IMAP to IMAP migration

The need for IMAP to IMAP email migration has become increasingly common, driven by factors like organizational restructuring, mergers, platform upgrades, or the adoption of new email services. IMAP to IMAP migration ensures that emails, folders, and attachments are preserved across different servers while maintaining data integrity and minimizing disruptions. However, this process often involves challenges such as managing large volumes of emails, avoiding duplicate messages, and ensuring the migration does not interfere with ongoing email operations.

EdbMails IMAP migration software effectively addresses these challenges by supporting seamless migration across all IMAP servers, including Hotmail, Outlook, Gmail, Google Workspace, Office 365, Microsoft Exchange, Zoho, Zimbra, IceWarp, cPanel, Plesk, GoDaddy, Rackspace, Google Vault and Enterprise Vault, AWS Workmail, Bluehost, Dreamhost, and more. EdbMails ensures secure data migration without duplication, even during repeated transfers, through its incremental migration feature. The software offers concurrent mailbox migration, enabling high-performance transfers across multiple mailboxes simultaneously, which significantly reduces the overall migration time. It also guarantees zero downtime by performing migrations in the background, allowing users uninterrupted access to their email services. With advanced filtering options, users can customize migrations by selecting specific folders or emails to include or exclude. EdbMails intuitive interface simplifies the migration process, making it fast and hassle-free for users to complete the transfer with minimal effort. These features make EdbMails a robust solution for secure, high-performance, and efficient IMAP to IMAP migrations.

1. IMAP to IMAP migration plan

   Planning is one of the most important steps before you begin migrating your IMAP data to IMAP. Here is a brief checklist of points to consider before you migrate.

   1. Remove unused mailboxes and duplicate emails files from the source.
   2. Make an inventory of items before you make the move such as
      • User accounts, email addresses and passwords
      • The source and target server details, browser and operating systems used
      • Network settings, DNS configurations, MX records, firewall settings
      • Licensing plans on your current source IMAP server
   3. Determine the size and number of mailboxes you want to migrate.
   4. Create appropriate user mailboxes on the target server
   5. Ensure you have enough network capacity and bandwidth to migrate
   6. Communicate the migration plan and changes to your end users and stakeholders.
   7. Perform a test migration before you start the actual one.
   8. Start the actual migration, verify the endpoints and update the MX records.
   9. Check for correct mail flow

2. IMAP to IMAP pre-migration activities

   • Obtain your IMAP server hostname, port number, email address, and password.
   • If you plan to migrate multiple users download the sample CSV file from the EdbMails application and enter the details of each users mailboxes you want to migrate
   • If you want to connect to Gmail, make sure to create an app password and use it in place of your regular password.

      See how to find your IMAP server name

3. IMAP to IMAP migration using EdbMails

   • Step 1: Download and install EdbMails IMAP migration tool

     • Download and install EdbMails application on any Windows computer.

       

     • Open the application and click 'Login' with the email address and password or click 'Start Free Trial'

        See the list of System requirements for IMAP migration.

       

     • Select the ‘IMAP (Gmail, Outlook & more) Migration’

       

     • Select ‘IMAP to IMAP Migration’.

       

     • To begin a new migration, select ‘Start a new migration operation.’ If you need to load settings from an earlier migration, select ‘Choose a migration from previous operations’ for quick access

       

     • Enter the job name for future identification and click on ‘Continue’.

       

   • Step 2: Connect to source IMAP server

     • To connect a single user account, select ‘Single User / Account Migration.’ Then, choose the required protocol, such as ‘Connect to IMAP’ or ‘Connect to POP3,’ and click ‘Next’ to proceed.

       

     • For migrating multiple mailboxes, select ‘Multiple (Bulk) Users/Accounts Migration' and click ‘Next’.

       

     • Click ‘Download the sample CSV file’

       

     • Modify the CSV file with the required details such as email address, password, host name and port number in the CSV file and Save the changes.

       

     • Click 'Browse CSV File', select the modified CSV file from your local system, verify the mailboxes, and click 'Next'.

       

     • Verify the list of mailboxes and proceed.
     • For single-user login, select the appropriate IMAP host name from the list or enter it manually. Then, provide the email address and password. For Gmail accounts, be sure to create an app password and use that instead.
     • Click the ‘Login’ button.

       

     • Once the mailboxes are loaded, click ‘Next’ to proceed.

       

        Refer to the EdbMails detailed steps on connecting to single and multiple users during IMAP migration.

   • Step 3: Select source IMAP server mailboxes

       See tips to optimize IMAP migration to Exchange online

     

     • Select the mailboxes or folders to migrate, then click ‘Next’.
   • Step 4: Connect to target IMAP server
     • To connect a single user account, select ‘Single User / Account Migration.’ For migrating multiple mailboxes, select ‘Multiple (Bulk) Users/Accounts Migration.’ Then, choose the required protocol, such as ‘Connect to IMAP’ or ‘Connect to POP3,’ and click ‘Next’ to proceed.

       

     • Select the appropriate IMAP host name from the list or manually enter it. Then, provide the email address and password. For Gmail accounts, be sure to create an app password and use that instead.
     • Click the ‘Login’ button.

       

     • Once the mailboxes are loaded, click ‘Next’ to proceed.

       

        Refer to the EdbMails detailed steps on connecting to single and multiple users during IMAP migration.

   • Step 5: Map source and target mailboxes
     • Choose the required mailbox mapping option

       

     • EdbMails automatically maps mailboxes between the source and target servers. You can also manually map mailboxes if needed.

       

   • Step 6: Start Office 365 to IMAP migration operation
     • After mapping the mailboxes, click the ‘Start Migration’ button and initiate the migration process.

       

     • To review the migration report, click the ‘View Log’ button, which provides a comprehensive report detailing the number of emails, folders, and mailbox items successfully migrated.

       

     • Also, log in to your target server and verify the migrated items.

4. IMAP to IMAP post-migration activities

   Once the migration is completed, update your MX records to route email traffic to the new server.

5. IMAP to IMAP migration troubleshooting

    See the migration troubleshooting guide for possible solutions related to common errors. For more information on EdbMails IMAP migration, see frequently asked questions (FAQs).

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Additional resources:

• IceWarp to Office 365 migration
• Zimbra to Office 365 migration
• AOL Emails to Office 365 migration
• Zoho Mail to Office 365 migration
• GoDaddy to Microsoft 365 migration
• ProtonMail to Office 365 migration