I'd like to have it so that everything is fetched, stored on my
> >> system and then I can use any email software I want, Seamonkey,
> >> Thunderbird, Mutt, Kmail or whatever, without losing a single email. 
> >> Thing is, even that sounds like more than I care to chew on.  If
> >> someone would share configs, editing private info of course, and I
> >> could just drop those in and edit with my private info, I might
> >> consider it.  Thing is, I'm nervous about doing even that.  Be my
> >> luck, I'd screw up something and delete every email I've ever got. 
> >> 
> >> :/   It would be nice tho to have a program fetch my emails and then
> >> 
> >> I can switch email software anytime without losing anything at all.
> > 
> > This is my setup.
> > 
> > I think I've talked about this before, but just emerge and set up
> > dovecot.
> > 
> > Make sure you set everything up in the local config file - look at the
> > global file that comes with dovecot, and at the end you'll see a
> > pointer to a non-existent local file. Set that up, and then make sure
> > your email client can see it. Move a couple of emails across and make
> > sure they're safe in dovecot.
> > 
> > Then you just set up a rule on your internet provider's inbox, that
> > moves emails across to dovecot, and everything is local on your
> > system. Obviously, they'll stay on the internet provider's setup until
> > they expire, but they're on your system, they can be backed up, and
> > they'll not be on the internet to be mined or broken into or whatever
> > for long.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Wol
> 
> I think we tried this and I couldn't get it to work and gave up on it. 
> It's been a while back tho.  From my understanding, it is supposed to be
> simple but simple doesn't always mean I can do it.  LOL  Email providers
> always changing things doesn't help either. 
> 
> Would this also work if I moved to Proton or something similar? 
> 
> Dale
> 
> :-)  :-) 

Do you need to have a local email storage *in addition* to the desktop email 
client downloading and storing your messages, if you are going to pay for a 
service provider to do the same thing for you?  If yes, then dovecot is a good 
option - there's a page on the wiki with configuration details.