I’m thinking of putting all my email archive (55k messages, about 6 GB) on a private IMAP server but I’m wondering how to access it remotely when needed.

Obviously I’d need a webmail client but is there any that can deal with that amount of data and also be able to search through To, From, Subject and body efficiently?

I can also set up a standalone search engine of some sort (the messages are stored one per file in regular folders) but then how do I view the message once I locate it?

I can also expose the IMAP server itself and see if I can find a mobile app that fits the bill but I’d rather not do that. A webmail client would be much easier to reverse proxy and protect.

  • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    I use SnappyMail (a fork of Rainloop) for my IMAP webmail client.

    With IMAP, everything stays on the server, so the client doesn’t have to worry about the inbox size. Searching is also done server-side, so the client just needs to send a query.

    The performance will ultimately come down to the performance of your IMAP server.

    • SayCyberOnceMore@feddit.ukEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      +1 An old ISP of mine still uses RoundCube for their webmail, so if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for self hosters.

      • Dehydrated@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        My company uses Roundcube for Webmail and offers Thunderbird as a native client. It’s always great to see free software in a corporate environment.