Importing 30GB / 300.000 item mail archive - possible, tips?

I’m preparing to import my 20yr e-mail archive into DevonThink. It contains ~30GB of e-mails and ~300.000 items (probably around 20% duplicates because of labels). Would this be possible to import in DT using the standard Import Archive option (via Apple Mail?)

Yes, but I would not suggest trying to do a single import en mass. If you have submailboxes, I’d archive them individually.

Also, I’d consider creating more than one database for archiving too. The comfortable maximum number of items in a database is 250-300,000 do you are pushing the limit (though there is some flexibility depending on the machine’s resources).

Also make sure DEVONthink has Full Disk Access and you’ve approved any Automation requests made by it.

Lastly, you may want to enable Preferences > Email > Previously imported will become replicants.

OK - thanks for the tips. I have some mailboxes with ‘very old’ mail separately, so that should be possible to do it in steps (possibly create a separate Database for the old mail). I’m doing this on a 16GB MacBook Pro 2.3GHz quadcore i5 so we’ll say if it can handle it :wink:

You’re welcome.

I am embarrassingly guilty in that department - when my Exchange mailbox hit the 50 Gb limit I upgraded to 100 Gb. Now approaching 100 Gb they don’t offer any larger inboxes, so I am working on an archiving strategy.

I have found Mail Backup X to be extremely helpful as an interim solution to sort through my mailbox and figure out what I want to keep in DT3 long-term.

http://www.mailbackupx.com/

Oops. (He writes, with his database open with 1,000,000 (single-page) pdf files…)

Using smart mailboxes to create subsets, and then exporting those to Unix (mbox) files for import into DT works exceptionally well. I archive all my mail yearly using this technique with none of the script timeout and other bumps that can happen. My process is described on my blog: https://www.gordonmeyer.com/2020/04/creating-a-yearly-macos-mail-archive.html

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Nice little write up. :slight_smile:

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