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IMAPSYNC(1) User Contributed Perl Documentation IMAPSYNC(1)

NAME
imapsync - Email tool for syncing two IMAP accounts, one way, and without
duplicates.

VERSION
This documentation refers to Imapsync $Revision: 2.314 $

USAGE
To synchronize the source imap account
"test1" on server "test1.lamiral.info" with password "secret1"
to the destination imap account
"test2" on server "test2.lamiral.info" with password "secret2"
do:

imapsync \
--host1 test1.lamiral.info --user1 test1 --password1 secret1 \
--host2 test2.lamiral.info --user2 test2 --password2 secret2

DESCRIPTION
We sometimes need to transfer mailboxes from one imap server to another.

Imapsync command is a tool allowing incremental and recursive imap trans-
fers from one mailbox to another. If you don't understand the previous sen-
tence, it's normal; it's pedantic computer-oriented jargon.

All folders are transferred, recursively, meaning the whole folder hierar-
chy is taken, all sub-folders, all messages in them, and all message flags
(\Seen, \Answered, \Flagged, etc.) are synced too.

Imapsync reduces the amount of data transferred by not transferring a given
message if it already resides on the destination side. Messages that are on
the destination side but not on the source side stay as they are. There is
no deletions by default. See the --delete2 option to have strict sync and
delete them.

How does imapsync know a message is already on both sides? Same specific
headers, and the transfer is done only once. By default, the identification
headers are "Message-Id:" and "Received:" lines. This choice can be
changed with the --useheader option. Most often, a duplicate problem is
solved by using --useheader "Message-Id"

All flags are preserved, unread messages will stay unread, read ones will
stay read, and deleted ones will stay deleted.

Flags are also resynchronized at each run, unless the option --nore-
syncflags is used.

A point about message deletions. In the IMAP protocol, a deleted message is
not deleted, it is marked \Deleted and can be undeleted. Real destruction
comes with the EXPUNGE or UIDEXPUNGE IMAP commands.

You can abort the transfer at any time and restart it later. Imapsync works
well with bad connections and interruptions, by design. On a terminal, hit
Ctrl-c twice within two seconds to abort the program. Hit Ctrl-c just once
to make imapsync reconnect to both imap servers.

How do you know the sync is finished and well done? When imapsync ends by
itself, it mentions it with lines like those:

Exiting with return value 0 (EX_OK: successful termination) 0/50 nb_errors/max_errors PID 20332
Removing pidfile /home/gilles/tmp/imapsync.pid
Log file is LOG_imapsync/2023_08_21_11_51_27_651_test1_test2.txt ( to change it, use --logfile filepath ; or use --nolog to turn off logging )

If you don't have those lines, it means that either the sync process is
still running (or eventually hanging indefinitely) or that it ended without
a whisper, a strong kill -9 on Linux, for example.

If you have those final lines, then it means the sync process is properly
finished. It may have encountered problems, though.

A good synchronization is mentioned by some lines above the last ones, es-
pecially those three lines:

The sync looks good, all 1745 identified messages in host1 are on host2.
There is no unidentified message on host1.
Detected 0 errors

Imapsync mentions the total sizes of both accounts at the beginning of the
sync and also at the end. Sometimes, even with a strict sync, those total
sizes differ, and sometimes they differ a lot. The difference is not a good
criterion to conclude the sync went wrong.

Why? That's because message sizes given by the imap servers are not always
accurate; they are not always the same as the actual message sizes of the
messages transferred by imapsync. Imapsync uses the sizes given by the imap
servers to calculate the total size. They can differ. In the early days,
Imapsync used the sizes of the messages as one of the criteria to identify
the messages; different sizes implied different messages. But it was a mis-
take, the same message had different sizes on both sides sometimes, depend-
ing on the imap servers.

Another explanation for a big total size difference is that Gmail doesn't
count the size of duplicate messages across folders twice, while imapsync
does.

A classical scenario is synchronizing a mailbox B from another mailbox A,
where you just want to keep a strict copy of A in B. Strict means that all
messages in A will be in B but no more.

For a strict synchronization, use the option --delete2. The option
--delete2 deletes the messages in the host2 folder B that are not in the
host1 folder A. If you also need to destroy host2 folders that are not in
host1, then use --delete2folders. See also --delete2foldersonly and
--delete2foldersbutnot to set up exceptions on folders to destroy. INBOX
will never be destroyed; it's a mandatory folder in IMAP, so imapsync
doesn't even try to remove it.

