Backing Up Your Web Based Email

Tech Tip Of The Week:  Back Up Your Web Based Email.

Use a desktop email client (Postbox, Thunderbird, Outlook) to back up your web based email.





Here's Why and How:



We are blessed to use Google Apps with Gmail at work.  I have used Gmail since it became available, February 2007!  I love Gmail.  The number one feature I started using Gmail for was it's access online.  I can access it from any computer or device with an internet connection.  I have it set up just the way I like it and I love that no matter where I access Gmail from, all my setting are the same everywhere.

I also take Gmail for granted and I've never had any issues.  But I know nothing is perfect in this world.  Over the last year and beyond there have been stories on the news of corporations having their email accounts hacked and workers could no longer access their email.  It makes you wonder what would happen if our email accounts were not available to us one day.  Even something as simple as our internet service being interrupted for a few hours to a few days could really put a stop to our work flow, and deny us access to information we would need to continue.  It's not likely to happen, but we need to take all precautions we can.

How do you backup web-based email?  I back it up to a stand alone email program on my computer.  By downloading a copy of my email to my computer, if I was not able to log into Gmail, I would still have a copy of the emails from the last time I synced it to the computer.  I would also have my contacts and calendar.

At home, for my personal Gmail account, I have a program called Postbox.  It cost $10 and you can download it on as many computers as you wish.  It works much like Microsoft Outlook, but it seems to be a much "lighter" software version.  I think it's a wonderful alternative to Outlook.  I use POP email to sync Gmail to my computer at home.  I like the peace of mind of having access to my email even if I someday may not have access to Gmail online.  If you would like to try a free alternative, Windows Live Mail or Thunderbird are good options for desktop email programs.  This method will work for all web based email accounts such as Yahoo!, Mail.com, Hotmail, etc.

At work, I use the Microsoft Outlook because it was provided.  Since we use Google Apps, we have to use Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook instead of the traditional methods of syncing email, contacts, and calendars.  It's a separate program, but it works great!  The Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook is not needed for your personal Gmail accounts.  Also, our Google Apps email accounts will sync on Postbox and other email programs without the need for Google Apps Sync.  It seems only program that needs the extra help is Outlook.

In both cases, all I have to do is open the program (Postbox or Outlook) and wait while my accounts sync up.  That's it.  I do not actually use or access my email from the programs, but it's peace of mind that I will have access if I ever need it.

Now the hard part:  remembering to open the desktop email program so your information will sync and provide a back-up.  At home, for my personal accounts, it's hard for me to remember, so I set up a calendar reminder to remind me every-other weekend to open up the email program and do the back-up.  For personal email, that seems to be often enough.

At work, I used the instructions at AZCentral.com to set up the Windows Task Scheduler to open the Outlook program to start daily on the work computer as I leave for my lunch break.  A daily back-up seems appropriate and the least I can do for PB&J.  Not having to remember it, is the best!

Do you backup your email at home or at work?