Whether you’re switching hosting providers or migrating a whole IMAP server, this tutorial offers tried-and-tested solutions for novice users and IT experts.
By relying on MailJerry, our cloud IMAP migration tool, you can avoid common challenges like slow transfer speed, authentication issues or data loss. The software reliably migrates all messages and your complete folder structure, without altering any data. With our 100% secure email migration solution, you can safely perform your IMAP to IMAP migration in no time!
➡️ Plus: If you need to migrate many mailboxes at once, you can easily start a bulk migration or upload a CSV file to migrate unlimited mailboxes in one go.
Advantages of Performing an IMAP to IMAP Migration With MailJerry:
✅ Compatibility with all IMAP servers plus Gmail, Office 365, Yahoo! and many more.
✅ Selective Migration: Migrate emails starting from, up to or between a given date range.
✅ Data Integrity Ensured: No data is changed or altered during the migration.
✅ User-Friendly Interface: Easy to use for novice users, efficient setup for experienced users.
✅ Migration Report & Error Log: Easily track and resolve issues and verify your migration.
✅ Bulk Migration: Migrate multiple accounts or whole mail servers simultaneously.
Summary: How to Perform an IMAP to IMAP Migration
- 1️⃣ Set up the IMAP migration by adding the new and old account.
- 2️⃣ Preview the migration to verify that everything is set up correctly.
- 3️⃣ Start the migration: MailJerry migrates your data directly between your providers, no up- or download required.
➡️ For experts and sys admins: Easily perform a bulk migration to transfer multiple accounts or whole mail servers at once.
If you have any questions, check out our IMAP to IMAP migration FAQs.
Migrating to Another Provider?
Check out these tutorials:
Step by Step Workflow:How to Perform an IMAP to IMAP Migration
Checklist:
What You Need for the IMAP to IMAP Migration
For a smooth email migration, make sure to have the following data and tools at hand before proceeding:
1️⃣ The credentials (username + password) for every existing mailbox that needs to be migrated.
2️⃣ The IMAP server address of your existing server (e.g. imap.oldprovider.com).
3️⃣ The credentials (username + password) for every target mailbox (= new mailbox that receives the data).
4️⃣ The IMAP server address of your new mail server.
5️⃣ Either the MailJerry WebApp open in your browser or the MailJerry desktop app installed.
⚠️ If possible, also disable any tools that may interfere with your mailbox during the migration. E.g. pause mailbox backup tools or automation workflows until the migration is done.
Step 01:
Migration Setup
To setup up the migration of your first mailbox, follow these steps:
ℹ️ To migrate lots of mailboxes simultaneously, check out this bulk IMAP to IMAP migration tutorial.
1. Open MailJerry and click on the button “New Migration”.
2. In the “Existing Address” section, enter the username and password of your existing account.
3. Enter the mail server address of your existing mail server into the field “Mailserver”.
4. In the section “New Address”, provide the username and password of the new mailbox.
5. In the field “Mailserver”, enter the IMAP server address of your new mail server.
➡️ Once you’ve entered both sets of credentials, you’re ready to verify the connection and preview your migration.
Step 02:
Preview IMAP Migration
Before we start the email migration, let’s make sure that everything is set up correctly:
1. Click on “Check Settings”.
MailJerry will now connect to both your old and new IMAP servers, verify the connection, and collect all required data.
⚠️ Please be patient: For very large mailboxes, this check might take a few moments.
2. Once the mailbox check is complete, you will see a preview of your migration. Here, you can make sure that everything is setup up correctly and that all required data is available for the migration.
Step 03:
Migrate from IMAP to IMAP
Now it’s time to start the migration of your first mailbox:
1. Click on “Start Your Migration”.
➡️ MailJerry will now import all email data from your source IMAP account into your new target account.
That’s it! Simply wait until your migration has finished or start the migration of the next mailbox right away.
✅ You can safely close MailJerry and continue using your email accounts as normal! The migration runs in our migration cloud, so your computer doesn’t need to stay on.
⚠️ Please avoid large, structural changes in your mailbox (e.g. mailbox cleanup, re-organisation) while the migration is running.
Pro Tip:
Once the initial migration has finished, don’t forget to enable the “Auto Sync” (or “Mailbox Sync”) to migrate any new emails that arrive in your old account after the initial migration.