A different scenario is to delete the messages from the source mailbox af-
ter a successful transfer, it can be a good feature when migrating mail-
boxes since messages will be only on one side. The source account will only
have messages that are not on the destination yet, i.e., messages that ar-
rived after a sync or that failed to be transferred.

In that case, use the --delete1 option. Option --delete1 implies also the
option --expunge1, so all messages marked deleted on host1 will be deleted.
In the IMAP protocol, deleting a message does not delete it; it marks it
with the flag \Deleted, allowing an undelete. Expunging a folder removes,
definitively, all the messages marked as \Deleted in this folder.

You can also decide to remove empty folders once all of their messages have
been transferred. Add --delete1emptyfolders to obtain this behavior.

Imapsync is not adequate for maintaining two active imap accounts in syn-
chronization when the user plays independently on both sides. Use of-
flineimap (written by John Goerzen) or mbsync (written by Michael R.
Elkins) for a 2 ways synchronization.

OPTIONS
usage: imapsync [options]

The standard options are the six values forming the credentials. Three
values on each side are needed to login to the IMAP servers. These six val-
ues are a hostname, a username, and a password, twice.

Here are the conventions used in the following descriptions of the options:

str means a string
int means an integer number
flo means a float number
reg means a regular expression
cmd means a command

--dry : Makes imapsync do nothing for real; it just prints what
would be done without --dry.

OPTIONS/credentials
--host1 str : Source or "from" imap server.
It can be a hostname or an IP address.

--port1 int : Port to connect on host1.
Optional since the default port is the
well-known port imap/143 or imaps/993.
Add --ssl1 if you want an SSL/TLS connection on host1.

--user1 str : User to login on host1.

--password1 str : Password of user1.

--host2 str : "destination" imap server.
--port2 int : Port to connect on host2.
Optional since the default port is the
well-known port imap/143 or imaps/993.
Add --ssl2 if you want an SSL/TLS connection on host2.

--user2 str : User to login on host2.
--password2 str : Password of user2.

--showpasswords : Shows passwords on output instead of "MASKED".
Useful to restart a complete run by just reading
the command line used in the log,
or to debug passwords.
It's not a secure practice at all!

--passfile1 str : Password file for the user1. It must contain the
password on the first line. This option avoids showing
the password on the command line like --password1 does.
--passfile2 str : Password file for the user2.

You can also pass the passwords in the environment variables IMAPSYNC_PASS-
WORD1 and IMAPSYNC_PASSWORD2. If you don't pass the user1 password via
--password1 nor --passfile1 nor $IMAPSYNC_PASSWORD1 then imapsync will
prompt you to enter the password on the terminal. Same thing for the user2
password.

OPTIONS/encryption
--nossl1 : Do not use an IMAP over SSL/TLS connection on host1.

--ssl1 : Use an IMAP over SSL/TLS connection on host1.
It is imaps. The default port is 993.
Used by default, if possible.

--nossl2 : Do not use an IMAP over SSL/TLS connection on host2.

--ssl2 : Use an IMAP over SSL/TLS connection on host2.
Same as --ssl1 but for host2.

--notls1 : Do not try a "STARTTLS" SSL/TLS connection on host1.

--tls1 : Use a "STARTTLS" SSL/TLS encryption on host1.
The default port is 143.
Used by default, after imaps probing failed,
and if possible.

--notls2 : Do not use a "STARTTLS" SSL/TLS connection on host2.

--tls2 : Use a STARTTLS SSL/TLS encryption on host2.
Same as --tls1 but for host2.

--debugssl int : SSL/TLS debug mode from 0 to 4.

--sslargs1 str : Pass any SSL/TLS parameter for the host1 connection.
Example:
--sslargs1 SSL_verify_mode=1 --sslargs1 SSL_version=TLSv1_3
See all possibilities in the new() method of IO::Socket::SSL
http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?IO::Socket::SSL#Description_Of_Methods

--sslargs2 str : Pass any SSL/TLS parameter for the host2 connection.
Same as --sslargs1 but for host2.

