Transfer Email from Previous Host via Email Migrator

Transfer Email from Previous Host via Email Migrator

The Email Migrator tool allows you to transfer messages from your previous server to your current one. The messages will be automatically copied onto our server using secure IMAP protocol.

Step 1: Access the email migrator

To start an email migration go to Site Tools > Email > Email Migrator. The tool will allow you to transfer email messages from your previous server to your current one.



Step 2: Provide the new email account details

Before starting the migration process, you need to recreate your existing email account in Site Tools. If you haven’t recreated it yet, you can do so by clicking the creation link above the drop down and using the box that will appear:




You can also create the new account by clicking the creation link above the drop down and using the box that will appear:




Note that by default the newly created email account will have its quota set to 512MB. Make sure to change the quota value to be higher than the email account’s quota usage on the remote server to ensure that all messages will be transferred over.

Important: You should create the account on the new server with the same name as the account you will transfer. Also make sure to remember the password you set up on the new server, as you will need it later.


Step 3: Provide the old email account details

You will need to provide the mail password of the current active email account you want to migrate to FireCompanies, as well as the Hostname or IP address of your old mail server. The hostname or IP of the old mail server is what you have set up in your mail client as incoming mail server setting when you configured it to work with the old server. If you are not sure about the exact details, contact the old mail service provider for more information or refer to their knowledgebase.



IP/Hostname example: If switching from Gmail your hostname will most likely be smtp.gmail.com

Step 4: Initiate the transfer and verify its success

You can now click the Start Migration button. If there is no issue with the data provided, the connection between the servers or the size of your email account, the transfer will start. You cannot initiate another mailbox transfer while you have one in progress, but you can use all other Site Tools functionalities.




If you see an “Email migration could not be Initiated. Check that your credentials are correct and the remote server is accessible.” message you need to ensure that the provided details for the old email account are correct. You can reset the password for the old account and provide the new one and confirm the validity of the IP/Hostname of the old server with the old server’s support before attempting to reinitiate the migration process.

If you see an “Email migration could not be Initiated. Check that your credentials are correct and the remote server is accessible.” message you need to ensure that the provided details for the old email account are correct. You can reset the password for the old account and provide the new one and confirm the validity of the IP/Hostname of the old server with the old server’s support before attempting to reinitiate the migration process.



Step 5: Update your Domain’s MX Record

Now that you have your messages copied on the new servers, update the domain’s MX records so that your new mail messages start coming to the new server. To do that you should set the correct MX records for your domain in the DNS zone for your domain name.

You can see which are the correct default MX record in Site Tools > Domain > DNS Zone Editor. Click on Create new record MX, choose the Switch to system default MX records and the correct records will be displayed.

If your domain is pointed to our Name Servers you may set directly the right MX records with a click from this tool.

If your domain is pointed to external name severs, copy the 3 MX records listed as the expected defaults and add them in DNS zone of your domain where the zone is managed.

Step 6: Configure your Email Client(s)

Once you have pointed your MX records to the new server,  you should set up your email client to work with the new server. 

Make sure you update all the mail clients you use, so they start getting your mail messages from the new server.


Step 7: Do a final syncing migration (optional, but recommended)

The MX record change may take up to 72 hours to fully propagate globally. During that time you may receive some of your email messages on the old server. To make sure you have all your messages on the new server (even the few ones that may have reached your old one after the initial migration), we recommend that you launch one more email migration 72 hours after the MX record change repeating the first 4 steps described above. It may appear that the Email Migrator is transferring your whole email account again, however duplicate emails will NOT be created.

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