# imapsync/imapsync

Imapsync is an IMAP transfers tool. The purpose of imapsync is to migrate IMAP accounts or to backup IMAP accounts. IMAP is one of the three current standard protocols to access mailboxes, the two others are POP3 and HTTP with webmails, webmails are often tied to an IMAP server. Upstream website is

Repository: https://github.com/imapsync/imapsync
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/imapsync
Homepage: http://imapsync.lamiral.info
Language: Shell
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: imap, imaps, imapsync, mailbox, emails, perl, migration
Last push: 2026-07-23T14:45:22+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 75/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 94, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5665, "days_push": 41, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4130, forks 532 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:36.080760+00:00)

## What it is
Imapsync is a command-line tool written in Perl that performs incremental, recursive, duplicate-free transfers between two IMAP mailboxes. It is used to migrate or back up email accounts across IMAP servers, preserving folder hierarchies and message flags.

## Use cases
- migrate email from one imap server to another
- backup my imap mailbox
- transfer gmail messages to another provider
- sync two mailboxes without duplicates
- bulk migrate many email accounts
- copy emails between servers after switching hosting

## When to choose
- you need incremental, resumable IMAP transfers that avoid duplicates
- you want to preserve folder hierarchy and message flags during migration
- you need a scriptable CLI or Docker-based tool for bulk mailbox migrations
- you want a mature tool with broad IMAP server compatibility

## When to avoid
- you need a graphical interface for one-off transfers
- your servers only support POP3 or webmail without IMAP access
- you need two-way bidirectional sync rather than one-way transfer
- you want a fully free hosted service for mailboxes over 3 GB

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: email, backup, developer-tools
- domain: email, self-hosted
- platform: windows, cli, cross-platform
- tags: imap, mailbox-migration, email-backup, perl, incremental-sync, email-transfer, automation, linux, macos, docker

## Member repositories
- imapsync/imapsync (main) score 75

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:36.080760+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:23:03.471873+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/imapsync/imapsync (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:36.080760+00:00, sha 743d73b74018)
  - homepage: http://imapsync.lamiral.info (fetched 2026-08-29T09:15:15.231077+00:00, sha e4430138ce1b)
  - site_page: https://imapsync.lamiral.info/X (fetched 2026-08-29T09:15:15.241433+00:00, sha 0adf64ba3f29)
  - site_page: https://imapsync.lamiral.info/S/news.shtml (fetched 2026-08-29T09:15:15.243816+00:00, sha 3193a8b0f37b)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.