OPTIONS/authentication
--authmech1 str : Auth mechanism to use with host1:
PLAIN, LOGIN, CRAM-MD5 etc. Use UPPERCASE.
--authmech2 str : Auth mechanism to use with host2. See --authmech1

--authuser1 str : User to auth with on host1 (admin user).
Avoid using --authmech1 SOMETHING with --authuser1.
--authuser2 str : User to auth with on host2 (admin user).
--proxyauth1 : Use proxyauth on host1. Requires --authuser1.
Required by Sun/iPlanet/Netscape IMAP servers to
be able to use an administrative user.
--proxyauth2 : Use proxyauth on host2. Requires --authuser2.

--authmd51 : Use MD5 authentication for host1.
--authmd52 : Use MD5 authentication for host2.
--domain1 str : Domain on host1 (NTLM authentication).
--domain2 str : Domain on host2 (NTLM authentication).

--oauthaccesstoken1 str : The access token to authenticate with OAUTH2 on
host1. It will be combined with the --user1 value to
form the string to pass with XOAUTH2 authentication.
Instead of the access token itself, the value can be
the file containing the access token on the first line.
If the value is a file, imapsync reads its first line
and takes this line as the access token. The advantage
of the file is that if the access token changes then
imapsync can read it again when it needs to reconnect
during a run.

--oauthaccesstoken2 str : same thing as --oauthaccesstoken1 but for host2.

--oauthdirect1 str : The direct string to pass with XOAUTH2 authentication
for host1.

--oauthdirect2 str : same thing as --oauthdirect1 but for host2.

--oauthrefreshcmd1 str : An optional command to call, to refresh the host1
token before any oauth authentication.
It can have arguments like "cmd arg1 arg2 ..."

--oauthrefreshcmd2 str : same thing as --oauthrefreshcmd1 but for host2.

OPTIONS/folders
--folder str : Sync this folder.
--folder str : and this one, etc.
--folderrec str : Sync this folder and all its sub-folders.
--folderrec str : and this one, etc.

--folderfirst str : Sync this folder first. Ex. --folderfirst "INBOX"
--folderfirst str : then this one, etc.
--folderlast str : Sync this folder last. --folderlast "[Gmail]/All Mail"
--folderlast str : then this one, etc.

--nomixfolders : Do not merge folders when host1 is case-sensitive
while host2 is not (like Exchange). Only the first
similar folder is synced. Example: with folders
"Sent", "SENT" and "sent" on host1, only "Sent"
will be synced to host2.

--skipemptyfolders : Empty host1 folders are not created on host2.

--include reg : Sync folders matching this regular expression
--include reg : or this one, etc.
If both --include --exclude options are used, then
include is done before.
--exclude reg : Skips folders matching this regular expression
Several folders to avoid:
--exclude 'fold1|fold2|f3' skips fold1, fold2 and f3.
--exclude reg : or this one, etc.

--automap : guesses folder mapping, for folders well known as
"Sent", "Junk", "Drafts", "All", "Archive", "Flagged".

--f1f2 str1=str2 : Force folder str1 to be synced to str2,
--f1f2 overrides --automap and --regextrans2.
Use several --f1f2 options to map several folders.
Option --f1f2 is a one-to-one-only folder mapping,
and str1 and str2 must be full path folder names.
Use --regextrans2 for more general mappings.

--subfolder2 str : Syncs the whole host1 folders hierarchy under the
host2 folder named str.
It does it internally by adding three
--regextrans2 options before all others.
Add --debug to see what's going on.

--subfolder1 str : Syncs the host1 folders hierarchy which is under folder
str to the root hierarchy of host2.
It's the counterpart of a sync done by --subfolder2
when doing it in the reverse order.
Backup/Restore scenario:
Use --subfolder2 str for a backup to the folder str
on host2. Then use --subfolder1 str for restoring
from the folder str, after inverting
host1/host2 user1/user2 values.

--subscribed : Transfers subscribed folders.
--subscribe : Subscribe to the folders transferred on the
host2 that are subscribed on host1. On by default.
--subscribeall : Subscribe to the folders transferred on the
host2 even if they are not subscribed on host1.

