Can I use IMAP without synchronization?

Question

The email in our school is IMAP. I really don't like it, because I want to delete some old messages and at the same time keep them in the local folder as the size of the mail box is not big. I just don't like synchronization...

What's a better way to deal with IMAP?

I am using Opera mail client, I also have outlook 2007 installed.

Thanks!

Answer 1

While in POP3 the general idiom is "Download messages and keep them locally", with IMAP it's more "Keep messages on the server and only cache them locally for faster access". With IMAP you're always working on the server; whatever is stored locally is only for convenience and not a specific separate message location.

However, mail clients usually distinguish between server folders and local folders (which are distinct from the local cache for messages on the server). In Thunderbird that's named exactly so in the interface. So you might just be able to move a message to a local folder which usually deletes it on the server but stores it locally.

As a workaround you can also just keep the messages as files somewhere, which may not be ideal but should work.

---

^{P.S.: I can't test nor supply screenshots, as I've never used Opera and Outlook here connects to Exchange which makes essentially everything server-side.}

Answer 2

most email clients allow you to copy messages from a remote folder to a local folder. i'm certain outlook 2007 has that functionality.

it sounds like these messages might be important and need more reliable storage than your computer. in that case, you should consider forwarding or moving those messages to gmail.

Answer 3

If you want to take a copy, your best bet is to Move the item to a local folder which should keep a copy and delete it off the server. I have never used Opera mail and cannot advise on that, but I can tell you that Outlook does support this.

Failing that, does the school offer Pop/SMTP access as you may have better luck using that.

Answer 4

According to this page from the Opera wiki, you have to expunge emails from the trash can.

In the All Messages/Trash view, pressing DEL or clicking Delete for the selected messages will UID expunge them.

Right-clicking in the mail panel and choosing Empty Trash will Expunge all messages that have the /Deleted flag set on them.