Email Archiving

The Email Archiving feature allows users to save incoming, outgoing, or mailing list messages for a specified amount of time. The messages are stored under the mail directory in the user's home directory. Each day, a new directory is generated with the archivetype.YYYY-MM-DD format. All messages for the specified archive type are stored in this folder.


Email archiving configuration

When the Email Archiving feature is enabled, users can make changes to the email archiving configuration from the cPanel interface:

 

  1. Log into cPanel
  2. Select the Email Archiving feature under Mail options.
  3. Under Manage Archiving, find the desired domain to enable email archiving.
  4. Check the box(es) for the type(s) of email(s) you wish to archive:
    • Incoming
    • Mailing Lists
    • Outgoing
  5. Select the length of time mail should remain archived:
    • 1 month
    • 3 months
    • 6 months
    • 1 year
    • 5 years
    • 10 years
    • custom
  6. You will receive a notification that the Email Archiving feature has been enabled.

note Note: An email is immediately archived when the server receives the message. This action takes place before any filters are applied to the message. Emails classified as spam and non-spam are archived.

note Note: Email that is sent or received before you enabled the Email Archiving feature is not archived. Run the email_archive_maintenance script to archive email sent or received before you enabled the Email Archiving feature.

 

  • To run this script, enter /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/email_archive_maintenance via the command line.

 

Default email archiving configuration

You can enable a default configuration to be used for all of your domains.

To enable a default email archiving configuration:

 

  • Select the archive type(s): Incoming, Mailing Lists, or Outgoing
  • Select the length of time in the emerging menu.

 

defaultmail.png

 

  • Once the configuration is set, you can click the Apply to All My Domains button to apply the default configuration to the domains that you currently own.

 

View the archived email

To view the email that has been archived, you can:

  • Download the archives to your PC.
  • View the messages, as read-only, in your mail client using IMAP.
  • View the messages through Webmail.

Download the archives to your PC

 

  1. Click the Download Archives option next to the domain whose messages you want to view.
  2. Select from the options provided:
    • All archives
    • incoming
    • mailing lists
    • outgoing
  3. A zip file that contains the archived messages will be downloaded to your PC.
    downloadarchive.png

View the archives through an IMAP connection

Messages can be viewed multiple ways through an IMAP connection:

 

  • Execute the provided Auto Configuration Script for one of the following mail clients:
    • MacOS® Mail.app® (pre-10.7)
    • MacOS® 10.7 Mail.app® ("Lion")
    • Postbox®
    • Mozilla Thunderbird®
    • KDE Kmail
    • Microsoft Outlook 2000® for Windows®
    • Microsoft Outlook 2007® for Windows®
    • Microsoft Outlook 2010® for Windows®
    • Microsoft Outlook Express® for Windows®
    • Windows Live Mail®

To use the auto-configuration script:

  1. Click on the IMAP Access option next to the domain whose messages you want to view.
  2. Choose from the list of mail clients and select either IMAP over SSL/TLS (recommended) or IMAP.
  3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup.

 

  • Use the provided settings to manually set up a read-only configuration via IMAP.

To manually configure your mail client:

  1. Click on the IMAP Access option next to the domain whose messages you want to view.
  2. In the selected mail client, provide the following information:
    • Mail Server Username : _archive@example.com
      • Your password is the same as your account password.
    • Incoming Mail Server: (SSL) mail.example.com
      • IMAP port: 993
    • Incoming Mail Server: (non-SSL) mail.example.com
      • IMAP port: 143
  3. Once the information is provided to your mail client, the daily directories will appear in the folder list.

Browse with Webmail

 

  • Use the Access Webmail link to view the messages through WebMail.
  • 34 Users Found This Useful
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