--prefix1 str : Remove prefix str to all destination folders,
usually "INBOX." or "INBOX/" or an empty string "".
imapsync guesses the prefix if the host1 imap server
does not have NAMESPACE capability. So this option
should not be used most of the time.
--prefix2 str : Add prefix to all host2 folders. See --prefix1

--sep1 str : Host1 separator. This option should not be used
most of the time.
Imapsync gets the separator from the server itself,
by using NAMESPACE, or it tries to guess it
from the folder listing (it counts
characters / . \\ \ in folder names and choose the
more frequent, or finally / if nothing is found.
--sep2 str : Host2 separator. See --sep1

--regextrans2 reg : Apply the whole regex to each destination folder.
--regextrans2 reg : and this one. etc.
When you play with the --regextrans2 option, first
add also the safe options --dry --justfolders
Then, when happy, remove --dry for a run, then
remove --justfolders for the next ones.
Have in mind that --regextrans2 is applied after
the automatic prefix and separator inversion.
For examples see:
https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Folders_Mapping.txt

OPTIONS/folders sizes
--nofoldersizes : Do not calculate the size of each folder at the
beginning of the sync. The default behaviour
calculates them.
--nofoldersizesatend: Do not calculate the size of each folder at the
end of the sync. The default behaviour
calculates them.
--justfoldersizes : Exit after having printed the initial folder sizes.

OPTIONS/tmp
--tmpdir str : Where to store temporary files and subdirectories.
Will be created if it doesn't exist.
Default is $HOME/tmp. It used to be /tmp on Unix,
before imapsync 2.250. But /tmp is not safe, see
https://github.com/imapsync/imapsync/issues/399
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2023-34204

--pidfile str : The file where the imapsync pid is written.
It can be specified with the form dirname/filename,
ie, a complete path.
The default name is imapsync.pid in tmpdir.

--pidfilelocking : Abort if pidfile already exists. Useful to avoid
concurrent transfers on the same mailbox.

OPTIONS/log
--nolog : Turn off logging on file. By default in Docker context.
--log : Turn on logging on file. By default in normal and CGI contextes.
--logfile str : Change the default log filename (can be dirname/filename).
--logdir str : Change the default log directory. Default is LOG_imapsync/

The default logfile name is, for example:

LOG_imapsync/2019_12_22_23_57_59_532_user1_user2.txt

where:

2019_12_22_23_57_59_532 is nearly the date of the start in the format
YYYY_MM_DD_HH_MM_SS_mmm corresponding to the meaning
year_month_day_hour_minute_second_millisecond

and user1 user2 are the --user1 --user2 values.

OPTIONS/messages
--skipmess reg : Skips messages matching the regex.
Example: 'm/[\x80-\xff]/' # to avoid 8bits messages.
--skipmess is applied before --regexmess
--skipmess reg : or this one, etc.

--skipcrossduplicates : Avoid copying messages that are already copied
in another folder, good from Gmail to XYZ when
XYZ is not also Gmail.
Activated with --gmail1 unless --noskipcrossduplicates

--debugcrossduplicates : Prints which messages (UIDs) are skipped with
--skipcrossduplicates and in what other folders
they are.

--pipemess cmd : Apply this cmd command to each message content
before the copy.
--pipemess cmd : and this one, etc.
With several --pipemess, the output of each cmd
command (STDOUT) is given to the input (STDIN)
of the next command.
For example,
--pipemess cmd1 --pipemess cmd2 --pipemess cmd3
is like a Unix pipe:
"cat message | cmd1 | cmd2 | cmd3"

--disarmreadreceipts : Disarms read receipts (host2 Exchange issue)

--regexmess reg : Apply the whole regex to each message before transfer.
Example: 's/\000/ /g' # to replace null characters
by spaces.
--regexmess reg : and this one, etc.

--truncmess int : truncates messages when their size exceeds the int
value, specified in bytes. Good to sync too big
messages or to "suppress" attachments.
Have in mind that this way, messages become
uncoherent somehow.

--nodry1 : makes imapsync fetching messages from host1,
even when --dry is on.
--dry --nodry1 is useful when debugging transformation
options like --pipemess or --regexmess

OPTIONS/labels
Gmail presents labels as folders in imap. Imapsync can accelerate the sync
by syncing X-GM-LABELS; it will avoid to transferring messages when they
are already on host2 in another folder.

--synclabels : Syncs also Gmail labels when a message is copied to host2.
Activated by default with --gmail1 --gmail2 unless
--nosynclabels is added.

--resynclabels : Resyncs Gmail labels when a message is already on host2.
Activated by default with --gmail1 --gmail2 unless
--noresynclabels is added.

For Gmail syncs, see also: https://imapsync.lami-
ral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Gmail.txt

OPTIONS/flags
If you encounter flag problems, see also:
https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Flags.txt

--regexflag reg : Apply the whole regex to each flags list.
Example: 's/"Junk"//g' # to remove "Junk" flag.
--regexflag reg : then this one, etc.

