Is there a way to completely backup my IMAP account. I mean all the messages, attachments, and in thier respective folders. I know how to do a full backup of my account but i need just the IMAP becuase i have an IMAP account at another service i would like to do this as well.

I do not know what types of programs will do this; windows, mac, linux, php/server ran? Any help would be helpful (repition not intended)

will it create folders? i can copy emails over but that takes too long

One option I think you have is, to synchronize all the folders, instead of just the inbox. This will download all messages to your local machine and allow you to watch them offline. In Outlook express, you can just create a local folder and move all your imap messages in there. Then just save all the folders (located at (XP):
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{565F0445-C935-4C42-9847-F0FDAB2634F5}\Microsoft\Outlook Express)

Your identity number is, of course, different. You can import these folders at any time into outlook express and I have successfully used this method many times and it works great.

Claus

What program are you using?