In development
Backup4Mail by robspaceBackup4Mail backs up complete IMAP mailboxes from your mail server into a folder you choose – on your Mac, an external drive or a NAS. After the first run it only fetches what has changed. Every backup becomes a point in time you can travel back to, restore and export.
For Mac · macOS 26 or later
The logo tells the whole story: your mail travels from the server into a drawer that belongs to you. What sits in the drawer rests safely. What moves is light.
Backup4Mail connects directly to your mail server, always encrypted, and only reads. Backing up marks nothing as read and moves or deletes nothing.
The first backup copies everything. Every later one fetches only what is new, gone or changed – folders run side by side over up to three connections.
A folder on your Mac, an external drive or a NAS. Mails are stored as EML (one file per mail) or MBOX (one file per folder), with a README that explains the layout. What you delete on the server stays in the vault unless you switch on thinning.
Every backup is a point in time. Turn the time ring and see your mailbox exactly as it was then: folders, mails, read and flagged status. New mails, mails deleted since and moved mails are marked. The search finds subject, sender, recipients and preview across all points in time.
Add an account with its email address: for well-known providers Backup4Mail fills in the server itself, otherwise it asks your provider’s domain. The password goes into the keychain of this Mac. The first backup copies everything, every later one only the changes. The orbit shows how far it is: mails, size, rate and the folder being backed up.
Restore a whole point in time, single folders or single mails – into the original account or another one, into the original folders or a separate folder. A dry run shows first how many mails are already there and how many will be uploaded. Flags and received dates are kept.
Export any point in time as MBOX, MBOX for Apple Mail, EML folders, Maildir, PST Beta or HTML archive – a searchable offline website that any browser can open, no mail app needed.
Every account at a destination is a backup job: every hour, daily at a set time, weekly or only manually. With the window closed, Backup4Mail keeps working from the menu bar, and if you switch it on, it opens at login. Missed backups are caught up a minute after the Mac wakes; a sleeping Mac it cannot wake.
NAS asleep or Wi-Fi gone: mails wait in a buffer on your Mac until the destination answers again. Files are written completely or not at all, and a backup only counts as finished once all its mails are on the destination.
Bring old mail back – from MBOX, EML folders, Maildir, PST Beta or Apple Mail folders, straight into an IMAP account or into a vault.
Checks every mail in a vault against its SHA-256 fingerprint and shows a report.
Off by default: every point in time is kept. Switched on, Backup4Mail keeps hourly points for 24 hours, daily points for 30 days and weekly points after that, like Time Machine.
Backup4Mail stays quiet when everything works. It tells you when a backup failed, when the destination has been away for a day or when unusually many mails disappeared from the server.
The menu bar icon shows at a glance whether a backup is running, waiting for the NAS, paused or needs your attention. Its window shows the progress and your other backup jobs.
English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.
Every format can be combined with every other: back up as EML, export as MBOX, import a PST into an IMAP account.
| Format | Vault | Export | Import |
|---|---|---|---|
| EMLOne file per mail in a folder tree. Drag into any mail app, open with Quick Look. | ✓yes | ✓yes | ✓yes |
| MBOXOne file per folder. Thunderbird, mutt and most mail apps import it. | ✓yes | ✓yes | ✓yes |
| MBOX for Apple MailMailbox packages that Apple Mail opens via File › Import Mailboxes. | –no | ✓yes | –no |
| MaildirThe server standard of Dovecot and mutt; flags are kept in the file names. | –no | ✓yes | ✓yes |
| PST BetaOutlook data file for Outlook on Windows and Mac. | –no | ✓yes | ✓yes |
| HTML archiveA searchable offline website. Readable in any browser in 30 years, no mail app needed. | –no | ✓yes | –no |
| Apple MailMail folders from Apple Mail (.mbox packages with .emlx). | –no | –no | ✓yes |
Try everything, without payment details.
Monthly, yearly or once for a lifetime – through the Mac App Store.
Restore and export stay free, also after the trial – your mail never gets locked away. New backups and time travel need Pro.
Not yet. Backup4Mail is in development and is being tested. This page describes the current test version.
IMAP accounts, for example iCloud Mail, Fastmail, GMX, web.de, Posteo, mailbox.org or a mailbox at your own domain. Gmail works with an app password.
No. A vault can be any folder you can choose on your Mac: the internal drive, an external drive or a network share (SMB, AFP, NFS).
Yes. The mails are EML or MBOX files that Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook and many other programs read. A README in every vault explains the layout.
No. Backing up only reads: nothing is marked as read, moved or deleted. Only a restore adds mails, and only the ones that are missing.
Your vaults stay as they are. Restore and export remain free; new backups and time travel need Backup4Mail Pro.
Backup4Mail reads and writes Outlook’s PST format with its own implementation. Until it has been checked against many real Outlook files, it is marked as Beta.
Questions, ideas or a bug? Write to support@robspace.de.
Backup4Mail