--resyncflags : Resync flags for already transferred messages.
On by default.
--noresyncflags : Do not resync flags for already transferred messages.
It may be useful when a user has already started to play
with its host2 account.

--filterbuggyflags : Filter flags known to be buggy and generators of errors
"BAD Invalid system flag" or "NO APPEND Invalid flag list".

OPTIONS/deletions
--delete1 : Deletes messages on host1 server after a successful
transfer. Option --delete1 has the following behavior:
It marks messages with the IMAP flag
\Deleted, then the messages are deleted with an
EXPUNGE IMAP command. If expunging after each message
slows down the sync too much, then use
--noexpungeaftereach to speed up, expunging will then be
done only twice per folder, one at the beginning and
one at the end of a folder sync.

--expunge1 : Expunge messages on host1 just before syncing a folder.
Expunge is done per folder.
Expunge aims to really delete messages marked \Deleted.
An expunge is also done after each message is copied
if option --delete1 is set (unless --noexpungeaftereach).

--noexpunge1 : Do not expunge messages on host1.

--delete1emptyfolders : Deletes empty folders on host1, INBOX excepted.
Useful with --delete1 since what remains on host1
is only what failed to be synced.

--delete2 : Delete messages in the host2 account that are not in
the host1 account. Useful for backup or pre-sync.
--delete2 implies --uidexpunge2

--delete2duplicates : Deletes messages in host2 that are duplicates in host2.
Works only without --useuid since duplicates are
detected with a header part of each message.
NB: --delete2duplicates is far less violent than --delete2
since it removes only duplicates.

--delete2folders : Delete folders in host2 that are not in host1.
Only the selected folders are considered; all folders by
default but not all with --exclude --include --folder etc.
For safety, first try it like this, it is safe:
--delete2folders --dry --justfolders --nofoldersizes
and see what folders will be deleted.

--delete2foldersonly reg : Delete only folders matching the regex reg.
Example: --delete2foldersonly "/^Junk$|^INBOX.Junk$/"
This option activates --delete2folders

--delete2foldersbutnot reg : Do not delete folders matching the regex rex.
Example: --delete2foldersbutnot "/Tasks$|Contacts$|Foo$/"
This option activates --delete2folders

--noexpunge2 : Do not expunge messages on host2.
--nouidexpunge2 : Do not uidexpunge messages on the host2 account
that are not on the host1 account.

OPTIONS/dates
If you encounter problems with dates, see also:
https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Dates.txt

--syncinternaldates : Sets the internal dates on host2 as the same as host1.
Turned on by default. The internal date is the date
when a message arrives on a host (Unix mtime usually).
--idatefromheader : Sets the internal dates on host2 to the same as the
ones in "Date:" headers.

OPTIONS/message selection
--maxsize int : Skip messages larger (or equal) than int bytes
--minsize int : Skip messages smaller (or equal) than int bytes

--maxage int : Skip messages older than int days.
The final stats (skipped) don't count the older messages.
See also --minage
--minage int : Skip messages newer than int days.
The final stats (skipped) don't count newer messages
What you can do (+ zone are the messages selected):
past|----maxage+++++++++++++++>now
past|+++++++++++++++minage---->now
past|----maxage+++++minage---->now (intersection)
past|++++minage-----maxage++++>now (union, magic!)

--search str : Selects only messages returned by this IMAP SEARCH
command. Applied on both sides.
For a complete set of what can be searched, see
https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Messages_Selection.txt

--search1 str : Same as --search but for selecting host1 messages only.
--search2 str : Same as --search but for selecting host2 messages only.
So --search CRIT equals --search1 CRIT --search2 CRIT

--noabletosearch : Makes --minage and --maxage options use the internal
dates given by a FETCH imap command instead of the
"Date:" header. The internal date is the arrival date
in the mailbox.
--noabletosearch equals --noabletosearch1 --noabletosearch2

--noabletosearch1 : Like --noabletosearch but for host1 only.
--noabletosearch2 : Like --noabletosearch but for host2 only.

--maxlinelength int : skip messages with a line length longer than int bytes.
RFC 2822 says it must be no more than 1000 bytes, but
real-life servers and email clients do much more.

--useheader str : Use this header to compare messages on both sides.
Example: "Message-Id" or "Received" or "Date".
--useheader str and this one, etc.

