switching to the cloud

[Ingo Klöcker]

On Freitag, 1. Juli 2022 07:10:19 CEST Erik Quaeghebeur wrote:
> > 1.  She wants to load her existing kmail files on her new
> > computer, […]. She has POP3 emails.  Suggestions re helping her do
> > this are appreciated.  My
> > suggestion to her was to archive her files to a usb stick and
> > then import the archived files
> > to her new machine.
> 
> Yes, that should work. The mails can either be put in the default ‘Local
> folders’ maildir resource location or an alternative one (created
> specifically for that purpose).

As always, my suggestion is to simply copy the complete home directory to the 
new computer. Ideally, with `rsync -a ...` to ensure that all file properties 
are preserved. That's what I've been doing since decades and it has never 
failed me or caused trouble. After copying everything over, I simply started 
KMail on the new machine and everything was there.

Any other approach will almost certainly cost much more time and is certainly 
much more hassle than simply copying everything.

> > 2.  She is also thinking that she might out to switch from pop3
> > to imap so she could access
> > her current (up to date) information from both her home and her
> > office desktops.  Any suggestions that might help her do this?
> 
> Just start accessing from IMAP and stop using POP. Get used to kmail's IMAP
> (akonadi) peculiarities. Namely, don't assume it retreived all mails
> automatically, but poll from time to time.
> 
> Upload tho mails previously downloaded by POP to the IMAP account! You can
> have kmail cache them all locally, so then it is easy to access them from
> anywhere via a system designed to do so.

Ideally, you do the uploading to IMAP from the old computer. Then you don't 
have to bother with getting the old mail from the old computer to the new 
computer because all you have to do on the new computer is set up the IMAP 
account and grab a cup of coffee or tea or whatever while KMail downloads all 
old mails from the IMAP account to the new computer.

Important: When you do the uploading, either from the old or the new computer, 
use "copy". Do *not* use "move"! Using "copy" ensures that the old mail is 
still available locally even if the upload to IMAP failed.

> > "The intent would be to access my kmail through my dropbox account from
> > any
> > computer which I may log into for work and still be able to
> > access all of my
> > kmail history."
> 
> That sounds like a recipe for disaster. Kmail (akonadi) ‘assumes’ the files
> are stored locally, but this way, they can change in unexpected ways.
> Moreover, it makes the complete setup more complex than just using one
> system, IMAP.

I fully agree with Erik. It's amazing how creative people are. And I mean this 
in a good way. But trying to use dropbox with KMail is a sure way to shoot 
yourself in the foot.

Regards,
Ingo
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