How to Use Thunderbird 3: Understanding Local Storage and Server Storage

You can store your mail locally or on the server. The differences between local and server storage come down to where your messages live, how you access those messages, and how much storage space is available to you.

To help you understand each type of storage, we’ve included definitions of local and server storage, the benefits and limitations of each storage type, and a list of items to consider when deciding whether to store a message locally or on the server.

 

Server Storage

Local Storage

Deciding Whether to Use Local or Server Side Storage

Local and Server Storage at a Glance

How to View Local and Server Mail

 

 

Server Storage

Storing your e-mail on the server means that your e-mail messages are stored on the GUMail server. By default, all messages are stored automatically on the GUMail server.

All GUMail accounts get 256MB of storage space on the server.

When someone sends a message to your Georgetown email address, yourNetID @ georgetown.edu, that message is placed into your mailbox on the GUMail server. To access the new message, you must connect to the Internet so that your e-mail client can communicate with the GUMail server and you can view the message.

A major benefit of having messages stored on the GUMail server is that you can access your messages from anywhere you have an Internet connection. You can use Webmail, a mobile device, or you can use an e-mail client such as Thunderbird, Outlook, or Mac Mail to view, read, and manage your mail that’s on the server. However, with 256MB of space available to you on the server, you may not be able to keep all your mail on the server. So you can either delete messages, or move messages to local storage.

 

Local Storage

Local storage refers to having your e-mail messages stored on the hard drive of your computer. By storing messages locally, you can still keep messages you need to refer to without adding to your e-mail quota on the GUMail server.

E-mail clients such as Thunderbird, Outlook or Mac Mail enable you to create local folders in which you can store messages on your computer instead of on the server. In Thunderbird and Outlook, you can see the messages you’ve stored on the server and the messages you’ve stored on your computer. To move a message from the server to your computer, you simply drag and drop the message from the server folder to the local folder.

You can forward, reply, and edit messages you store on your computer the same way you would with messages stored on the server. However, you can access locally stored messages only when you are using the computer on which you’re storing those messages; you won’t be able to access the messages with Webmail, or from another computer or handheld device.

 

Deciding Whether to Use Local or Server Storage

If you are deciding whether to store your messages locally or on the server, it may help to consider the following:

• How often do you travel?
• Do you take your laptop computer or handheld device with you when you travel?
• Do you need to access your messages from different locations?
• How often do you need to access your old messages?
• Do you use one computer/device all the time to access your mail, or do you switch between computers/devices?

 

Local and Server Storage at a Glance

Will the following happen or will I need to do this	If I use local storage	If I use server storage
Can see my messages from anywhere?	No (You can see your messages only on the computer/device where you stored the messages.)	Yes (Anywhere you can access the Internet, and from any computer/device (desktop, laptop, or handheld devices such as Blackberry or iPhone) that can connect to the Internet.)
If I lose or damage my device, will I also lose my messages?	Yes	No
Will I be able to store unlimited amounts of messages?	Yes (You can store messages on the computer’s hard drive, which could provide you with as much as multiple gigabytes of storage)	No (limited by allocated storage)
Will I need to back up my messages?	Yes	No (server mail is backed up automatically)
Will my messages take up storage on my computer/device?	Yes (with your computer’s hard drive, or an external drive, you could have access to as much as multiple gigabytes of storage)	No (server storage space is limited to 256MB for GUMail accounts)

 

 

How to View Local and Server Mail

This e-mail client	Enables you to view mail stored
Thunderbird	Locally and on the server
Outlook (2003 and 2007)	Locally and on the server
Mac Mail	On the server only (Note: Mac Mail offers the option to view messages in offline mode, and then upload and sync with messages on the server.)
Webmail	On the server only

 

This device	Enables you to view mail stored
BlackBerry	On the server only
iPhone	On the server only