Help Please!

My hard drive is failing and I have hundreds of email folders containing thousands of emails saved to my desktop in Kmail (Kontact 4.13.3). I need to move this data immediately and am hoping that that someone could provide step-by-step instructions for how to do so. I would like to execute this move without uploading these emails to my email server.

I'm running Kontact under Ubuntu 14.04 but am a true novice on both programs, having switched from MS only a month ago.

I'd be terribly appreciative of some feedback before I start losing data. I couldn't find another thread addressing this issue but would welcome a link if I've missed the solution elsewhere.

Thanks,
ryanl

Hi,

I don't use kmail but if I were you I'd copy the entire home directory. That way you can install Kubuntu on a new hard disk, mirror your ~ over and have the same look and feel (including your mails) as with your old install.

Prior to akonadi kmail stored its mail in ~/.kde/share/apps/kmail2

Have a look in that folder and see whether your directory structure is in there...

I would agree with Toad (though I too am not a regular Kmail user) that you should move the entire ~/ folder but you also should be able to backup all your KDE Pim data with:

Code: Select all

 kdepimexporter -> File -> backup data

You would then restore the data using the same utility . Kdepimexporter can be called also from Kmail -> tools -> Export Kmail Data

The process is a bit different if you use IMAP instead of Pop3, per the handbook

KMail Mails selection will only backup mails in your “Local Folders”, it will backup IMAP settings and download messages upon restore. If you have emails on a IMAP server you wish to be backed up, you should use Folder Archive Agent to archive those emails to a local folder.

To be safe I would suggest doing both options and Google'ing to make sure our advise is correct as neither of us has done this before

Since you only moved from Windows recently it might be interesting for you to look at the organisation of the Linux file system. All personal stuff is stored in ~ (home) = always useful to have a copy of. /etc is also interesting if you do things with ssh or some such.

Thanks for the very helpful feedback!

I went to ~/.kde/share/apps/kmail2 as Toad suggested and found the following seven items. Would one of these be what you referred to as the "directory structure?" Is the directory structure where the emails are saved?

Here are the files I found:
1. Autosave (folder with 0 items)
2. Adblockrules-0 (12.4 kB)
3. Adblockrules-1 (695.3 kB)
4. Adblockrules-2 (3.6 kB)
5. Adblockrules_local (0 bytes)
6. kmcomposerui.rc (6.3 kB)
7. kmreadermainwin.rc (3.4 kB)

Thanks,
ryanl

toad wrote:Hi,

I don't use kmail but if I were you I'd copy the entire home directory. That way you can install Kubuntu on a new hard disk, mirror your ~ over and have the same look and feel (including your mails) as with your old install.

Prior to akonadi kmail stored its mail in ~/.kde/share/apps/kmail2

Have a look in that folder and see whether your directory structure is in there...

google01103,

Thank you for this suggestion. I'm still just plain ignorant about KDE and Linux and am appreciative of the feedback.

I'll attempt to back up my email (which is comprised both of emails still on the server and emails/folders stored locally) by the methods suggested here by Toad and you/google01103. Great idea.

I understand how to access kdepimexporter as explained for my locally-stored emails. Regarding the Folder Archive Agent for IMAP, do I simply execute the archive function via Folder > Archive ...? I did Google this myself but if someone wouldn't mind confirming this before I execute the command it would be helpful. (Incidentally, my attempts tp to research this in the handbook via Help, result in "Could not launch the KDE help center.")

Thank you again,
ryanl

google01103 wrote:I would agree with Toad (though I too am not a regular Kmail user) that you should move the entire ~/ folder but you also should be able to backup all your KDE Pim data with:

Code: Select all

 kdepimexporter -> File -> backup data

You would then restore the data using the same utility . Kdepimexporter can be called also from Kmail -> tools -> Export Kmail Data

The process is a bit different if you use IMAP instead of Pop3, per the handbook

KMail Mails selection will only backup mails in your “Local Folders”, it will backup IMAP settings and download messages upon restore. If you have emails on a IMAP server you wish to be backed up, you should use Folder Archive Agent to archive those emails to a local folder.

To be safe I would suggest doing both options and Google'ing to make sure our advise is correct as neither of us has done this before

Toad,
Frankly, perusing the file system was really helpful and I was only able to execute your earlier suggestion to copy the KDE files after spending some time within the organization of the hidden Linux folders. I think I'm really going to enjoy Linux once it's running on a healthy HDD!
ryanl

toad wrote:Since you only moved from Windows recently it might be interesting for you to look at the organisation of the Linux file system. All personal stuff is stored in ~ (home) = always useful to have a copy of. /etc is also interesting if you do things with ssh or some such.

Nope, that is not the folder structure. For your info, ...rc files contain programme parameters only. Your data is to be found elsewhere.

Really annoying that neither of us use kmail...

Are you sure you use POP and not IMAP email accounts? If so please search for a bog standard folder like inbox by doing a

Code: Select all

locate inbox

Perhaps that gives you the proper location of your folders.

I also like google's suggestion. Have you got a new hard drive yet and installed a new system? If you haven't, do so asap and try out what he says.

ryanl - unfortunately I don't have any imap accounts so I can't be of further help

all manuals are available on the web https://docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdepim/p ... index.html, maybe you're missing the appropriate package whould should be khelpcenter4

You can also ask on the kde irc channel (Konversation would be the KDE default app)

toad wrote:Nope, that is not the folder structure. For your info, ...rc files contain programme parameters only. Your data is to be found elsewhere.

Thank you for the explanation about rc files. (I don't normally make a habit of undertaking a big project until I've a better understanding of the task but this bad HDD has thrown me into the fire!)

toad wrote:Really annoying that neither of us use kmail...

I find you both to be very helpful and hope that our group of KDE users continues to expand. Despite this conundrum with the HDD, I am so happy to have switched to KDE and Linux.

toad wrote: Are you sure you use POP and not IMAP email accounts?

I use IMAP but I also have a massive amount of local email that I've pulled from POP and IMAP servers, and that email is no longer saved to a server anywhere.

toad wrote: If so please search for a bog standard folder like inbox by doing a

Code: Select all

locate inbox

I assumed that local emails were to be treated like POP3. Am I wrong?

toad wrote: Perhaps that gives you the proper location of your folders.

I will certainly look there. Thanks.

toad wrote: I also like google's suggestion. Have you got a new hard drive yet and installed a new system? If you haven't, do so asap and try out what he says.

I'm expecting that HDD to be here this coming week and will do as you've both suggested. This is a stressful situation that I could easily resolve if I were using the software to which I'd grown accustomed, but I won't go back! .

By the way, should I have posted my question elsewhere in order to get the attention of KMail users? If so, please let me know.
THANKS!
ryanl

did you try posting on the KDE irc channel?

did you try kdepimexporter? does the created file fit on a cd? dvd?

can you copy the your ~/.kde[4] & ~/.config & ~/.local folders to a dvd? these should contain everything relatied to mail I would guess

[SOLVED]

Thanks to both google and toad for your help! I finally completed my restoration of data from the failing HDD.

GOOD NEWS: I used the archive function to great success. I've never used a better-performing program to restore emails! Thank you for saving me Kontact/Kmail developers!

To save: right click on File folder >Archive folder > Archive.
To restore: File > Import messages > … direct program to location of archive folder.

BAD NEWS: I never figured out where Kontact stores my downloaded/local emails. I used the tips posted here and scoured the file hierarchy and just missed it, I guess. If anyone knows, please post it here.

Thanks much,
ryanl

[SOLVED]