DreamHost provides several ways to back up email, including its account backup service, email clients, POP, and webmail export. This guide explains how to backup DreamHost email and what backup formats are available. Let’s start with the basics.

What Is DreamHost Backup?

A DreamHost backup means creating a local copy of your mailbox so you can access it without an email client or internet, even if your DreamHost account data is lost or hacked. 

For email users, the most important part is the mailbox data. A mailbox can contain:

  • Inbox messages
  • Sent messages
  • Drafts
  • Archived emails
  • Custom folders
  • Email attachments
  • Message headers and content

DreamHost provides multiple ways to create a mailbox backup. The account backup service can download email accounts in compressed files. Additionally, webmail and email clients provide more selective export options.

Related resource: IMAP Authentication Failed

Why Should You Backup DreamHost Email?

Cloud data is always at risk of hacking or unexpected losses. Having a local backup makes the account’s data accessible even if data is lost or deleted from the server.  

Not only one, but there are many reasons why you should backup your DreamHost email:

  • DreamHost does not guarantee that every server-side backup will always be available, so keeping your own local backup provides a safety net for your emails.
  • If an important email is permanently deleted, a local backup can help you access that email again.
  • POP downloads emails from the Inbox only, so emails saved in Sent, Drafts, Archive, and other folders will not be included.
  • Local backup ensures you can move your DreamHost emails to another email service without losing your old messages.
  • Keeping a separate copy of your emails means you can access them even if the original messages are not available in your DreamHost mailbox.

So, keeping a local backup is important, but it is recommended to learn what protection DreamHost already provides for your emails. Next, I’ll explain whether DreamHost automatically backs up your email, and how its backup system works.

Does DreamHost Automatically Backup Email?

DreamHost keeps backups of email accounts and can restore emails when needed. However, DreamHost does not guarantee that every backup will always be available.

So, that’s why keeping your own backup is necessary for accessibility and restoration if anything goes wrong. 

DreamHost also recommends keeping your own copy of important emails.

Let me clarify this distinction simply:

  • Server-side backup is a copy of your emails kept by DreamHost.
  • Local backup is a copy of your emails that you download and save yourself.

Overall, for important emails, it is necessary to have your own replica of them, instead of depending only on server-side backup.  

How to Backup DreamHost Email?

Before I share the methods for DreamHost backup, it is important to know that DreamHost webmail has a 50 MB export limit and requires you to export each folder separately, which can be difficult for large mailboxes. 

DreamHost account backups store emails in Maildir format, so the backed-up messages need extra steps before you can open them normally. However, you can bypass these limitations by opting for an automated method, which I’ll share further. 

DreamHost currently provides several options for creating backups:

  1. DreamHost account backup service
  2. Local/offline storage through an email client
  3. POP download
  4. Webmail export
  5. Email-client export

Each method works differently, so the right option depends on whether you want to back up an entire mailbox or only selected emails.

Also read: Archive IMAP Email

#Method 1. Backup DreamHost Email Using the Account Backup Service

The DreamHost account backup service is useful when you want to download the email data associated with your account.

According to DreamHost, the account backup service can include users, databases, and mailboxes. The backup is saved as a compressed archive, which you can “Extract” in the desired folder. 

Now, let me share the working steps for the same:

  1. Sign in to your DreamHost panel.
  2. Open the Manage Account page.
  3. Find the Back Up Your Account section.
  4. Select Create a Backup.
  5. Click Back me up!
  6. Wait for DreamHost to prepare the backup.
  7. Download the generated backup to your computer.
  8. Afterwards, decompress the downloaded file. 

DreamHost says that account backups can be downloaded for 14 days after they are created. You can download the backup using a web browser or the command line. Moreover, the downloaded account backup uses compressed archive formats such as .tar.gz. When you decompress that file, you will find your DreamHost account data in Maildir format. 

This option is suitable when you want an account-level backup rather than exporting a few selected emails. For selective email backups, you can consider the next approach. 

#Method 2. Save DreamHost Emails to Local Storage

Another way to create a DreamHost email backup is to connect the mailbox to an email application and move or copy messages into a local folder.

For this, follow this step-by-step procedure: 

  1. Add your DreamHost email account to an email client using IMAP.
  2. Use imap.dreamhost.com as the incoming mail server and 993 as the secure IMAP port.
  3. Enter your DreamHost email address and password to connect to the mailbox.
  4. Wait for the email client to load your mailbox and its folders.
  5. Create a local or offline folder in the email client. For example, in Apple Mail, create a folder under On My Mac.
  6. Select the emails you want to back up from your DreamHost mailbox.
  7. Drag the selected emails into the local folder.
  8. Open the local folder and check that the emails are available there.

DreamHost says that local or offline storage uses space on your computer. Also, if you move emails to a local folder, they are removed from the DreamHost server. If you want to keep them on DreamHost, copy the emails instead of moving them.

#Method 3. Backup DreamHost Email Using POP

POP can download email messages from your DreamHost mailbox to an email application. 

DreamHost states that a POP connection downloads messages from the Inbox only. Messages stored in folders such as Sent, Drafts, old messages, or other custom folders are not automatically downloaded through POP. To include them, they must first be moved into the Inbox.