"Awesome App. The best of the best. Mail Jerry is the best email migration tool I found on internet. I had tried various options. But this one is the best, from UI/UX to the migration and work done."
Bulk IMAP to IMAP Migration:Transfer Multiple Accounts Simultaneously
Instead of starting every migration individually, you can also start a new bulk migration to set up all accounts in one step.
How to Set Up a Bulk IMAP to IMAP Migration.
1. In MailJerry, click on “Bulk Migration”.
💡 The bulk migration is only available for customers with a yearly subscription.
2. Enter the mail server addresses of your new and old mail server.
3. In the section “Mailboxes”, enter the credentials (username and password) of every mailbox you wish to migrate.
➡️ You can also create a CSV file containing all credentials and upload this file instead. Download this CSV template, add all mailboxes, and upload it in the section “CSV Upload”. For more details, check out this tutorial.
4. After you’ve added all mailboxes, click on “Check Mailboxes” and wait until MailJerry has checked all accounts.
5. If everything looks good, click on “Start Migrations”.
✅ Your IMAP to IMAP migration is now on its way. The first 20 mailboxes will start right away. All other mailboxes will be queued and the next migration will start as soon as one of the initial migrations has finished.
"I just wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank you for the recent Bulk Migration feature added to MailJerry.
It’s a fantastic enhancement, and I truly appreciate your continued commitment to listening to user feedback and innovating with the product."
IMAP to IMAP Migration:Frequent Questions
Can MailJerry delete or alter my emails?
No, not at all! MailJerry is technically unable to modify any data in your source mailbox. This means your existing emails and folders remain completely intact – no messages are moved, altered, or deleted from your original provider. Our software simply creates a 1:1 copy of your data in your new IMAP mailbox, leaving the original data unchanged.
Does MailJerry change the email date or any email metadata?
No. MailJerry creates a perfect clone of your existing mailbox, meaning all metadata – including timestamps, headers, and subject lines – remains exactly as it is.
Can I use my mailboxes while the migration is running?
Yes, absolutely! You can continue using both your old and new IMAP mailboxes to receive, read, and send emails without any interruption.
⚠️ A quick tip: We recommend avoiding major structural changes (like massive folder clean-ups or reorganisations) in either mailbox while the migration is in progress. Also, please disable any third-party tools that might interfere, such as local backup tools or active sync applications.
Can I migrate only specific emails instead of my entire mailbox?
Yes, you can! If you don’t need your entire history, MailJerry allows for selective migration. During the setup process, you can configure the migration to only include emails starting from a specific date, up to a certain date, or within a specific date range. This is a great way to save time and storage space if you only care about your most recent emails.
Can I migrate contacts and calendars as well?
Not yet. MailJerry migrates all of your email data that is supported by the IMAP protocol, which includes all types of email content, attachments, and folders stored on your mail server.
Unfortunately, the IMAP protocol itself does not support contacts and calendars. Because every email provider stores these differently, there is no single global standard for them. For now, we focus on making sure your email data moves perfectly!
I need to keep the same domain. When is the best time to change my DNS settings?
The best time to change your DNS/MX settings is after the initial migration has finished.
To ensure you don’t miss any emails during the transition, make sure to enable Auto Sync right after the initial migration is complete.
For a detailed guide on managing your domain during a migration, check out our deep dives on transferring mailboxes while keeping the same domain and handling DNS/MX settings.
After checking mailboxes, I get the error “can’t connect to server”. How do I resolve this?
Don’t worry, this error is usually just a firewall or security setting. To resolve the issue, please whitelist this IP address in your server’s firewall: 128.204.135.193.
MailJerry connects using the default IMAP ports: 993 (SSL) and 143 (no SSL). Please ensure that these ports are open and accessible for our IP address.
How can I verify if the migration was successful and if any errors occurred?
Every migration generates a detailed migration report and error log. Once the process is complete, you can review this log to verify that all messages were transferred correctly.
If any specific items failed to migrate (for example, due to a corrupted message or attachment that exceeded your currant max. attachment size), the log and migration report will tell you exactly which ones could not be migrated, allowing you to resolve the issue with your provider and migrate the missing emails by performing a delta migration (simply press the “Sync Now” button on your migration’s detail page).
