Do I need to turn anything on at Gandi?

No. IMAP is enabled by default on Gandi mailboxes. All you need is the full address and the mailbox password.

What about aliases and forwards?

An alias does not store any email, so there is nothing to back up. Add the mailbox it forwards to instead.

How long do you keep emails?

At least two years by default. The account administrator can pick 1, 2, 5 or 10 years for each organisation. For that whole time, an email removed from your server stays in the backup, where you can read and download it.

Where are the backups stored?

In France, on OVHcloud object storage replicated across three availability zones.

Gandi mail backup

Back up your Gandi mailboxes

Gandi gives you dependable mailboxes alongside your domains. If a user deleted an email last month, though, Gandi cannot get it back for you. istorel connects over IMAP and keeps the messages that have gone from the server.

Start with one mailbox See pricing

What Gandi does, and what is left to you

Gandi hosts the mailbox, filters spam and provides a clean IMAP service. Email comes bundled with the domain, which is handy. The flip side is that when the domain changes owner or host, the mailboxes and their history have to be moved as well.

Deleted email is your responsibility. Once the trash is emptied, a message deleted three months ago is gone, unless a backup copied it first.

The settings

There is nothing to install at Gandi. istorel connects like any mail app, with read-only access.

Field	Value
IMAP server	`mail.gandi.net`
Port	`993`, SSL/TLS
Username	the full mailbox address
Password	the mailbox password

If you ever change host

This is another good reason to back up a Gandi mailbox. Mail migrations usually go fine, but small things slip through: a forgotten folder, a shared mailbox nobody mentioned, an account closed a day too early.

If you took a backup before the move, nothing is lost. You can still browse and search it afterwards, whichever host you end up with.

Questions

Do I need to turn anything on at Gandi?: No. IMAP is enabled by default on Gandi mailboxes. All you need is the full address and the mailbox password.
What about aliases and forwards?: An alias does not store any email, so there is nothing to back up. Add the mailbox it forwards to instead.
How long do you keep emails?: At least two years by default. The account administrator can pick 1, 2, 5 or 10 years for each organisation. For that whole time, an email removed from your server stays in the backup, where you can read and download it.
Where are the backups stored?: In France, on OVHcloud object storage replicated across three availability zones.

Start with one mailbox

Connecting a mailbox takes about two minutes. If istorel is not right for you, we refund your first invoice within 14 days.

Open an account