Migrating email from an old host to your cPanel hosting can be done with little or no message loss if you plan the order of steps carefully.
Prepare Before Switching
- List every mailbox and forwarder on the old provider.
- In the new cPanel, recreate each email account with the same address.
- Note the storage used so your new mailboxes have adequate quota.
Transfer Existing Messages
The simplest method preserves mail using IMAP:
- Add both the old and new accounts to a mail client such as Outlook or Thunderbird using IMAP.
- Wait for both to fully sync.
- Drag or copy folders from the old account into the new account. The messages upload to the new server.
For many mailboxes, an IMAP migration tool can move everything in bulk.
Switch DNS Last
- Once mail is copied, update your domain's MX records to point to the new server.
- Keep the old mailboxes active for a few days to catch mail that arrives during DNS propagation, which can take up to 24 hours.
Verify
- Send test messages to and from each new mailbox.
- Confirm forwarders and autoresponders are recreated.
For a hands-on migration of multiple mailboxes, contact us on WhatsApp at +254 796 358081 or via the /contact page and we can assist.