Backup IMAP Email to Outlook – Top 2 Solutions to Take Backup

If you want to backup IMAP email to Outlook successfully, stick till the end of this blog to know how the backup works.

Every person has an email account on the web or desktop for various purposes. Various email clients such as MS Outlook make organizing the messages an easy task.

Not all of the users know that IMAP is the email standard to sync the messages from the server with your email client.

This sync allows the users to see the message subject & body. We can easily set up the email client on any digital device for accessing the messages.

But, why backup IMAP email to Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019?

That’s because Microsoft Outlook is the most preferred email client by large organizations for keeping a backup of messages.

IMAP is capable of deleting or moving emails without having to download them. All the changes that you make in the server will be reflected in the email client as well.

So, when you move your data to Outlook application, whatever changes you make in the email server will also be displayed in your application.

Let’s first discuss why there is a need to make copies of these files.

Refer: How to Backup IMAP to PST Format?

Major Reasons to Backup IMAP Email to Outlook

Most of the businesses having IMAP configurations do not want anything to happen to their data.

There can be various risks to the data such as malware attacks, virus intrusions, hack attacks, application crashes, etc.

These risks can lead to data-loss or corruption which is not suitable for any user. This is why users prefer taking a backup of their data so that they can keep the copies safe if the original messages are ruined.

Now, the main objective of this article, how to create a backup of the data?

Backup IMAP Email to Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013 Manually

To start with this procedure, you first have to configure your IMAP server with the Microsoft Outlook application.

After performing the configuration steps, wait for the data to sync.

Let me warn you, the synchronization can take as less as a few minutes or waste hours to complete.

Once it is done, execute the following steps:

1. Open Outlook on your desktop and click on the File option to open the menu

2. Click on the Open & Export option & choose Import/Export to start the process to backup IMAP email to Outlook

3. From the Import/Export Wizard, select the Export to a file option and press the Next button

4. Then, choose the Outlook data file (.pst) option and click on Next

5. After that, click on the Browse button to select the files you want to export. Choose the option to deal with the duplicates

6. Hit Finish to complete the process.

Seems easy enough?

Well, here are certain drawbacks.

Limitations of Manually Exporting IMAP Messages

Since this is the easiest of manual methods, it is explained in detail here. However, this method to backup IMAP email to Outlook 2019, 2016 is also not the best. The disadvantages include:

• Configuration steps are complex and the synchronization can take more time than estimated.
• The data might be missing certain phrases & the folder structure can be messed up.
• Chances of data-loss or corruption in the mailbox are high.
• Due to the time taken for synchronization, the procedure becomes lengthy & wastes a lot of user’s efforts.
• To top that, the process is not a guaranteed solution for completing the operation without any errors.

Wondering how to overcome these drawbacks? Don’t worry, we are here with some cool tricks.

Overcome Manual Drawbacks to Backup IMAP to Outlook

To avoid the limitations, users can go for the BitResQ Software to download all the messages in a single shot in the choice of format.

Bulk transfer of data without any alterations or modifications is possible. No chances of data-loss or corruption even if you export selected messages only.

Yes, you have the ability to download selective messages via Date-filter which allows choosing a specific time-period.

Also, you can simply enter the credentials for your email server and login to your account, be it any email server, with this wizard.

Tool to Backup IMAP Email to Outlook Has Various Merits

• The tool provides several email formats to choose from
• You can select any email client configured with IMAP for the backup
• Using the Date-filter you can export data according to a time-period
• Provides the option to free up server space via Delete after Download
• Take backup of new messages only using Incremental Backup
• Offers several options for renaming emails with Naming Convention feature
• Possibility to split large Outlook data files to smaller sizes in GB or MB

Wrapping Up

Because of the risks to the data on the web, users want to backup IMAP email to Outlook for safety. The manual procedure requires you to configure the IMAP server with Outlook application & sync the data.

However, the changes made in the server also reflect in Outlook. This can still cause data-loss situations. The tool, on the other hand, will separately download the messages to desired format without making any changes.