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HOW TO USE OUTLOOK 2003 WITH GUMAIL: UNDERSTANDING LOCAL MAIL

Server Storage vs. Local Storage
Whenever you receive a message in GUMail, that message is stored in your Inbox on the GUMail IMAP server. It remains in your Inbox on the server until you choose to move it somewhere else. You can move the message to another folder on the server, or you can move the message off of the GU Mail server to a folder on a different drive. When you move mail from the server and save it somewhere else, you are said to be storing the mail 'locally'

Local storage offers alot of alternatives
You can store your local mail on your computer's hard drive, or on your network drive, or on a CD or Zip drive. You will probably want to use some combination of the following methods to store all your e-mail messages.

Caution: We do not recommend moving messages off the server to a local folder, and then back onto the server again - attachments may be lost in this process.

You can store mail on the GUMail IMAP server
If you do this, you will be able to access the server folders from any computer with an internet connection. These messages will take up some of your e-mail quota. You should probably use this storage method for mail that you will work with often. (Note: Inbox and Sent messages are always stored on the GUMail IMAP server.)

You can store local mail on your computer's hard drive
If you move the messages to your local hard drive, these messages will only be accessible through the computer you where you stored them.  The files won't take up space against your e-mail quota; but they will take up space on your computer's hard drive. Also, if your hard drive ever fails, you could lose this mail.

You can store local mail on a zip drive or CD
If you do this, you can carry all your e-mail around in your pocket. Of course, like a hard drive, if one of your disks fails, you could lose a lot of mail. You'll probably want to make duplicate (back up) disks that you can store someplace safe.

For detailed instructions on backing up your e-mail, see Archiving your local mail.