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Basically, email providers use IMAP, POP, SMTP and some other protocols to transmit emails from the mail server to the user’s mailbox. IMAP is one of the most commonly used protocols.
Due to better service or many other reasons, users often need to change their IMAP server. In many cases, users successfully migrate to a new IMAP server, but what about the existing emails? In this article, I’ll give you a step-by-step guide on how you can migrate your emails from IMAP to IMAP. Keep reading!
5 Tips: Before you start IMAP to IMAP migration
Before you start IMAP migration, you must have knowledge about a few things. Here I have provided 5 tips that you should follow while migrating your IMAP emails:
- Ensure you have taken backups of all your valuable emails and other data before performing the migration.
- Confirm that the destination IMAP server has sufficient storage to accommodate all the migrated data.
- Verify that IMAP access is enabled and test connectivity for both the source and destination mail servers.
- Make sure you have the correct login credentials for both source and destination accounts.
- If possible, temporarily disable new mail delivery to the source account during migration to prevent inconsistencies.
Step-by-step guide: How to migrate emails from IMAP to IMAP?
Actually, the process of IMAP-to-IMAP migration depends on the email clients that you are using. For example, Gmail to Microsoft 365 and Yahoo to Microsoft 365 migrations aren’t the same process. But in both cases, you are performing an IMAP-to-IMAP migration.
However, to simplify the migration process, I’ll use the Thunderbird application. It’s an open-source email platform that allows you to connect to multiple IMAP, POP, SMTP or any other email accounts and manage your email communication.
For your better understanding, I have broken down the complete process into two easy steps.
Step 1: Configure your IMAP account on Thunderbird
It doesn’t matter which email client you are currently using or which one you want to migrate your emails to. On Thunderbird, you can easily sign in to your Gmail, Office 365, Yahoo Mail, or any other IMAP email accounts.
- Open your Thunderbird application and click on the “Local Folders” icon.
- Under the “Sign Up Another Account” section, click on the “Email” button.
- Enter your email address and password, and fill up the other fields. Then click on the “Continue” button.
- Lastly, follow the on-screen prompts and complete the sign-in procedure. According to your email provider, this process may vary.
By following the above procedure, configure both your source (the email account you are currently using) and destination (the email account to which you want to migrate) IMAP servers.
Step 2: Migrate emails from one IMAP account to another
Once you have configured both your source and destination IMAP accounts on Thunderbird, you just need to move your emails from the source email account to the destination email account.
- Select all the emails that you want to transfer to another IMAP email account. You can use the “Ctrl + A” shortcut key to select all emails.
- Right-click on the selected emails and select the “Move to” option. Then select the email account where you want to migrate the selected emails. Additionally, you can choose a folder under that email account.
As a result, the Thunderbird application will migrate the selected emails to your destination IMAP email account. This completes the process of transferring emails from one IMAP account to another using the Thunderbird program. However, as an alternative to Thunderbird, you can also use the Outlook application.
Fastest way for IMAP to IMAP migration
Migrating your emails from one IMAP server to another is quite difficult with manual methods. Because most email providers don’t offer any direct solution or feature for email migration, you need to use any other email client, like Outlook or Thunderbird. But it has so many limitations.
To cancel out all the limitations and speed up the migration process, you should use the Regain IMAP Migration tool. This tool offers you the simplest user interface with advanced features. So that you can migrate emails between the IMAP servers within just a few clicks.
- Install the IMAP migration software and run it as an administrator on your device.
- At the top-left corner, click on the “Login” button.
- Choose the IMAP-supported email client you are using and enter the login details. Then click on the “Login” button.
- Once the software successfully connects the email account, you can view a preview of all your available folders.
- Select the folders that you want to migrate.
- Next, connect your other IMAP email account by entering the sign-in details and starting the migration.
Moreover, Regain IMAP Migration software allows you to backup your IMAP emails by exporting them into multiple formats, including: EML, EMLX, PDF, PST, etc. With the help of this tool you can also Migrate IMAP Email to a New Server.
Conclusion
IMAP is basically an email protocol. Email clients use this IMAP protocol to send emails from the mail server to the user’s mailbox. Due to various reasons, users often need to switch to a different IMAP server. In such a case, it’s necessary to migrate emails from the existing IMAP server to the new one.
To migrate your IMAP emails in a hassle-free way, I recommend using the IMAP migration tool. Because manual methods present numerous challenges, Lastly, don’t forget to backup your valuable emails before you start the migration.