IMAP Backup & Restore Tool

The complete open-source solution for backing up, restoring, and migrating IMAP email accounts.

Language grade: Python Docker Pulls License: MIT

🚀 Features

Core Capabilities

Perfect For

📚 Quick Start

# Basic backup
docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/backups:/data \
  user2k20/imapbackup \
  -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com -e

# Backup with S3 upload and GPG encryption
docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/backups:/data \
  user2k20/imapbackup \
  -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com -e \
  --s3-upload \
  --s3-endpoint=https://s3.hetzner.cloud \
  --s3-bucket=email-backups \
  --s3-access-key=$S3_KEY \
  --s3-secret-key=$S3_SECRET \
  --gpg-encrypt \
  --gpg-recipient=backup@example.com \
  --gpg-import-key=https://example.com/keys/public.asc

Using Python

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/chris2k20/imapbackup.git
cd imapbackup

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run backup
python3 imapbackup.py -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com -e

📖 Documentation

Getting Started

Advanced Topics

🎯 Use Cases

1. Daily Automated Backups

# Cron job for daily backups at 2 AM
0 2 * * * docker run --rm -v /backups:/data user2k20/imapbackup \
  -s imap.example.com -u user@example.com -p @/root/.password -e \
  --s3-upload --s3-endpoint=https://s3.hetzner.cloud \
  --s3-bucket=backups --s3-access-key=$KEY --s3-secret-key=$SECRET

2. Email Server Migration

# Backup from old server
python3 imapbackup.py -s old.server.com -u user@old.com -e

# Restore to new server
python3 imapbackup.py -r -s new.server.com -u user@new.com -e

3. Kubernetes Deployment

apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: email-backup
spec:
  schedule: "0 2 * * *"
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
          - name: backup
            image: user2k20/imapbackup:latest
            args:
              - -s
              - imap.example.com
              - -u
              - user@example.com
              - -e
              - --s3-upload
              - --gpg-encrypt

4. Encrypted Cloud Backups

# Backup with encryption - no GPG keyring mount needed!
docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/backups:/data \
  user2k20/imapbackup \
  -s imap.gmail.com -u myemail@gmail.com -e \
  --s3-upload --s3-bucket=secure-backups \
  --gpg-encrypt --gpg-recipient=backup@example.com \
  --gpg-import-key=env:GPG_PUBLIC_KEY

💡 Why Choose IMAP Backup Tool?

Open Source & Free

Production Ready

Security First

Developer Friendly

🌟 Popular Use Cases & Keywords

Email Backup Solutions: Perfect for Gmail backup, Office 365 backup, Exchange backup, Outlook backup, and any IMAP-compatible email service.

Server Migration: Seamlessly migrate emails between providers - move from Gmail to ProtonMail, Office 365 to Google Workspace, or any IMAP server to another.

Compliance & Archival: Meet GDPR, HIPAA, and other regulatory requirements with encrypted email archives stored securely in S3-compatible storage.

Disaster Recovery: Automated daily backups ensure you never lose important emails. Restore to any IMAP server in minutes.

Self-Hosted Email: Perfect companion for self-hosted mail servers using Dovecot, Postfix, Zimbra, or any IMAP-compatible server.

📊 Command Line Options

Basic Options

Backup/Restore Modes

Folder Selection

S3 Storage Options

GPG Encryption Options

🛠️ Supported Platforms & Services

IMAP Servers

S3-Compatible Storage

Deployment Options

🚦 Requirements

For Docker

For Python

🔗 Links

📈 SEO Keywords

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues, fork the repository, and create pull requests.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Originally developed around 2007 and actively maintained ever since. Thanks to all contributors who have helped make this tool better over the years.

⭐ Star this repository if you find it useful!

🐛 Found a bug? Open an issue

💬 Have questions? Check the documentation