OK, I have had the same email account with a hosted domain for at least 15 years. I am now finally switching providers and need to make sure that my old email is safe and sound. Basically I need to know the process to move my [email protected] email over to the new IMAP provider without losing years of email on the next sync after I point it to the new IMAP server info.
Does that make sense? Maybe I’m making this harder than it needs to be and it’s a simple backup and restore process, but I could really use some help from someone with more than a hunch 
Thanks!
Hi, if you want to be completely sure, you can export all your emails into local folders and store them locally, then move them onto your new IMAP service from your local folders.
Let me know if you need any more help with the transfer.
Thank you,
Paul.
Thanks Paul, so basically just use the export command, choose the folders that I want to export to .eml folders and wait for it to finish. When I change the IMAP server info, it will either populate their servers with my old emails automatically or I can restore each folder into the IMAP folder structure of the new account. Is that right? Sorry to be dense, that’s some important stuff hiding in there 
Chad
You could easily move all your folders (although one by one) into your local folders, just drag them to your local folders and your mails will be moved to local storage, or you can even setup the new account and drag the folders directly to your new account. If you export the messages, you’ll have them stored in your folder and have to import them back into eM client.
Thank you,
Paul.
Hi Chad,
Please be aware that we’re talking here about ‘e-mail folders’ in eM Client…that’s something else than ‘file folders’ in Windows Explorer.
You can move your e-mail within eM Client to local folders in eM Client.
On top of this, you can export your e-mail to file folders (so you will have each e-mail as an .EML file in Windows Explorer).
Another option is to let eM Client make a backup of all your data (File > Backup).
And another option is to make a copy of the file folder in which eM Client is saving all it’s info (in Windows 8 by default C:\users<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\eM Client).
Yes making a backup of eM Client or the eM Client’s database folder would be an option, I’m just not completely sure if Chad could access his data if his current mail address containing the data would be terminated (if that’s the case).
I think the safest way of keeping the emails is to export them into separate files onto his computer or moving all the IMAP folders onto his new account or local folders.
Paul.
Thanks to both of you! I did this for both of my Em Client installations and they are both functioning properly… for posterity:
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Don’t transfer your domain until step 4. Really important if you don’t have local copies of everything.
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Backup all EMClient data to my computer just using the files/backup command. (Just in case)
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Export each folder under the email address using .eml method.
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Send yourself the “I wanna transfer my domain email with code” from your current provider to insure that you get it before you change any email settings. Once you receive it, initiate transfer.
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Follow instructions to set up domain and email servers from new provider.
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When it syncs for the first time you will lose everything in your visible IMAP folders inside of Em Client. Panic inside a little while you watch your emails vanish before your eyes.
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End slight panic and use the File/Import command to replace all of the folders from the previous Export. I had to do this 1 by 1. This took time, but in the end I didn’t have to worry about incorrect folder structure.
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Be grateful that techology exists and that people write great software like EM Client.
Have fun!
Chad
P.S. I don’t work for them but I have tried every email program and found them all lacking. Just a happy customer.
Great, we love happy customers. Glad you like the application, if you come across any other issues or have any questions about the application, let us know, we’ll be happy to help.
Thank you,
Paul.