How to export your data

At Aster, we believe that your mail belongs to you, and we give you a simple way to take a full copy of it whenever you would like.

The export tool in your settings gathers your messages, contacts, and configuration into a single archive that you are able to save on your own computer. Everything will come out in a widely used format so that you are never tied to Aster and you are able to move your data into another app or just keep it as a backup. This blog post will explain what an export contains, how to run one, and the choices you make along the way.

What the export contains

An export is a single archive built from multiple separate parts, and you are able to decide which parts to include before it runs. Each part is written in a standard format that other programs already understand, so that nothing depends on Aster to be read later.

• Mail is all of your messages and their attachments. You can save them as one mailbox file or as a folder of individual messages.
• Contacts is your full address book. It is exported as a vCard file, which imports into Apple, Google, Thunderbird, and most other apps, along with a JSON copy that keeps every field.
• Settings and rules is the rest of your account. This covers your aliases, signatures, templates, mail rules, blocked and allowed senders, and folder structure.

Starting an export

The Export tool is located in your Settings, with a short summary and a Start Export button. Because an export pulls out your content in a readable form, the first thing it asks for is your account passphrase. Entering this confirms that the request is coming from you and unlocks the keys needed to decrypt your mail on your device. After you confirm a brief notice about handling the file carefully, you can choose what to include.

Choosing what to include

You’re shown three groups described above, and all of them are selected by default, so a single click gives you everything. If you only need a certain part of your account, clear any group you do not want, and the export will skip it. At least one group has to stay selected, since an empty archive would not be of much use.

Choosing a format for your mail

When you export, Aster will ask how you would like the messages laid out. The right choice depends on the program you plan to open them in. Both options are ordinary email formats that desktop clients have supported for years.

• MBOX gives you a single mailbox file. It opens directly in Thunderbird, mutt, Apple Mail, and most desktop clients, and it is the simplest choice when you want one tidy file to move or store.
• Individual EML files give you one message per file inside a folder. Each file is a standards-compliant message with its attachments included, which suits browsing or handing off messages one at a time.

The same screen will let you set an optional date range so the export can capture only the messages received between the dates of your choice. Leave both dates empty to export your full history, which is what most people want when they are taking a backup.

Where the file is saved

The archive is written to your own computer, rather than on our server, and your browser handles exactly how that happens. Some browsers will let you pick the folder and file name yourself before anything is written, while others will simply download the archive to your usual download location. A progress view will let you know while the messages are packaged. When it finishes, you will see a short summary of how many messages were exported and where the file can be located.

Keeping your export safe

Your data inside Aster is encrypted, but an export has to be in a readable form to be useful, so the archive holds your messages and account data in a plain, unencrypted form. This means that anything able to read your files on your computer can read your export, including cloud sync tools such as OneDrive, iCloud, or Dropbox.

We suggest that you save the archive somewhere that is not automatically synced or shared. Make sure you treat this like any other sensitive document and delete it once you no longer need it.