Where is my Email Stored?

Dear Computer Lady
 
I am going to buy a new computer and want to know what email (AOL, gmail, MSN, hotmail, yahoo) accounts that I can use so that when I get a new computer I can go to those accounts and still have the emails I saved.  Is this possible?
 
Thanks, you are so much help and explain to understand.  Karen

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Dear Karen,

I can’t answer your question by listing email providers who save your emails online because most email accounts can be set up to be accessed online, or can be set up to be downloaded to your computer.

I will use Gmail for an example. Most people use Gmail online, they open their web browser and check their email, compose messages and use the address book. The messages and everything else are stored on Google’s servers, and you can access them from any computer.

Gmail gives you the option, however, to download your messages to an email program on your computer and read them there. If you set your Gmail up to download to your computer, you are now storing your messages and addresses on your computer, and they can only be accessed from your computer.

Just about every mail provider you listed in your question gives you the option of accessing your messages in both ways, so my answer to your question is as follows…

If you access your email using a program on your computer like Outlook Express, Outlook, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, Eudora or Mozilla Thunderbird, the email messages, address book and settings are stored on your computer, and you would need to transfer them to the new computer. The files that you transfer are different depending on what program you are using.

If you access your email using your web browser, like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, or Mozilla Firefox, then the email messages are stored online, and will be available to you no matter what computer you use to access them.

Elizabeth