How Zimbra Download All Emails From Your Mailbox?

Users of Zimbra download all emails for a variety of reasons. The real problem is effectively managing all the mailbox items during the download. Moreover, the reason why this is such a pressing issue is that there are millions of Zimbra users worldwide. All thanks to its free and open-source app.

Apart from this, thousands of businesses have a premium version of Zimbra to manage their official email workflow. All of this adds to the complexity of email extraction.

Although Zimbra has a manual method to take out emails, it is quite problematic, to say the least. So to help in pulling out emails from Zimbras grasp, we have made this write-up for you.

It not only covers the manual method but highlights its pain points as well. As an alternative, users will find a tutorial on how to perform those steps to achieve the goal of downloading Zimbra all emails. Before we jump to the methods, let’s first expand on some reasons that trigger email downloads from Zimbra.

Why do Users of Zimbra Download All Emails Regularly?

So, it is done for various reasons, some of which are mentioned below:

• Data Backup and Recovery: No one can predict the next system crash or data corruption. Moreover, accidental deletions of emails are also a major threat that affects users. So one way to lay a safety net is to download emails periodically and prepare a backup beforehand.
• Seamless Platform Migration: Zimbra is without a doubt an excellent platform. However, this view is not shared universally. Many of its users wish to move to a different service provider. In such cases, admins first have to pull out all emails that currently sit in Zimbra.
• Compiling with Regulations: Many industries have strict guidelines regarding email preservation. To comply with such regulations, admins have to store copies of emails on-site. So they need to figure out how to download Zimbra email for documentation purposes.
• Free-up Storage: The storage offered by Zimbra is not infinite. A mailbox that is swollen beyond the recommendation causes lag and brings down user productivity. To resolve this, users can archive historical emails outside Zimbra and delete them from the source.
• Perform Email Analytics: As emails contain the majority of the b2b communication. Organizations can gain a lot of insights by analyzing emails. If Zimbra can’t connect with the analysis platform directly, then users have to first download and then upload emails manually.

 Now after discussing the reasons, let us understand what are the possible solutions for How to download Zimbra email. 

Approaches to Conduct Zimbra Email Download Yourself

There are two techniques by which you can Zimbra download all emails.

1. The Zimbra Web Client method is the first approach by which you can download emails in TGZ format.

2. Download Zimbra emails through IMAP to back up the account data.

This is your call through which method you want to opt. However the manual method comes with some limitations.  So now let us understand both the methods step by step. 

Zimbra Download All Emails – Through Manual Zimbra Web Client Method?

Let’s follow the steps mentioned below to download an email from Zimba Manually.

Step 1. Open Zimbra, click on the Preferences

Step 2. Click on the Import/Export option.

Step 3. Within the Export section, choose Mails in Advanced Settings to get it downloaded. For this, first, enable the Advance Settings option and then follow the below settings as you require:

Step 4. And lastly, click Export. 

 

Step 5. Finally, It will ask you to save the downloaded data in .tgz format.

This is the one manual solution of how to download Zimbra email. But it also has one major limitation. It only downloads emails in TGZ format. So, if there is no other format available, that, means you have to go for another option to download email according to your required format. 

Download Zimbra Emails Through IMAP

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) enables you to view and control your emails straight from the email server. By establishing an IMAP client, you can transfer all your emails from Zimbra to your device. Follow this comprehensive guide to learn how:

Step 1. Install an IMAP Email Client

To begin, you’ll require an email application that is compatible with IMAP. You can choose Mozilla Thunderbird and Microsoft Outlook. Here we will provide the steps for both Thunderbird and Outlook.

Mozilla Thunderbird

Step 1. Download Mozilla Thunderbird from the official site and follow the instructions to install the software on your system.

Step 2. To create a new email account, click ‘Email’ on the main screen. Fill in your name, Zimbra email, and password, then click ‘Continue’.

Step 3. Thunderbird will automatically configure. If Thunderbird can’t set up your email automatically, you can do it yourself by entering the IMAP settings.

Step 4. Afterthat, click Done to complete the setup.

Step 5. Your Thunderbird will start connecting to your Zimbra account and all your emails will be saved to your computer.

Step 6. Now you can download your emails from Thunderbird using the ImportExportTools NG add-on.

Step 7. To use the ImportExportTools NG add-on, go to the Thunderbird Add-ons Manager. Right-click on the email folder you want to export. Then, select ‘ImportExportTools NG’ and choose ‘Export all messages in the folder’ option. Pick the format (like .eml or .mbox) and where you want to save the files.

Microsoft Outlook

Step 1. Make sure you have Microsoft Outlook on your computer. If it’s not there, get it by downloading and installing it with Microsoft Office or Office 365.

Step 2. Then add an account for Zimbra download all emails to your system.

Step 3. Open Outlook>>Go to ‘File’ >> ‘Add Account’>>Enter Zimbra email address and click ‘Connect’>>Choose ‘IMAP’ as the account type.

Step 4. Then manually enter the IMAP Settings by filling in your full email and password for both the receiving and sending servers.

Step 5. Click ‘Next’ and then ‘Finish’.

Outlook will begin to sync your emails from the Zimbra server. Your emails will be saved to your computer.

Step 6. To export emails from Outlook, follow these steps:

• Click ‘File’ > ‘Open & Export’ > ‘Import/Export’.
• Click ‘Export to a file’ and ‘Next’.
• Choose ‘Outlook Data File (.pst)’ and ‘Next’.
• Pick the folders you want to export (like ‘Inbox’, ‘Sent Items’) and ‘Next’.
• Select where you want to save the .pst file and click ‘Finish’.

IMAP lets you download Zimbra emails to your computer, keeping them local but still updating them with the server. It’s versatile, works with many email clients, and is a good option for backing up or switching email platforms. If you need more help or customization, just ask!

Final Say

In this tutorial, we showed how users of Zimbra download all emails to their requested location. Moreover, after learning about manual instructions it was clear that they are not ideal by any means. So as an alternative, there are various automated software as well available in the market that help users back their data as per the user requirements. With its help, any amount of emails present in Zimbra can be brought out and saved separately. You can also get help from them if required.