Email preservation

Main Page > Development > Development documentation > Email preservation

These are requirements for email preservation in Archivematica:

• Preservation format
  • Proprietary closed formats such as PST should be converted to open preservation format
  • Preservation format should be text or xml based
  • Email messages, calendars, contacts and other related entities should be normalized to the preservation format
  • Preservation format should preserve the significant characteristics of the email messages
  • Preservation format should be capable of being viewed as an access format or should be capable of generating an access format
• Attachments
  • Attachments should be converted to preservation and access formats
  • Converted attachments should retain links to emails to which they were attached
• Access format
  • Access format should be human-readable and should be recognizable as email
  • Access format should allow simple, intuitive navigation between messages, attachments, email boxes, contacts, calendars
  • Access format should allow navigation to normalized access copies of attachments

Email preservation research

Preserving Email] (DPC Technology Watch Report 11-01, ISSN 2048-7916, Digital Preservation Coalition 2011), Chris Prom, University of Illinois.

• "In general, if an institution can get email into one of the MBOX or EML formats, it has taken a very big step on the road toward preserving email." (p.23)