--syncduplicates : Sync also duplicates. Off by default.

--usecache : Use cache to speed up next syncs. Off by default.
--nousecache : Do not use cache. Caveat: --useuid --nousecache creates
duplicates on multiple runs.

--useuid : Use UIDs instead of headers as a criterion to recognize
messages. Option --usecache is then implied unless
--nousecache is used.

OPTIONS/miscellaneous
--syncacls : Synchronizes ACLs (Access Control Lists).
ACLs in IMAP are not standardized; be careful,
since one ACL code on one side may signify something
else on the other side.
--nosyncacls : Does not synchronize ACLs. This is the default.

--addheader : When a message has no headers to be identified,
--addheader adds a "Message-Id" header,
like "Message-Id: 12345@imapsync", where 12345
is the imap UID of the message on the host1 folder.
Useful to sync folders "Sent" or "Draft".

OPTIONS/debugging
--debug : Show debug notes.
--debugfolders : Show debug notes for the folders part only.
--debugcontent : Show content of the messages transferred. Huge output.
--debugflags : Show debug notes for flags.
--debugimap1 : Show IMAP notes for host1. Very verbose.
--debugimap2 : Show IMAP notes for host2. Very verbose.
--debugimap : Show IMAP notes for host1 and host2. Twice very verbose.
--debugmemory : Show the memory consumption after each copy.

--errorsmax int : Exit when int number of errors is reached.
The default is 50 errors to quit.

--tests : Run local non-regression tests.
Exit code 0 means everything is ok.

--testslive : Run a live test with test1.lamiral.info imap server.
Useful to check the basics. It needs an internet connection.

--testslive6 : Run a live test with tests1ipv6.lamiral.info imap server.
Useful to check the IPv6 connectivity. Needs internet.

OPTIONS/specific
--gmail1 : sets --host1 to Gmail and other options. See FAQ.Gmail.txt
--gmail2 : sets --host2 to Gmail and other options. See FAQ.Gmail.txt

--office1 : sets --host1 to Office365 and other options. See FAQ.Office365.txt
--office2 : sets --host2 to Office365 and other options. See FAQ.Office365.txt

--exchange1 : sets options for Exchange. See FAQ.Exchange.txt
--exchange2 : sets options for Exchange. See FAQ.Exchange.txt

--domino1 : sets options for Domino. See FAQ.Domino.txt
--domino2 : sets options for Domino. See FAQ.Domino.txt

OPTIONS/behavior
--timeout1 flo : Connection timeout in seconds for host1.
Default is 120 and 0 means no timeout at all.
--timeout2 flo : Connection timeout in seconds for host2.
Default is 120 and 0 means no timeout at all.

Caveat emptor. Under CGI context, you may encounter a timeout
from the web server, killing imapsync and the imap connections.
See the document INSTALL.OnlineUI.txt and search
for "Timeout" for how to deal with this issue.

--keepalive1 : https://metacpan.org/pod/Mail::IMAPClient#Keepalive
Some firewalls and network gears like to timeout connections
prematurely if the connection sits idle.
This option enables SO_KEEPALIVE on the host1 socket.
--keepalive1 is on by default since imapsync release 2.169
Use --nokeepalive1 to disable it.

--keepalive2 : Same as --keepalive2 but for host2.
Use --nokeepalive2 to disable it.

--maxmessagespersecond flo : limits the average number of messages
transferred per second.

--maxbytespersecond int : limits the average transfer rate per second.
--maxbytesafter int : starts --maxbytespersecond limitation only after
--maxbytesafter amount of data transferred.

--maxsleep flo : do not sleep more than int seconds.
On by default, 2 seconds max, like --maxsleep 2

--abort : terminates a previous call still running.
It uses the pidfile to know what process to abort.

--exitwhenover int : Stop syncing and exits when int total bytes
transferred is reached.

--version : Print only the software version.
--noreleasecheck : Do not check for any new imapsync release.
--releasecheck : Check for new imapsync release.
It is an HTTP GET request to
http://imapsync.lamiral.info/prj/imapsync/VERSION

--emailreport1 : Put the email final report in host1 INBOX
--emailreport2 : Put the email final report in host2 INBOX

--noemailreport1 : Do not put the email final report in host1 INBOX
--noemailreport2 : Do not put the email final report in host2 INBOX

--noid : Do not send/receive the IMAP "ID" command
to the imap servers.

