offline storage file format

[5to9]

Originally Posted by LMStone

You could not however make a completely portable copy of ZD, in the same way that you can't install Outlook to a USB drive and run it on any Windows computer.

That is incorrect.

You can install Outlook and all of Microsoft Office to a USB key and run it off of there. There are at least 5 solutions for doing so.
They are described here:
Top 5 Tools to create and run Portable applications | Digital Prank

One of those ways uses Thinstall, an application from VMware, the same company that owns Zimbra!

So check it out.

[LMStone]

Originally Posted by 5to9

That is incorrect.

You can install Outlook and all of Microsoft Office to a USB key and run it off of there. There are at least 5 solutions for doing so.
They are described here:
Top 5 Tools to create and run Portable applications | Digital Prank

One of those ways uses Thinstall, an application from VMware, the same company that owns Zimbra!

So check it out.

Thinstall is now Thinapp, and it seems it doesn't work with Office 2010.

Thanks though; I learned something new about Portable Applications. And coming from an Exchange environment I can see why thin-app'ing Outlook would be beneficial -- the OWA interface lacks a huge number of useful features present in Outlook.

Nonetheless, in the case of Zimbra, since the Zimbra web client is THE full-featured client, what benefit does carrying around a USB stick with a thin-app'd version of Zimbra Desktop get you that just using the Zimbra web interface wouldn't provide?

All the best,
Mark

[5to9]

Thinstall is now Thinapp, and it seems it doesn't work with Office 2010.

That is not a problem. I have no intention of using Office version 2010.

the OWA interface lacks a huge number of useful features present in Outlook.

I do not use Outlook Web Access, so it's shortcoming are not important to my finding and alternative email solution. I'm not really sure how this information addresses my initial questions. It's nice to know but not relevant.

Nonetheless, in the case of Zimbra, since the Zimbra web client is THE full-featured client, what benefit does carrying around a USB stick with a thin-app'd version of Zimbra Desktop get you that just using the Zimbra web interface wouldn't provide?

I think you need to re-read this thread from the very beginning. You are getting off track of the original point of the discussion and making incorrect assumptions.

[LMStone]

Originally Posted by 5to9

I think you need to re-read this thread from the very beginning. You are getting off track of the original point of the discussion and making incorrect assumptions.

When I answer questions from those new to Zimbra, I try to read between the lines and figure out what the user is trying to accomplish strategically.

In your case, I see that you have a unique workflow process which provides both portability, data redundancy and offline access. What you have now has worked well for you; that's great.

All I did was suggest that the Zimbra web client and/or Zimbra Desktop would provide those same benefits, with the one limitation that I cannot say whether Zimbra Desktop can be thin-app'd. I also tried to point out the benefits and differences between the Zimbra Web Client and OWA.

To be fair, I did answer part of the OP's original question in which I stated the format looks like maildir, but since Zimbra wrote their own storage engine it may not be. Bill had previously responded as to the location so no need for me to repeat it.

Now as regards your first post on this thread:

I frequently move around and use different public access computers. I want to keep my email client and all of the stored mail on a USB key (along with other data and applications).

I am used to using Outlook which has everything (email, contacts, notes, calendar and ATTACHEMENTS) all store in a single PST file. This is actually very convenient - you can copy or move the file to another location, you can store it on your SkyDrive or Dropbox, or wherever.

I like the idea of having all information items stored in ONE self-contained file for personal use. I am not concerned so much about security. The only security issue for me is if I lose my USB key.

So, regardless of anything else -- security, tendency to lose more data if there is a disk error, or any other 'negative' or 10 other reasons you can think of -- this single characteristics of the PST file is valuable to me (whether it makes sense or not), in my particular circumstance.

That is why the question was asked.

The OP was concerned about the security of their offline files, and felt a PST file provided more security than plain-text email files. That is not true in my experience and I said as much.

In your use case above you say clearly the OP's concern about security is irrelevant to you.

Is your question then about whether you can continue to use your existing Outlook-on-stick workflow process with Zimbra? The answer is "yes", but you will need a Network Edition license to be able to use Outlook in MAPI mode with Zimbra (doing so requires the Zimbra Connector for Outlook).

Is your question about data redundancy? There are many backup scripts for the OSS version of Zimbra and the Network Edition comes with built-in backups.

Is your question about the location and format of the mail messages on the server? If so, how is that relevant to your choice of offline mail client?

Hope that helps,
Mark

[5to9]

Mark - I've sent you a private message.

If I have any other questions I will post them on the forum.

[Corneth]

I'm not a Zimbra user ( yet ), just passing by, was looking for an email client that stores emails as separate files, that is, not the way e.g. Microsoft Outlook does. Why ?

Email systems that store emails in 1 file, often use a binary ( compressed ) format. Tools like rsync may not work very well for such formats, however such tools process separate files in an excellent way.

Remote ( e.g. internet based ) copying of thousands and thousands files ( backup ) may require several hours. When using rsync, relatively small changes only require a few minutes at most. Binary files complicate this issue. That's why I prefer emails to be stored as separate files.

Any problems with security ? Simply use a professional and free tool like truecrypt : allows you to encrypt entire harddisks, usb devices, allows you to create encrypted file containers (all your separate emails in 1 encrypted container), etc, see www.truecrypt.com

If Zimbra stores emails as separate files, I certainly will give it a try ;-)

Well, just my $ 0.02