How to Backup Message(s) from Simple Mail

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Since version 2.69 update 07-30-2008 05.10.49 (download: site 1, site 2),
users of Simple Mail have three kinds of possibility to backup
/restore a message or messages:

  1. to backup a single message
  2. to backup/restore a folder of messages or a single message
  3. to backup/restore all messages in Simple Mail of current profile


Here are the how-to's:

  1. to backup a single message
    1. Save as HTML for general web browsers --
      1. click on "SaveAs" button on toolbar of main window
      2. a dialog pops up for you to choose where to save to
      3. file name will be auto-suggested as the subject
    2. Save as EML for general mail clients --
      1. (same as 1.1.1)
      2. same as 1.1.2, adding that) click on drop-down list of file type and choose "*.eml"
      3. (same as 1.1.3)
  2. to backup/restore a folder of messages or a single message
    1. to backup, export folder as a file (and may be imported to Thunder Bird Folder or Simple Mail Folder) --
      1. right-click on a folder to bring up the context menu and choose "Export"
      2. a dialog pops up for you to choose where to save to
      3. file name will be auto-suggested as the folder name
    2. to restore, import folder from a file or import single message from a "*.eml" file
      1. dump the trash folder or create a temp folder for importing
      2. right-click on that folder to bring up the context menu and choose "Import"
      3. a dialog pops up for you to choose which to read from
      4. select a file to import then check the result
      5. drag-n-drop imported message(s) to where you want to put it/them
  3. Backup all messages of current Simple Mail
    1. if you are using a custom directory to store Simple Mail messages
      1. click on "Preferences" to bring up the settings dialog
      2. select "General" tab and see which directory it is
      3. open FIle Manager to duplicate/archive the whole directory
    2. if you are using default profile directory, it's better to use FF add-on "Extension Manager - Extended" to know where your profile situated. Otherwise the following is just one possible way to know where the directory sits
      1. close all Firefox window(s)
      2. run "firefox.exe -profilemanager" in command line to call FF Profile Manager
      3. mouse on the highlighted item for a few seconds, a tooltip text will popup, remember the path of your profile
      4. open that profile directory, you'll find a folder named "simplemail" and that's what you need to duplicate/archive

-- Updated: 2008-08-01 by Tsprajna