<aside> 💾

If you'd like a personal local copy of your NATCA email — to reduce storage space requirements, to keep historical mail offline, or before any major change — this page walks through how to do it from the most common mail apps.

</aside>

Why back up?

Your NATCA Email mailbox is backed up on our end — so a backup isn't required. But there are good reasons to keep a personal copy:

• Rackspace retirement: When your @natca.net account is retired, mail that hasn't been migrated won't transfer automatically. Download anything important before cutover.
• NATCA Mail Archive: older mail moved off your main mailbox is stored on the archive server. If you lose access to your account, that data is retained for a limited window before permanent deletion — see If you lose access to NATCA Email for the exact timeline.
• Leaving NATCA: Once your membership ends, your @natca.org account will eventually be deactivated. Back up anything you want to keep before that happens.
• Peace of mind: A local copy is yours regardless of what happens to the server.

A local backup is a read-only snapshot. It won't sync new mail after the export, and it won't help you send or receive. It's an offline record, not a second mailbox.

Apple Mail (macOS)

Outlook for Windows — PST export

Outlook for Mac — OLM export

Gmail as an IMAP client

Thunderbird — free, all platforms

MailStore Home — free, Windows only

Contacts & calendars