Where has Backup & restore menu option gone?

[guitareth]

I am about to install Aquamail on a new phone and I had to remind myself how to make a copy of my account settings to import to my new phone. I went to the relevant item on the FAQs page "How can I make a backup of my mail accounts?"  and it states:

Please use the Menu on the app’s main window and choose “Backup and Restore”.

However, I've done that and for the life of me I cannot see that option. Has it been moved since a recent update?

[guitareth]

OK I found it. I see you have to go to the "Accounts" option and then access the menu from there. It would help if you'd make that clearer in the FAQs. Sorry, but this is something that's always bugged me about Aquamail. The app is fantastic, but I wish you could tidy up the settings options, so they can ALL be found in one place. It's incredibly confusing as it is. 

[mikeone]

OK I found it. I see you have to go to the "Accounts" option and then access the menu from there. It would help if you'd make that clearer in the FAQs. Sorry, but this is something that's always bugged me about Aquamail. The app is fantastic, but I wish you could tidy up the settings options, so they can ALL be found in one place. It's incredibly confusing as it is. 

The item "Backup and Restore" you could find in the app's Main window (Account list), but not in the 'Message list view' (after expanding an account's Folder)

BTW:
Do you know that the settings have a search function?
-> the 'magnifying glass' on the top right of the 'Settings window'

[guitareth]

OK I found it. I see you have to go to the "Accounts" option and then access the menu from there. It would help if you'd make that clearer in the FAQs. Sorry, but this is something that's always bugged me about Aquamail. The app is fantastic, but I wish you could tidy up the settings options, so they can ALL be found in one place. It's incredibly confusing as it is. 

The item "Backup and Restore" you could find in the app's Main window (Account list), but not in the 'Message list view' (after expanding an account's Folder)

BTW:
Do you know that the settings have a search function?
-> the 'magnifying glass' on the top right of the 'Settings window'

Thanks MikeOne but when you are within any account, and you select the settings option from there, the menu it takes you to is very prominently labelled "AquaMail Settings", not Account Settings. So it's my contention that this leads users to believe they are in the main settings view for Aquamail, which is where I would expect to find ALL settings. This is the way it works with pretty much all other software I have ever used i.e. a single Settings menu. But for some reason the AquaMail developers have chosen to have ANOTHER settings menu which is only available from the Main Window /Accounts List. I believe this just confuses things. Why not have all settings available from just ONE settings menu?

[mikeone]

@guitareth
I'm talking about the Menu (= 3-dots icon at the top right edge) in the app's Main window (= Account list view)
-> see screenshot

[guitareth]

@guitareth
I'm talking about the Menu (= 3-dots icon at the top right edge) in the app's Main window (= Account list view)
-> see screenshot

Mikeone you are missing my point. Yes, as I said I did eventually find the menu containing the backup and restore option. My issue is that it's easy to miss that you have to go into that separate "Settings" menu, and why complicate things by having more than one Settings menu within the app. Or... if the developers feel they have good reasons for keeping the two seprate settings menus, why not simply add links from each to the other. For example, in the settings menu within accounts (Currently labelled Aquamail Settings" they could add a menu option at the bottom called something like "Additional Aquamail settings" which takes you to the settings menu which is currently in the Main/Accounets view, and similarly that latter menu could include a link to "Account settings" which takes you back to the other menu.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Re: the settings menu which is currently in the Main/Accounets view

That's a menu not a settings screen. Two completely different things.

Just like Message View has a Menu with things like "Mark Unread" and app's Settings screens do not.

[guitareth]

Re: the settings menu which is currently in the Main/Accounets view

That's a menu not a settings screen. Two completely different things.

Just like Message View has a Menu with things like "Mark Unread" and app's Settings screens do not.

Call it what you will - I still find it very confusing that a major option "Backup/Restore" is not include in your main settings screen then. As I said, I think your app is fantastic, but the one thing that has always got me confused is that certain "key" settings are contained in different parts of the app.

[mikeone]

Call it what you will - I still find it very confusing that a major option "Backup/Restore" is not include in your main settings screen then. As I said, I think your app is fantastic, but the one thing that has always got me confused is that certain "key" settings are contained in different parts of the app.

'Actions' you will find usually in an app's menu. 'Options', on the other hand, are individual settings (to customize an app) which can be accessed via a special entry in the menu.

"Backup / Restore" is clearly an action (not an "option"), which you should find in the menu (not in the 'Settings')

-> See attached screenshots created from MailDroid

[MaliTaus]

Completely agree that all settings should be in one place. Most other software would call a backup/restore a "setting", especially if you are backing up or restoring your, um, settings.

A search for "backup" using the magnifying glass in settings returns no results. Fortunately, I can search for it here....

[mikeone]

Completely agree that all settings should be in one place. Most other software would call a backup/restore a "setting", especially if you are backing up or restoring your, um, settings.

A search for "backup" using the magnifying glass in settings returns no results. Fortunately, I can search for it here....

I will try to explain the difference again:

- A Setting is a setting
  (set colors, general behavior of the app, etc. ...)

- An Action is an action
  (e.g. mark messages as read/unread, move a message into a specific folder, delete a message, etc. ...)

'Backup/Restore' (of account data/credentials and/or app settings) is an explicit Action. Therefore you will not be able to find the Backup feature via the search function in the Settings menu. 😉

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Re:  you are backing up or restoring your, um, settings

And if you're backing up or restoring your, um, accounts - then where?

That being said, we're going to move "backup and restore" into Settings under Storage (because of some other work we're doing).

[vinces]

Under Data storage is  only attachments settings. I have a new Note 9 and want to take Settings and Accounts to new phone, can't seem to find a procedure for it and Samsung smart switch only took the (Pro) App over. Can't find a backup option anywhere on Note  4, although the 9 is asking me to restore one.

[vinces]

Sorry, but this menu thing beat me too. I am not expecting the three dots to morph into some other menu when I am in the settings menu but morph they did. So it seems I have backed up / restored and  can take it from here...
Interesting that the backup clearly said accounts and settings, and ticked, but only the accounts seem to have made it as definitely many changed settings are on default and nothing listed in recent changes either, whereas the 4 has some there....

Edit: I am fully sorted now, but had to make another backup with just settings to get them to carry over, which the recent changes list didn't go but the changes did. I tried just selecting settings, or both. Got told settings had nothing to do and 8 accounts were duplicates so none created. Ok, so I made just a settings one and it worked. Using Dropbox if that is relevant.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Re: Under Data storage is  only attachments settings

That being said, we're going to move "backup and restore" into Settings under Storage.

We are going - in the future. Future - not present or past. We will. Soon. But not yet not in the version you have now.