--justconnect : Just connect to both servers and print useful
information. Need only --host1 and --host2 options.
Obsolete since "imapsync --host1 imaphost" alone
implies --justconnect

--justlogin : Just login to both host1 and host2 with users
credentials, then exit.

--justfolders : Do only things about folders (ignore messages).

--help : print this help.

Example: to synchronize the IMAP account "test1" on "test1.lamiral.info"
to the imap account "test2" on "test2.lamiral.info"
with the test1 account password being "secret1"
and the test2 account password being "secret2"

imapsync \
--host1 test1.lamiral.info --user1 test1 --password1 secret1 \
--host2 test2.lamiral.info --user2 test2 --password2 secret2

SECURITY
You can use --passfile1 instead of --password1 to mention the password,
since it is safer. With the --password1 option, on Linux, any user on your
host can see the password by using the 'ps auxwwww' command. Using a vari-
able (like IMAPSYNC_PASSWORD1) is also dangerous because of the 'ps
auxwwwwe' command. So, saving the password in a well-protected file (600 or
rw-------) is the best solution.

Imapsync activates SSL/TLS encryption by default, if possible.

What detailed behavior is under this "if possible"?

Imapsync activates the SSL/TLS mechanism if the well-known port imaps port
(993) is open on the imap servers. If the imaps port is closed, then imap-
sync opens a normal (clear) connection on port 143. But then it looks for
STARTTLS support in the CAPABILITY list of the servers. If STARTTLS is sup-
ported, then imapsync goes to an SSL/TLS encryption with the STARTTLS IMAP
command.

If the automatic SSL/TLS detections fail then imapsync uses clear-text com-
munication. Clear-text communication does not protect against sniffing ac-
tivities on the network, especially passwords.

If you want to force SSL/TLS just use --ssl1, --ssl2 or --tls1 --tls2.
Imapsync won't go to clear-text communication with any of these options.

See also the document FAQ.Security.txt in the FAQ.d/ directory or at
https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Security.txt

EXIT STATUS
Imapsync will exit with a 0 status (return code) if everything goes well.
Otherwise, it exits with a non-zero status. That's classical Unix behavior.
Here is the list of the exit code values (an integer between 0 and 255).
In Bourne Shells, this exit code value can be retrieved within the variable
value "$?" if you read it just after the imapsync call.

The names reflect their meaning:

EX_OK => 0 ; #/* successful termination */
EX_USAGE => 64 ; #/* command line usage error */
EX_NOINPUT => 66 ; #/* cannot open input */
EX_UNAVAILABLE => 69 ; #/* service unavailable */
EX_SOFTWARE => 70 ; #/* internal software error */
EXIT_CATCH_ALL => 1 ; # Any other error
EXIT_BY_SIGNAL => 6 ; # Should be 128+n where n is the sig_num
EXIT_BY_FILE => 7 ;
EXIT_PID_FILE_ERROR => 8 ;
EXIT_CONNECTION_FAILURE => 10 ;
EXIT_TLS_FAILURE => 12 ;
EXIT_AUTHENTICATION_FAILURE => 16 ;
EXIT_SUBFOLDER1_NO_EXISTS => 21 ;
EXIT_WITH_ERRORS => 111 ;
EXIT_WITH_ERRORS_MAX => 112 ;
EXIT_OVERQUOTA => 113 ;
EXIT_ERR_APPEND => 114 ;
EXIT_ERR_FETCH => 115 ;
EXIT_ERR_CREATE => 116 ;
EXIT_ERR_SELECT => 117 ;
EXIT_TRANSFER_EXCEEDED => 118 ;
EXIT_ERR_APPEND_VIRUS => 119 ;
EXIT_ERR_FLAGS => 120 ;
EXIT_ERR_SEARCH => 121 ;
EXIT_TESTS_FAILED => 254 ; # Like Test::More API
EXIT_CONNECTION_FAILURE_HOST1 => 101 ;
EXIT_CONNECTION_FAILURE_HOST2 => 102 ;
EXIT_AUTHENTICATION_FAILURE_USER1 => 161 ;
EXIT_AUTHENTICATION_FAILURE_USER2 => 162 ;

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT
Imapsync is a free, open, and public but not always gratis software tool
covered by the NOLIMIT Public License, now called NLPL. See the LICENSE
file included in the distribution, or just read the following simple sen-
tence as it IS the license text:

"No limits to do anything with this work and this license."

