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Archiving ​

Nid allows you to save your emails to your NAS in EML format (one file per email). Archives are indexed in PostgreSQL for fast searching.

Why archive? ​

  • Free up your Gmail quota: delete emails from Gmail after archiving them locally
  • Long-term backup: EML files are in a standard format, readable by any email client (Thunderbird, Outlook, etc.)
  • Fast search: archives are full-text indexed in PostgreSQL
  • Your data stays with you: no data leaves your network

Archiving emails ​

Archiving by selection ​

  1. In My emails, select the emails to archive
  2. Click Archive to NAS in the action bar
  3. An archiving job is created with real-time tracking

Archiving by query (archive all) ​

  1. In My emails, enter a search query (e.g. from:amazon.fr older_than:6m)
  2. Click Archive all
  3. All matching emails are archived differentially

Differential archiving ​

Archiving is differential by default: only emails that have not yet been archived are processed. If you archive the same query twice, the second run only processes new emails.

📸 Suggested screenshot: "Archive all" button on the My emails page

Browsing archives ​

The Archives page in the sidebar displays all your archived emails.

Full-text search ​

The search bar enables full-text search across your archives. The search covers:

  • Email subject (highest priority)
  • Sender (medium priority)
  • Content of the email (excerpt/snippet, lowest priority)

📸 Suggested screenshot: Archives page with the full-text search bar and results

Sorting and filters ​

You can sort archives by:

  • Date (newest / oldest)
  • Size (largest / smallest)
  • Sender

Reading an archived email ​

Click on an archived email to open it in the built-in reader. The content is read directly from the EML file on disk.

If the email is encrypted, it will be decrypted on the fly (you must have configured your passphrase — see Privacy).

Conversation (thread) view ​

Archives support the conversation view: emails sharing the same thread are grouped together. Switch between list view and conversation view with the toggle at the top of the page.

📸 Suggested screenshot: list/conversation toggle on the Archives page

Archived attachments ​

Attachments are extracted and stored separately during archiving. You can download them individually from:

  • The archived email reader
  • The Attachments page (Archives tab)

ZIP export ​

Export a selection of archived emails in ZIP format:

  1. In Archives, select the emails to export
  2. Click Export as ZIP
  3. A ZIP file containing the EML files is downloaded

Disk organization ​

Archives are organized on the NAS according to the following structure:

/archives/
└── {account_id}/
    └── {year}/
        └── {month}/
            ├── {message_id}.eml
            └── attachments/
                ├── invoice.pdf
                └── photo.jpg

Each email is identified by a unique UUID (the gmail_message_id).

Archive trash ​

Archived emails can be deleted via the trash. Deletion is a soft-delete: emails are not immediately erased from disk.

Deleting archives ​

  1. In Archives, select the emails to delete
  2. Click Delete in the action bar
  3. Confirm the deletion — emails are moved to trash

📸 Suggested screenshot: Delete button and confirmation in the archive action bar

Browsing the trash ​

Switch to the Trash tab (next to List and Conversations) to see deleted emails:

  • Each email shows its deletion date and the time remaining before permanent purge
  • A color indicator highlights emails close to expiration (red ≤ 3 days, orange ≤ 7 days)

📸 Suggested screenshot: Trash tab with expiration indicators

Restoring emails ​

  1. In the Trash tab, select the emails to restore
  2. Click Restore in the action bar
  3. Emails are returned to the archives

You can also restore an individual email by clicking the restore icon in its row.

Emptying the trash ​

The Empty trash button permanently deletes all emails in the trash:

  • EML files are deleted from disk
  • Associated attachments are deleted
  • Database records are removed
  • This action is irreversible

Automatic purge ​

A scheduled job automatically purges emails that have been in the trash for more than 30 days (by default). This job runs daily at 4 AM.

You can configure the purge from the Jobs page:

  • Enable/disable automatic purge
  • Change the retention period (1 to 365 days)

📸 Suggested screenshot: trash configuration section on the Jobs page

Advice

If you accidentally delete important emails, you can restore them as long as they haven't been purged. Check the trash regularly to avoid surprises.