[Question/Suggestion] Mirror deletions of remote IMAP servers in the archive #90

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MrUnknownDE · 2026-04-05T16:16:28+02:00

MrUnknownDE commented

2026-04-05 16:16:28 +02:00

Originally created by @philipp-koch on 12/3/2025

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I have around 45.000 mails in two e-mails accounts (two servers). I need a mirror of those remote IMAP servers, rather than a "keep everything that ever was" kind of archive. This might be already possible, and I just didn't realize, or out of scope (i.e., precisely not the purpose of the app). Sorry, if that's the case — I'm trying to understand what is or might become (not) possible right now/in the future.

Describe the solution you'd like
It would be terrific to have OpenArchiver mirror deletions made on the IMAP server, thus not keeping mails in the archive that I chose not to keep on the "origin" (remote IMAP server). In other words, I'd like to have a mirroring function where changes (including deletions) on the remote server are reflected in OpenArchiver's archive.

The purpose / use case of this is this: A lot of e-mails I receive are just short-lived information (e.g., “new post on topic XY in forum Z”) that I don't want to keep. So, after having dealt with them, I delete them from the inbox. But in the meantime, they will of course already have been archived in OpenArchiver. If I now decide to delete an e-mail in my e-mail app, I don't want it to clutter the archive - I want it to be deleted in OpenArchiver, as well. The idea is to have OpenArchiver functions as a data backup (in case the remote e-mail services become unavailable) rather than an archive that contains "everything that there ever was".

Since sometimes I do want to keep specific forum notifications or the like, I can't just filter/exclude "all mails from sender XXX" from the archive.

I understand that it might be crucial to ensure no unintended deletions happen (for those who want to keep mails in the archive so they can free up their inbox, for instance), so this "deletion mirroring behavior" would most likely have to be configurable.

Describe alternatives you've considered
Two other projects that do similar things (i.e., archive e-mails) I have looked into, Mail-Archiver and Bichon, specifically won't allow for what I am looking for, because their scope is "archive everything".

So - is "mirroring" possible or might be implemented in the future? 😊

*Originally created by @philipp-koch on 12/3/2025* **Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.** I have around 45.000 mails in two e-mails accounts (two servers). I need a mirror of those remote IMAP servers, rather than a "keep everything that ever was" kind of archive. This might be already possible, and I just didn't realize, or out of scope (i.e., precisely not the purpose of the app). Sorry, if that's the case — I'm trying to understand what is or might become (not) possible right now/in the future. **Describe the solution you'd like** It would be terrific to have OpenArchiver mirror deletions made on the IMAP server, thus not keeping mails in the archive that I chose not to keep on the "origin" (remote IMAP server). In other words, I'd like to have a mirroring function where changes (including deletions) on the remote server are reflected in OpenArchiver's archive. The purpose / use case of this is this: A lot of e-mails I receive are just short-lived information (e.g., “new post on topic XY in forum Z”) that I don't want to keep. So, after having dealt with them, I delete them from the inbox. But in the meantime, they will of course already have been archived in OpenArchiver. If I now decide to delete an e-mail in my e-mail app, I don't want it to clutter the archive - I want it to be deleted in OpenArchiver, as well. The idea is to have OpenArchiver functions as a data backup (in case the remote e-mail services become unavailable) rather than an archive that contains "everything that there ever was". Since sometimes I do want to keep specific forum notifications or the like, I can't just filter/exclude "all mails from sender XXX" from the archive. I understand that it might be crucial to ensure no unintended deletions happen (for those who want to keep mails in the archive so they can free up their inbox, for instance), so this "deletion mirroring behavior" would most likely have to be configurable. **Describe alternatives you've considered** Two other projects that do similar things (i.e., archive e-mails) I have looked into, Mail-Archiver and Bichon, specifically won't allow for what I am looking for, because their scope is "archive everything". So - is "mirroring" possible or might be implemented in the future? 😊

MrUnknownDE added the enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement enhancement labels 2026-04-05 16:16:28 +02:00

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Reference: github/OpenArchiver#90