Open a terminal and go to the imapsync directory.
The imapsync directory is the directory created by extraction
of the tarball (.tgz), its name is imapsync-1.xxx where 1.xxx
is imapsync release number (1.675 or upper).
cd imapsync-1.xxx/
Verify imapsync runs on your system
./imapsync
It should outpout the help message. The help message is also at http://imapsync.lamiral.info/OPTIONS but you don't have to read it now.
If the previous command fails then there is an installation issue. Go back to http://imapsync.lamiral.info/#doc and read INSTALL file or drop me an email.
Next, verify imapsync runs live tests. This check needs internet access. It does a simple sync between two real dedicated imap maiboxes located at test.lamiral.info.
./imapsync --testslive
Now verify the script examples/imapsync_example.sh runs
sh examples/imapsync_example.sh
This script does the same thing than "imapsync --testslive" but it
uses explicitely the 6 parameters so it'll a good start
for your future own script.
You're still in the imapsync directory.
Copy the script examples/imapsync_example.sh
cp examples/imapsync_example.sh mysync
Check that the copy works as the original
sh mysync
So far so good, now we're going to work with your data.
An IMAP account is accessed with 3 parameters,
Since imapsync job is to sync two imap accounts we need 3 + 3 = 6 parameters.
Even to learn and get familiar with imapsync, you can take a real user account as a source. No problem if it's currently used by a user.
Assuming that the imap source server name host1 is imaphost1.mydomain.tld, the user1 account name is myuser1 and its password is mysecret1, we now have the first three parameters.
Unlike the source side, the destination side will be modified by imapsync. Therefore, for learning, checking and adjusting, it is not a very good idea to use a real user imap account the first times you play with imapsync.
If you really can't afford a test account on host2, it's ok, imapsync is not that bad but you may have work to fix unwanted behaviour.
Assuming that the imap destination server name host2 is imaphost2.mydomain.tld, the user2 account name is myuser2 and its password is mysecret2, we now have the next three parameters.
Now edit the script mysync and replace the test values by yours.
You're ready for a dry test on your accounts.
sh mysync
Since mysync script is a copy of examples/imapsync_example.sh, your first run with your data should include three other options --automap --justfolders --dry. With --dry option, nothing will really be done on host2 but you will test whether the credentials are ok on both sides or not, by a successful login or a failure. You will also observe if the folders mapping is ok.
If a login fails then double-check all three values that identify the account, which are the host, the login name, and the password.
If the folders mapping proposed is not ok then you can fix it with option --f1f2, like this example:
... --f1f2 "Sent Messages=Sent"
As explained in the inline help or in the README:
--f1f2 str1=str2 : Force folder str1 to be synced to str2.
You're ready for a real test on your accounts, resticted to folders. Remove --dry from mysync and rerun it:
sh mysync
Three Internet protocols are used to access almost all email accounts: POP3, IMAP, HTTP.
The oldest one still used is POP3, Post Office Protocol. POP3 allows only one main box called INBOX. With POP3 messages have no flags, no Seen/UnSeen Forwarded Flagged labels. Messages are often removed from the POP3 server each time a software client looks into it, so messages only appear on the client host that fetched them, they are unavailable from any other system located elsewhere.
The second protocol to deal with email messages is IMAP, Internet Message Access Protocol. IMAP allows a hierarchy of mailboxes also called folders, also concurrent accesses, tagging with flags, search by many criterium like date, subject, size etc. The IMAP protocol presents most of the features POP lacks. Messages stay on the imap server so any client on the network can access them at any time from anywhere, the same messages with the same flags.
The third protocol to access email messages is HTTP, HyperText Transfer Protocol. HTTP is the protocol to browse the web. Web browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, are HTTP client softwares. Webmails often offer the same features than imap servers because webmails underlying storage systems are often imap servers. So webmail mailboxes like Gmail, Yahoo, Exchange, Zimbra or Office365 are also accessible via imap.
The conclusion of this protocol review is that IMAP can be used to access mailboxes most of the time. Here comes imapsync.
Software imapsync is a command line tool to copy, migrate, backup or synchronize IMAP mailboxes.
Command line means imapsync is not graphical, it is textual. Usually with command line tools you have to type characters on your keyboard. But your fingers won't suffer much pain typing on the keyboard because working script examples are available, nearly ready to run. Most of the time you only have to change the main values in those files and adapt them to your context.
Don't be afraid, the mouse won't be forsaken. You can still use the mouse to launch an editor, select/copy/paste complete examples, and run the little script with a doubleclick.
Imapsync runs on Linux, Windows and OS X (Macintosh world). Imapsync is written in the Perl language and thanks to the Perl developpers, Perl runs everywhere, so does imapsync.
While operating systems have a lot in common, they sometimes differ, especially within syntax. I won't blame anyone, historically Windows came after Unix. The marvelous designers in this old times decided it would be very cool to not share exactly the same syntax for doing the same things. Thanks guys, great thinking!
To avoid you to learn by headaches a system you do not master I will give examples in both worlds, Unix and Windows. OS X users are in the Unix world nowadays so they must follow the Unix examples.
In order to simplify display or print, each imapsync command line is usually written in several lines but it could be written in one single line.
If you prefer to use the whole command written in one single line then just remove the last visible character of each line and also the carriage return character. The last visible character meaning "command continues on next line" is the backslash \ character on Unix examples or the caret ^ character on Windows examples.
For example, on Unix
imapsync \
--host1 test.lamiral.info \
--user1 test1 \
--password1 secret1 \
...
is equivalent to
imapsync --host1 test.lamiral.info --user1 test1 --password1 secret1 ...
and on Windows
imapsync.exe ^
--host1 test.lamiral.info ^
--user1 test1 ^
--password1 secret1 ^
...
is equivalent to
imapsync --host1 test.lamiral.info --user1 test1 --password1 secret1 ...
A little explanation about this hint. Imapsync is safe with accounts on host1, it doesn't change anything on them, it just read them. The exception of this safe principle is when --delete option is used, since --delete removes on host1 each message successfully copied to host2.
It's not the same for destination accounts as imapsync writes on host2 accounts. Imapsync creates folders on them, add messages, set flags on messages. It isn't a safe behavior on a real account. So don't use a real user account to test imapsync. Learn to use it and see what it does on a test account at host2.
What can badly happen? The most common bad behaviour is the folders mapping won't be what you expect because it is strictly reproduced from host1 to host2. The second bad behaviour is duplicates on second run and after, it's rare but it can happen, depending on imap server software changing headers. Solutions to avoid duplicates are often easy. It's also possible to remove the duplicates on host2 but it's better to avoid them on user accounts, users won't like you mess up their mailboxes.
By default, so unless explicitely told to do something else:
--, like --automap or --dry etc.
--host1
--host2
--host1 source.server.tld
--ssl1