Archiving emails on Mac computers is a great way to keep your inbox organized and stay up-to-date with important information. Archiving emails also allow for faster searching of emails, more efficient tracking of conversations, better organization, and storage of data, and even save space in your mailbox.
Here in this guide, we’ll look at how you can quickly and easily archive email messages on your Mac computer.
What Is Archive
First off, it’s essential to understand what archiving means. When an email message is archived, it is removed from the inbox or other folders that may contain the message – but it isn’t deleted from the system entirely. Instead, the message is stored elsewhere so that you can still access it if needed.
This allows for greater control over which emails are visible in your inbox at any given time and also helps keep things more organized by automatically removing old emails from view. If you want to learn how to uninstall the entire Mail App, click here.
How to Archive Mails in Mail App
Now that you know about archiving, let’s look at how to do it on Mac computers. One way to archive email messages is by using Apple Mail, the default mail client included with macOS. To do this,
- Open Apple Mail and select the message(s) you wish to archive by checking their boxes in the Inbox list view or by selecting them individually while viewing them as individual messages in their windows outside the list view.
- Once selected, right-click (or option-click) on one of those messages and select “Move To Archive” from the menu that appears.
- This will move all selected messages into an “Archived” folder within Apple Mail’s hierarchy.
Finder
Another way to archive email messages on Mac computers is through Finder’s search function. To do this,
- Open Finder > Go > Search and enter keywords related to your desired email message(s).
- After entering those keywords into Finder’s search field, click “Save As”, located near the top-right corner of Finder’s window.
- This will save all results as a .mbox file which can then be stored wherever you’d like for later retrieval if needed (we recommend storing them either in iCloud Drive or Dropbox).
Third-Party Apps
Many third-party applications can also be used to archive email messages on Mac computers, including Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird. Both have built-in archiving features available through their menus (consult each application’s help documentation for full details regarding how they handle archiving).
Archive by Default
Keeping track of important emails can sometimes feel like an endless task that never gets any easier. However, with Apple’s Mac Archive feature, you can now simplify how you take care of your emails for good.
The Mac Archive feature allows you to automatically archive any mail that arrives in your mailbox, putting it out of sight until you decide to revisit it for reference.
Not only does this help keep inboxes clutter-free and organized, but it is also easy and convenient to use. You won’t have to worry about archiving emails manually again and still be able to easily find and retrieve your archived emails whenever they become relevant once more.
How to Back Up Your Emails on a Mac
You’ll need to open your Mail application from the Dock or Finder. After opening it, select one of the email accounts you have set up. Then click on “Mailbox” and choose “Export Mailbox…” from the drop-down menu.
You will be prompted to select which mailbox you want to back up and where to save it. It is recommended to save it in a folder of your choice within the Documents folder – this will make it easier to find later. Once selected, press “Choose” then “Continue.” The export may take several minutes, depending on how much data is backed up.
A confirmation message appears on the screen when the process is complete, notifying you that your mailbox has been successfully exported. You can also navigate to the folder where you saved the file to confirm that all necessary files are present.
You can easily automate it with an application like Time Machine, which will automatically store backups of any changes made over time, giving you peace of mind that all of your email data is kept safe and secure at all times.
Additionally, since backing up your emails does not erase them from their original location, customers will continue using them normally without interruption or further interference needed from you.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are numerous ways to archive email messages directly from your Mac computer. Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of what exactly archiving entails and how it is done.