Use IMAP mail as a simple text doc sync and backup

Nov 21, '08 07:30:02AM

Contributed by: chrisjshull

While there are a lot of solutions for syncing documents and backing them up, sometimes I want something that is quick and lightweight.

I have my email client (Mail.app for me), set up with a Gmail account over IMAP. Since I always have Mail open anyway, I often just create a new draft message and start typing. Every time I save, the text is uploaded to Gmail's servers (aka, a backup). Even better, I can edit this doc anywhere. My other computer (same email setup) has already grabbed the draft, and I can just open it up and work on it. And if I'm somewhere else, I can hop on Gmail's web interface. When I'm done, I just copy and paste it all into a serious editor.

Personally, I like this better than something like Google Docs, because I always have Mail open (plus, Google Docs is very JavaScript heavy).

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