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I think SyneRyder means what format are you storing emails on disk? If a user uses your email client to download all their pop3 email, is it available in a nice format on disk for whatever reason (backups/file recovery/migration to another client)? Or is it locked up in a custom file format.

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>* I think SyneRyder means what format are you storing emails on disk?*

Yup, that's what I wanted to know. Since Thunderbird & Postbox both used the same Mbox Unix format for my 20 year email archive saved on disk, it was very easy to switch between them. And since it's an industry standard, I'm reasonably confident I could export/migrate it to a new email client when I have to - or find someone who has written software to do it.

Recent version of Postbox switched to the Maildir format, which is still, from what I've seen, not production ready in Thunderbird.

Currently it is not a standard format so right now there is no easy import/export - however this is a feature that is coming.

I still have nightmares about Outlook's non-standard format from 15 years ago.

What is the reason you do not store in a standard format?

Consider Dovecot's mdbox maybe?

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