If you hold down the option key on a Mac or the ctrl key on Windows, it will make a copy of the messages, leaving a copy on the server as well. (You can Select All and drag a large number at once to save time.) This will move them from the server to the Thunderbird folder on your own computer, where you can always access them.īy default, dragging messages in Thunderbird moves them (deleting the original server copy). Just drag the messages or folders from the server Inbox to the local folder you created. The choice will look similar to this:Īfter you do this, the new folder will appear in the left column. Then click File > New Folder and create a new “local folder” - that is, a folder on your own computer, not the server. The free Mozilla Thunderbird mail program is easy to set up just follow our normal instructions to make it read your mail. The sections below describe how to do this in a few popular programs: You can use almost any modern mail program to do this. If you want to copy or move a large number of messages, though, you should set up an email program on your own computer to make IMAP connections to the mailbox, then drag the messages to copy them to your own computer.

When you’re looking at a message, click View Source in the top-right corner, then click Save Message. If you’re just making a copy of a few messages, you can use our Webmail pages.

Make sure your own computer is being backed reliably up to avoid losing the messages. Remember that if you delete the server copy when you move messages, your computer will have the only copy of the mail.

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