In case it is not long enough, I repeat:

"No limits to do anything with this work and this license."

Look at https://imapsync.lamiral.info/LICENSE

AUTHOR
Gilles LAMIRAL <gilles@lamiral.info>

Good feedback is always welcome. Bad feedback is very often welcome.

Gilles LAMIRAL earns his living by writing, installing, configuring, and
sometimes teaching free, open, and often gratis software. Imapsync used to
be always gratis, but now it is only often gratis. It's because imapsync is
sold by its author, your servitor, a good way to maintain and support free
open public software tools over decades.

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS
See https://imapsync.lamiral.info/FAQ.d/FAQ.Reporting_Bugs.txt

IMAP SERVERS supported
See https://imapsync.lamiral.info/S/imapservers.shtml

HUGE MIGRATION
If you have many mailboxes to migrate, think about a little shell program.
Write a file called file.txt (for example) containing users and passwords.
The separator used in this example is ';'

The file.txt file contains:

user001_1;password001_1;user001_2;password001_2 user002_1;pass-
word002_1;user002_2;password002_2 user003_1;password003_1;user003_2;pass-
word003_2 user004_1;password004_1;user004_2;password004_2 user005_1;pass-
word005_1;user005_2;password005_2 ...

On Unix, the shell program can be:

{ while IFS=';' read u1 p1 u2 p2; do
imapsync --host1 imap.side1.org --user1 "$u1" --password1 "$p1" \
--host2 imap.side2.org --user2 "$u2" --password2 "$p2" ...
done ; } < file.txt

On Windows, the batch program can be:

FOR /F "tokens=1,2,3,4 delims=; eol=#" %%G IN (file.txt) DO imapsync ^
--host1 imap.side1.org --user1 %%G --password1 %%H ^
--host2 imap.side2.org --user2 %%I --password2 %%J ...

The ... have to be replaced by nothing or any imapsync option. Welcome to
shell or batch programming!

You will find already written scripts at https://imapsync.lamiral.info/ex-
amples/

INSTALL
Imapsync works under any Unix with Perl.

Imapsync works under most Windows (2000, XP, Vista, Seven, Eight,
Ten, Eleven, and all Server releases 2000, 2003, 2008 and R2, 2012
and R2, 2016) as a standalone binary software called imapsync.exe,
usually launched from a batch file to avoid always typing the
options. See https://imapsync.lamiral.info/README_Windows.txt

Imapsync works under OS X as a standalone binary software called
imapsync_bin_Darwin See
https://imapsync.lamiral.info/INSTALL.d/INSTALL.Darwin.txt

Purchase the latest imapsync at
https://imapsync.lamiral.info/

You'll receive a link to a compressed tarball called
imapsync-2.xxx.tgz, where 2.xxx is the version number. Untar the
tarball where you want (on Unix):

tar xzvf imapsync-2.xxx.tgz

Go into the directory imapsync-x.xx and read the INSTALL file. As
mentioned at https://imapsync.lamiral.info/#install, the INSTALL file
can also be found at
https://imapsync.lamiral.info/INSTALL.d/INSTALL.ANY.txt It is now
split into several files for each system
https://imapsync.lamiral.info/INSTALL.d/

CONFIGURATION
There is no specific configuration file for imapsync; everything is speci-
fied by the command line parameters and the default behavior.

HACKING
Feel free to hack imapsync as the NOLIMIT license permits it.

SIMILAR SOFTWARE
See https://imapsync.lamiral.info/S/external.shtml

HISTORY
I initially wrote imapsync in July 2001 because an enterprise, called
BaSystemes, paid me to install a new imap server without losing huge old
mailboxes located in a far-away remote imap server, accessible by an often
broken low-bandwidth ISDN link.

I had to verify every mailbox was well transferred, all folders, and all
messages, without wasting bandwidth or creating duplicates upon resyncs.
The imapsync design was made with the beautiful rsync command in mind.

Imapsync originated as a patch to the copy_folder.pl script. The script
copy_folder.pl comes from the Mail-IMAPClient-2.1.3 perl module tarball
source (more precisely, in the examples/ directory of the Mail-IMAPClient
tarball).

So many changes have happened since then that I wonder if any lines of the
original copy_folder.pl in the imapsync source code remain.

perl v5.42.3 2026-08-29 IMAPSYNC(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=imapsync&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.1.quarterly>

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