A little guidance. A lasting archive.
Practical notes for your first download, a safer cleanup, and keeping the archive useful for years.
Connect and save
Choose your provider in Add account. Gmail, Yahoo, and iCloud may require an app-specific password; Google and Microsoft browser sign-in depends on configured OAuth client registrations.
Select folders and dates. If the provider offers an All Mail folder, choosing that folder avoids saving label views more than once. Downloading does not change read status.
Daily or weekly schedules work while the app is open. If sign-in needs attention, reconnect manually; scheduled runs do not prompt for passwords.
Check before cleaning up
Choose messages or senders in Clean up, then check their saved copies. A changed or missing local file must be repaired before it can support provider cleanup.
Review the result and confirm the move to your provider’s Trash. Finish waits for the current server batch; messages in later batches stay untouched.
An .mbox import does not prove which provider message can be deleted. BackMyMail never invents provider identifiers for imported messages.
Back up and restore
Archive files and the index are readable while the disk is unlocked. On macOS, create an encrypted disk image in Disk Utility, unlock it, then let BackMyMail verify and copy the archive there. Disk Utility can save its password in Keychain. FileVault or BitLocker protects the working disk; portable .tar.age backups use a separate passphrase.
Choose a unique passphrase of at least 12 characters and keep it separately. BackMyMail does not store it and cannot reset it. Incomplete backups are not published.
Restore into an empty folder, select it as the archive, then rebuild the search index. The restored files are plaintext. Keep the original archive until you have checked the restored copies.
Move or hand over an archive
Move archive copies and verifies files before switching locations. The source stays in place. An interrupted destination can be selected again for verified continuation.
Inheritance mode keeps reading, search, and export available while disabling provider operations. Save the handover guide from Settings and verify a complete backup before transferring it.
Account closure belongs to the provider’s official process and an authorized person. BackMyMail does not close an account or automatically delete provider mail.