[Users] Recover mail from a backup --- possible?

[Rolf Turner]

On Thu, 21 Apr 2022 07:21:28 +0600
Dustin Miller <dustbiz at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, 21 Apr 2022 12:20:55 +1200
> Rolf Turner <r.turner at auckland.ac.nz> wrote:
> 
> > Just now I ... *deleted* an email from my inbox. ...
> > 
> > I have a *fairly* recent backup ...
> > 
> > How do I actually get at the emails ... ? ...
> > 
> > I have looked in "imap.cache" (the mail account in question is an
> > IMAP account), but everything there seems "old" (most recent date
> > is 3 January 2021 (!!!) whereas many files in the
> > /home/rolf/.claws-mail directory date from 8 April 2022.  (I did
> > the backup on 9 April 2022.)
> > 
> DM: Hi, Rolf. From what you've said, my understanding is that the
> email is 'gone forever'. The thing to remember with IMAP is that not
> all emails get downloaded by default, depending on one's settings and
> whether the email has been accessed, etc. Thus, just because you see
> the email in your Claws inbox, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's
> currently 'there' (on your local system), if that makes sense. And if
> an email isn't downloaded it won't show up in imap.cache and thus
> won't be included in any backup you do. Another option to look into
> is whether your mail server keeps a copy of all your emails somewhere
> online that you could access, similar to Gmail's 'All Mail' folder.
> Hope that helps, ---Dustin

No, the problem is not as bad as you make out.  The message that I
deleted was/is in the backup.  See my previous email.  (I *had*
"accessed" --- read --- the message in question.)  I just can't *quite*
do what I want with it (i.e. save it in a email folder).

cheers,

Rolf

-- 
Honorary Research Fellow
Department of Statistics
University of Auckland
Phone: +64-9-373-7599 ext. 88276