<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Posting some follow-up of a PM discussion concerning this same thread topic…<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div style="font-family:sans-serif" class=""><div style="white-space:normal" class=""><blockquote style="border-left:2px solid #777; color:#777; margin:0 0 5px; padding-left:5px" class=""><p dir="auto" class="">Ahhh…ok…so Dovecot is on a server or other machine on your SOHO network. I thought you had this on your laptop or similar. My primary machine is a Mac Pro so while I could run Dovecot there, I’d rather not have my primary also be my centralized IMAP server. But I could spin-up up another CentOS VM on my ESX server…definitely worth considering…</p>
</blockquote><p dir="auto" class="">If you have any container solutions (eg Docker) available, then that would work just as well (you don't need a full OS). But yeah, just run up a dovecot install somewhere with enough storage for all your "local" mail. Don't forget some sort of backup as well; I <code style="background-color:#F7F7F7; border-radius:3px; margin:0; padding:0 0.4em" bgcolor="#F7F7F7" class="">rclone</code> that dovecot storage to a B2 bucket.</p><p dir="auto" class="">If I was setting up today; I'd probably do it as a docker container on a different LAN server. But really, whatever is easiest; Dovecot needs very little config for this use-case. Just be aware of where the Maildir is stored (enough disk space, and backups).</p>
<blockquote style="border-left:2px solid #777; color:#777; margin:0 0 5px; padding-left:5px" class=""><p dir="auto" class="">So let me ask…what is this about a dedicated archive account? How is that set-up?</p>
</blockquote><p dir="auto" class="">I don't recall specifics, but was part of the dovecot config. Rather than doing any of the virtual email, or multi-mailbox auth (or whatever dovecot has), I created a single (in-config) mailbox, which I named 'archive'. I think the MailMate -> Dovecot article covers that part of the config.</p>
<blockquote style="border-left:2px solid #777; color:#777; margin:0 0 5px; padding-left:5px" class=""><p dir="auto" class="">Also, sounds like you much prefer MM over Mac Mail…correct assumption?</p>
</blockquote><p dir="auto" class="">I never gave Apple Mail a chance; it always seemed like a toy MUA to me. I went from Eudora -> Mailsmith -> Mailmate (all forced migrations so I could remain current). The first two were about a decade each; time will tell how long MailMate remains current and viable. ;-)</p><p dir="auto" class="">Summary, I created a single mailbox in dovecot; and created account in MailMate and phone/tablet to point to that server/mailbox. (I think the connection username is just 'archive' - no domain portion, keep it really simple.)</p><p dir="auto" class="">-cng</p></div></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></body></html>