Financial contributors: [](https://opencollective.com/offlineimap-organization)
[offlineimap]: http://github.com/OfflineIMAP/offlineimap
[offlineimap3]: http://github.com/OfflineIMAP/offlineimap3
[website]: http://www.offlineimap.org
[wiki]: http://github.com/OfflineIMAP/offlineimap/wiki
[blog]: http://www.offlineimap.org/posts.html
Links:
* Official github code repository: [offlineimap]
* Website: [website]
* Wiki: [wiki]
* Blog: [blog]
# OfflineIMAP
***"Get the emails where you need them."***
> IMPORTANT NOTE: This repository is for python2 only. The support for offlineimap3
> is happening in [Official offlineimap for python3][offlineimap3].
>
> I'll still lazily maintain this legacy offlineimap but users should definitely go with
> offlineimap3.
- [Official offlineimap for python3][offlineimap3].
- [Official offlineimap for python2][offlineimap].
## Description
OfflineIMAP is software that downloads your email mailbox(es) as **local
Maildirs**. OfflineIMAP will synchronize both sides via *IMAP*.
## Why should I use OfflineIMAP?
IMAP's main downside is that you have to **trust** your email provider to
not lose your email. While certainly unlikely, it's not impossible.
With OfflineIMAP, you can download your Mailboxes and make you own backups of
your [Maildir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maildir).
This allows reading your email offline without the need for your mail
reader (MUA) to support IMAP operations. Need an attachment from a
message without internet connection? No problem, the message is still there.
## Project status and future
The [offlineimap][offlineimap] project was forked to
[offlineimap3][offlineimap3] to support python3. Contributions are welcome to
this project.
## Contributors
### Code Contributors
This project exists thanks to all the people who contribute. [[Contribute](CONTRIBUTING.md)].
### Financial Contributors
Become a financial contributor and help us sustain our community. [[Contribute](https://opencollective.com/offlineimap-organization/contribute)]
#### Individuals
#### Organizations
Support this project with your organization. Your logo will show up here with a link to your website. [[Contribute](https://opencollective.com/offlineimap-organization/contribute)]
## License
GNU General Public License v2.
## Downloads
You should first check if your distribution already packages OfflineIMAP for you.
Downloads releases as [tarball or zipball](https://github.com/OfflineIMAP/offlineimap/tags).
If you are running Linux Os, you can install offlineimap with:
- openSUSE `zypper in offlineimap`
- Arch Linux `pacman -S offlineimap`
- fedora `dnf install offlineimap`
## Feedbacks and contributions
**The user discussions, development, announcements and all the exciting stuff take
place on the mailing list.** While not mandatory to send emails, you can
[subscribe here](http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/offlineimap-project).
Bugs, issues and contributions can be requested to both the mailing list or the
[official Github project][offlineimap]. Provide the following information:
- system/distribution (with version)
- offlineimap version (`offlineimap -V`)
- Python version
- server name or domain
- CLI options
- Configuration file (offlineimaprc)
- pythonfile (if any)
- Logs, error
- Steps to reproduce the error
## The community
* OfflineIMAP's main site is the [project page at Github][offlineimap].
* There is the [OfflineIMAP community's website][website].
* And finally, [the wiki][wiki].
## Requirements & dependencies
* Python v2.7.x
* six (required)
* rfc6555 (required)
* imaplib2 >= 2.57 (optional)
* gssapi (optional), for Kerberos authentication
* portalocker (optional), if you need to run offlineimap in Cygwin for Windows
* Python v3: See the [offlineimap3][offlineimap3] fork of
[offlineimap][offlineimap].
## Documentation
All current and updated documentation is on the [community's website][website].
### Read documentation locally
You might want to read the documentation locally. Get the sources of the website.
For the other documentation, run the appropriate make target:
```sh
$ ./scripts/get-repository.sh website
$ cd docs
$ make html # Requires rst2html
$ make man # Requires a2x (http://asciidoc.org)
$ make api # Requires sphinx
```