if it's imap or pop, you can download them onto a PC with a mail client like thunderbird. Make sure you copy them to Local Folders or whatever it's called, so they are not just cached for offline use, because that would delete them if you sync with an empty account. Make sure to keep a backup somewhere safe, in case you accidentally delete them.
this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2025
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Thanks! Ideally I'd want it all to stay on the server though, which it seems imapsync can help me with. But if that fails I'll make sure to find a way to make local bakcups in Thunderbird! :)
To transfer existing email messages from one mailbox to another, you can use imapsync if you are familiar with cli applications.
It can synchronize messages from host1 to host2.
That sounds ideal, thank you!
Damn that example.com domain you got there is worth a pretty penny ;) If they host the emails (which if I read correctly they do) you'll need to back them up before the move, which you have figured out already well done - just confirming.
Pretty fantastic, I know!
And thanks for that - I guess I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything incredibly stupid before I make the change. :)
Use a mail client.
Connect to both providers with the mail client.
Update your mx records. (And spf and dkim and dmarc)
Copy or move your emails to the new provider using the email client.
I was looking up some guides to import and export mail to/from servers using Thunderbird, but the only relevant thing I could find suggested using an add-on that doesn't seem to exist any more. :/
The suggestion of @exception4289@lemmy.world seems to be working great though - at least it is running on my computer, I guess I'll see when it's done if it worked or not. :)
Thank you!