Email Archiver:
Questions & Answers

Why archive?

Historians say that, despite how much we write every day, our generation will leave less record for posterity than any previous generation. That's because everything we write is stored in temperamental computer files. Imagine when you buy a new computer in five years time: how are you going to transfer your existing messages to that system? And when Microsoft release to Outlook'2020: how are you going to upgrade your existing messages? And if you stop using Microsoft and move over to Linux: what will happen then to all your emails? If you use Email Archiver then you can switch systems at will, secure in the knowledge that you can always access all your emails.

Email has become such an important part of our lives that it's a serious personal blow if we should lose our past emails. Also, think how today we might discover a tied-up bundle of our grandparents' letters in the attic: how will our grandchildren find any record that we leave behind? Email Archiver stores messages in an open, international standard format that will still be readable centuries in the future.

If you use email for your work, then the consequences of losing your emails range from the embarrassing to the unprofessional. By using Email Archiver you can burn your emails onto CD, or keep them in a folder on your hard disk, secure in the knowledge that you are in charge of whatever happens to them.

If you have more than a year's store of emails, you're probably finding it too hard to search out particular messages, perhaps to find the new address of your friend which you didn't bother writing down (after all, it was kept on email!), or similar. Email Archiver stores each messages as an individual file, so you can use the powerful and convenient facilities built into Windows for sorting and searching.

How is Email Archiver different from Outlook's 'archive' feature?

When you choose to Archive old messages from within Outlook, it merely copies them into a secondary Personal Store (PST) file. This is not readable by any program apart from Outlook. It is a bad way to keep your email archive, if you want it to be long-term accessible.

Outlook Express talks about 'archiving' its old message, but here it only compacts existing folders on disk. This has nothing to do with archiving, and doesn't make the mail long-term readable or secure.

Save format: HTML or EML

Email Archiver allows you to choose between two formats for its archive.

HTML format is an open, international standard, used by every single web page on the Internet. When your archive is stored in HTML format, it will readable on every single web browser on every single computer. This makes it good for handhelds, which might not have good enough email systems built into them. When using HTML format, Email Archiver puts all a message's attachments in a folder. You should use HTML format if portability is most important to you. (Incidentally, a message in HTML is still roughly readable in a regular text-editing program like Notepad.)

EML format is an open, international standard used whenever emails are transmitted over the Internet. If you have Outlook Express installed, then you can double-click on an EML message to read it directly. If not, then the best you can do is to read the message in a text-editor like Notepad. The text of the message will be roughly readable, but not the attachments. You should use EML format only if you have Outlook Express installed. (It's advantage over HTML is that all a message's attachments are kept inside the single EML file, instead of being placed in a a separate directory. This makes it easier to move messages around.)

CDs and long-term storage

It is a good idea to burn two copies of your archive onto two separate CDs, and then keep them in different buildings. That way, even if one should be lost in a fire, you'll still have the second one.

However, CDs do not last forever. A home-burnt CD will fade in five to twenty years as the tiny crystals on its surface start to merge. The best solution is to burn a CD today, and create fresh copies every few years. Then in several years time some new, permanent media will probably have been invented.

PST from Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook stores its emails in personal folders. These are all stored on disk in a PST file. No one knows about the PST format apart from Microsoft. If there happens to be an error in one part of the PST file, it can ruin your entire email archive. And PST files simply fail to work if they grow above 2Gb in size.

All in all, a PST mail store is a disaster waiting to happen. You should move it into something more secure, immediately.

DBX from Outlook Express

Outlook Express stores its emails in DBX files. (The difference between Outlook and Outlook Express is that the first is a commercial product, part of Office; the second is a free product bundled with Internet Explorer). Outlook Express keeps its local files in 'DBX' format. This is a secret, proprietary format owned by Microsoft, but it has now been decoded. Outlook Express understands three kinds of email accounts: POP3 accounts, where messages are downloaded to your computer every time you dial up or synchronize; IMAP accounts, where messages are kept on a central server and synchronization downloads just local copies; or HTTP accounts, like Hotmail or MSN. This program will archive emails from any of these accounts.

BMF - Berkely Mail Format

Berkely Mail Format is an open, international standard way of storing emails. This makes it a good way to keep reliable long-term archives. However, it is awkward to search and use, and terribly inconvenient to get to the attachments. Using Email Archiver, you can make more convenient copies of any BMF archive.

Many IMAP serves themselves use BMF internally. Email Archiver will walk you through the task of downloading BMF files, step by step.

Any other questions?

If you have further questions about Email Archiver, please email the author. If a question is asked frequently enough, he will research it and put up an answer on this page. Please note: you will not normally receive a direct reply, and nor will your email address be stored in any mailing list.