  1. Open your email client and add your DreamHost email account.
  2. Select POP as the account type.
  3. Enter pop.dreamhost.com as the incoming mail server.
  4. Set the incoming port to 995 and enable SSL.
  5. Enter your DreamHost email address and password to complete the account setup.
  6. In the POP settings, disable Keep a copy of email on the server if you want the downloaded emails to be stored only on your computer. If you want to keep them on DreamHost too, leave this option enabled.
  7. Start the email download. POP will download the messages from your Inbox to your computer.
  8. To download emails from Sent, Drafts, Archive, or other folders, move those emails into the Inbox first. POP cannot download them directly from those folders.

#Method 4. Export DreamHost Emails From Webmail

DreamHost webmail includes an export option that lets you download selected messages from a mailbox folder. This method is useful when you want to export specific folders. 

The steps to backup DreamHost from webmail are:

  1. Sign in to DreamHost webmail.
  2. Open the folder containing the messages.
  3. Select the emails to export.
  4. Click More.
  5. Select the appropriate download format.
  6. Save the exported file to your computer.
  7. Repeat the process for other folders if required.

DreamHost currently supports the following export options through webmail:

  • .eml for a single email
  • .mbox inside a .zip archive for multiple selected emails
  • Maildir format inside a .zip archive for multiple emails

There is a 50 MB export limit for a webmail backup. Larger folders may need to be exported in smaller batches or through another backup method. Therefore, if you have a large mailbox with many folders, manually exporting every folder can become time-consuming.

Additional resource: I Accidentally Deleted My Mail App

#Method 5. Export DreamHost Email Using an Email Client

Email applications can also provide their own export functions.

For example, you can also use Mac Mail to save your DreamHost emails on your Mac. First, add your DreamHost email account to Mac Mail using IMAP. After the emails are loaded, you can export the required mailbox folders and save them on your Mac.

Follow these steps:

  1. Open Mail on your Mac.
  2. Select the DreamHost mailbox or folder to back up.
  3. From the top menu, click Mailbox.
  4. Select Export Mailbox.
  5. Choose where you want to save the exported mailbox.
  6. Click Choose to start the export.

The exported mailbox is saved in MBOX format, which can later be imported into a compatible email application like Thunderbird. 

#Method 6. Backup DreamHost Emails Using Automated Software

If you want to back up your entire DreamHost mailbox without exporting folders or emails one by one, you can use SysTools Email Backup Tool. The tool can be useful for users who have a large number of emails and want a simpler way to save their DreamHost mailbox.

Instead of manually exporting different folders, you can select the required mailbox data and start the backup with these features:

  • Select specific folders or back up the entire mailbox.
  • Save emails in multiple formats such as PST, EML, MSG, MBOX, and PDF.
  • Include email attachments along with the messages.
  • Apply date filters to back up emails from a specific time period.
  • Maintain folder structure while saving mailbox data.
  • Compatible with both Windows 10/11 (64-bit) and macOS (Big Sur (11), Monterey (12), Ventura (13), Sonoma (14), Sequoia (15), and above).

Try this for free and start the DreamHost email backup by following these steps:

  • Step 1. Run the utility and select your desired output file format.

open solution

  • Step 2. You can apply a Date Filter for specific data export. 

Date Filter

  • Step 3. Now, select the IMAP Server as DreamHost.

Select IMAP Server

  • Step 4. Afterwards, click on the Backup Folder Path option to select the desired location to save the resulting files. 

Backup Folder Path

  • Step 5. Press the Start Backup button to begin the DreamHost backup.

Dreamhost Backup

How to Access Emails From a DreamHost Maildir Backup?

If you use the DreamHost account backup service, you can’t open the resulting files like .eml because they are in Maildir format, which can’t be opened with one click. 

Let’s understand DreamHost’s documented process:

  1. Download the account backup.
  2. Decompress the .tar.gz archive.
  3. Locate the Maildir folder associated with the email address.
  4. Locate the individual message files.
  5. Add the .eml extension to the message files.
  6. Open or import the resulting EML files into compatible email software.

DreamHost provides a command-line method for adding the .eml extension to multiple files at once. You can use that if needed. 

What Is DreamHost Backup Database?

Email backup and database backup are separate processes.

A DreamHost backup database refers to creating a copy of a MySQL database hosted through DreamHost. DreamHost provides several database backup options, including its panel backup service, phpMyAdmin, and SSH-based methods.

The database backup is generally saved as an SQL file.

How to Backup a DreamHost Database Using phpMyAdmin?
  1. Sign in to phpMyAdmin.
  2. Select the database to back up.
  3. Open the Export tab.
  4. Select Quick or Custom export.
  5. Select SQL as the format.
  6. Click Go.
  7. Save the generated .sql file.

Can you back up only one database table? Yes. In phpMyAdmin, select the database, select the required table, open Export, choose the export method and format, and download the resulting file.

Author’s Verdict

DreamHost provides several ways to back up email, but each method has its own limits. 

For users who want to back up a complete DreamHost mailbox in one go, a dedicated solution like SysTools can be a simpler option. It can save emails and attachments together and provide multiple output formats for easier access and migration.