A lot of computer backup software has lackluster email backup capability. Some programs dismiss it entirely. Online backup can be just as bad sometimes. So if you want to make sure your emails are backed up, you may need dedicated email backup software.
See, simply backing up files in your My Documents folder won’t include your e-mails or address book. You’ll need to get into Outlook or Thunderbird (or other local mail client,) export everything, then back it up. Here’s how you can do it better (with free software!)
Adolix Email Backup
Adolix Email Backup will back up your email client’s account settings, mail folders, signatures, message rules, address book, and stationary. Your backup can be password-protected and use 128 bit encryption for security.
Works with these email clients: Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook, Incredimail, and Eudora.
Price: $36.95
Right Email Backup
Right Email Backup will run scheduled backups to protect your emails and related data, such as your address book, account settings, and file attachments. If necessary, you can restore everything with one click.
Works with these email clients: Outlook Express, MS Outlook, Eudora, Netscape Messenger, IncrediMail, PocoMail, The Bat!, and Opera Mail.
Price: $24
MailStore Home
MailStore Home is free email archiving software that’s pretty darn cool for being free. It will backup all your emails into a central archive, and it can be run on your PC or on a USB flash drive for portable use. A great search function and one-click restore really set this one apart.
Works with these email clients: Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and many more.
Price: $0
KLS Mail Backup
KLS Mail Backup is very popular freeware that will back up all your emails, contacts, and even web browser profiles and favorites. It offers Zip compression and flexible restore options and lets you choose full or incremental backups.
Works with these email clients: Windows Mail, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Firefox.
Price: $0
Beyond Inbox
Beyond Inbox is very interesting as it seems to offer more features for email power users than other programs. It will back up your mail, archive your mail, organize your inbox, transfer emails to another account, and restore your email from backups. Rather than storing everything in a single archive, it stores each email as a separate file for greater flexibility.
Works with these email clients: Any IMAP enabled email, including Gmail.
Price: $49.99
Amic Email Backup
Amic Email Backup will create backup copies of your email database, all related settings, and your web browser favorites from your Windows PC. And it stores everything in one compressed file for convenience.
Works with these email clients: MS Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Netscape Messenger, IncrediMail, PocoMail, and others.
Price: $39.95
Squashed Email Backup
Squashed Email Backup is an easy-to-use program letting you run scheduled backups of your email.
Works with these email clients: Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook 2011, Microsoft Entourage v.X, 2004 and 2008, Eudora, and Thunderbird.
Price: $0
Which is the best of the best? I’d say it’s a toss up between MailStore Home and KLS Mail Backup since they both work great and they’re free!
If money is no object, Beyond Inbox might offer the best assortment of features.
